Find Money Online

I know I’ve been hearing on the news that things are starting to look brighter for the economy, but I’m certainly not seeing it personally. Just in the past two weeks, two families that are close friends of ours have had their main breadwinner lose their jobs, and another family we know has been forced to put their house on the market in order to try to reduce their expenses and keep afloat financially.

In our own family, we are also facing some large expenses and starting to wonder where to turn. During 2008, both my husband and I were involved in accidents, both of which required surgery, follow-up therapy, and an overnight hospital stay. Even though we have decent health insurance, the large deductibles and out-0f-pocket maximum payments left us in a financially precarious position. And now, one of our two cars (9 and 10 years old) is in the shop awaiting major repairs that we have no choice but to pay using our already overloaded credit card.

The My-Friend-In-Need donation site is experiencing an increase in listings recently as well… and the situations people are writing about are just heartbreaking. Please, if you are at all able to help, read through some of the stories, find one that touches your heart, and offer what you can. For some of these folks it may make the difference between eating dinner tonight or having their kids go to bed hungry.

Take care, and I pray that the news is correct and things will start to turn around soon.

My-Friend-In-Need was mentioned today in an article on the Michigan news aggregator site mlive.com. In a section dedicated to higher education, the following article by Beata Mostafavil outlines a Kettering University student’s attempt to raise tuition money online. We’ll keep you posted on how he does… meanwhile, enjoy the article!

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March 26, 2009 — Flint, Michigan. Anyone at Kettering will tell you that senior Marc Alexander is one of the university’s stars.

He worked hard to get accepted there, is a good student and has even started a youth mentoring non-profit group.

But Alexander is in a bind. After co-signer requirements went up in the private loan industry because of the credit crisis — he can’t get the rest of the loans he needs to finish college.

He comes from a family who struggles financially and has been rejected for a loan seven times.

So here was one back-up plan — to build a Web site called “help Marc Alexander go to college” with hopes that family, friends, maybe even strangers will spare him some change.

Cyber-begging is nothing new. The first widely publicized case was in 2002 when Karyn Bosnak, a twenty-something woman from New York started the Web site “savekaryn.com.” She wanted to raise $20,000 to pay off her credit card debts — and guess what? She did.

There have been other examples. There is now a site for women who raise online donations for breast implants. Others have raised thousands of dollars to save their homes from foreclosures.

Web sites have even cropped up to help the desperate-for-money peeps promote their cause.

Alexander is just a 23-year-old guy trying to finish his degree. It’s not quite the same as asking strangers to help drag you out of a mountain of debt from spending too much on shoes.

But in a bad economy, what’s the etiquette for cyber-help?

I am pleased to be able to add a blog to the My-Friend-In-Need site, so that I can keep you posted on the wonderful things I see happening!

The My-Friend-In-Need Donation Site went live just a few short months ago, and I have heard from a number of people, both givers and receivers, about how their experience here has affected their lives.

Every now and then, I will add a Testimonials post so that I can share these with you. It is truly heartwarming to hear about the kindness and generousity that still exists out there, no matter how bad things may seem at the moment.

I will also use this blog to keep you updated on relevant news items, articles, and press releases. So much is going on in the ecomomy and the world as a whole, it’s sometimes easy to miss items that you may otherwise like to hear about.

Finally, I’ll be sharing some helpful advice and tips on how to make the most of your Donations page here on the My-Friend-In-Need site. Although many people have enjoyed much success simply by creating their Donation site and availing themselves of contributions from the traffic this site naturally generates, there are extra things you can do to boost your results and make your efforts even more rewarding.

So bookmark this site and check back often. I’m sure you will enjoy hearing about our progress.