Facebook is becoming more than just a place to look up old friends and flames. Companies are trying to take full advantage of the social networking mega-site to garner interest in their products and services, and this includes charities that are using it to benefit those they’re committed to helping.

Dogtime.com has set up their own Facebook application to make it even easier and more convenient for people to “donate” to their cause.
The Dogtime.com site itself is a great resource for finding a dog to adopt, and even offers sections and articles on things like dog training, dog breed info, and …read more

Did you know April 19-25 is National Volunteer Week? Animal shelters across the nation can always use extra helping hands, but the need has been even more critical recently with the economic climate of the last months, and shelters have been hit especially hard.

One of my favorite sites, Petfinder.com, recently ran a survey and discovered that 84% of animal adoption organizations are reporting pet surrenders because of the economic downturn, foreclosures and/or job losses.
Overcrowding is becoming even more of a problem, with 37% of shelters and rescue groups reporting that the number of people willing to foster (or temporarily …read more

I love reading Susan Palwick’s writings, on faith, healing, and science fiction, among other things. Every month she does a Carnival of Hope on her blog, Rickety Contrivances of Doing Good.
Absolutely worth a read. I’m still amazed that one writer’s kid survived a fall from an upper story window. *shudder*
Be hopeful, everyone. And while you’re at it, you can check out Susan’s latest collection of short stories, The Fate of Mice:
while you’re waiting for this to be released in June: