Each year, the team at Magellan Promotions gets involved with Giving Tuesday by donating to causes and charities that we find important. In addition to the individual donations, Magellan generously matched each gift, for a total of more than $1,250 in donations to these organizations. Here’s a look at where we donated and why we support these wonderful organizations.

Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin
Supported by Dan

I chose Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin since my father-in-law does volunteering with them and he emphasized the need is above average compared to previous years. It goes without saying but making sure all people have access to food is an ongoing issue and we are happy to donate to help those in need.

Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
Supported by Alyssa

This year I donated to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding cures for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and improving the quality of life of children and adults affected by these diseases. As a member of this community, it’s important to me to support organizations like this that are working to learn more about these diseases and hopefully finding a cure!

Next Door
Supported by Sarah B.

This year I supported Next Door. Their team works incredibly hard to ensure under-resourced children in Milwaukee get a strong start to life through high quality, personalized early childhood education. Next Door serves nearly 1,400 children each year from birth to five years old through two center-based sites, a home visitation program and 11 partnership sites in Milwaukee County. They focus on getting children ready for school with academic and social-emotional learning, behavioral, disability and mental health support services and medical and dental care – all at no cost to families. In addition, Next Door provides family advocates to support parents with community resources in areas like housing, employment and food. Next Door also works with expectant mothers in a home-based prenatal services program.

Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary
Supported by Sarah B.

I also chose to support Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary. OFSDS is a Forever Foster Home based Sanctuary in beautiful Mount Juliet, TN, generally housing approximately 120 senior dogs at the Sanctuary and others in temporary and Forever Foster Homes. While providing lifetime homes for senior dogs, OFSDS strives to raise awareness of the joys and challenges of living with older dogs. Senior dogs, especially those with medical problems or disabilities, face a much greater chance of euthanasia at shelters than younger dogs because it is difficult to find adopters for them due to their shorter additional life expectancy and unknown veterinary costs. Most of these wonderful senior dogs are able to live happily with a good quality of life if given a chance. They make wonderful companions because they are mature, calm, and loving. It can be more difficult for them to settle in and, once they do, it is difficult for them to move again. For this reason, OFSDS strives to find them forever foster homes where they can live out their retirement years as a beloved family member.

WUWM
Supported by Michael

This is my ‘go to’ source for local, national and international news. It is always on in my car and I really appreciate all that this station does for our community.

Roots Ethiopia
Supported by Michael

Roots Ethiopia supports Ethiopian families succeeding in work and school through supporting and creating a number of self-help initiatives. The long term vision is focusing on proactive, sustainable projects that are based on local wisdom and experience. Roots Ethiopia gives form to supporting Ethiopians helping Ethiopians, anchored in a partnership that values culturally-appropriate, forward-thinking ways.

My wife and I adopted both of our boys from Ethiopia, so the country is close to our family’s heart. The organizers of Roots Ethiopia adopted children from Ethiopia as well and have the same goals that we have for families living in rural Ethiopia. We have seen and learned about the importance of their mission of supporting children getting an education and women having opportunities to be independent through means of work. Our family is excited to support these goals.

Happy Endings No Kill Cat Shelter
Supported by Audrey

Happy Endings is a nonprofit, no-kill organization in Milwaukee run solely by volunteers who have been saving lives since 1994. It is the mission of Happy Endings to find permanent homes for unwanted, stray, abused or feral animals that are brought to them or rescued from the street. After adopting a cat a year ago and seeing the amazing impact she has had on my life, this year I wanted to give back to the cats that are waiting for their forever home.

METAvivor
Supported by Amy

For the second year in a row, I’m donating to METAvivor. METAvivor is the only organization that solely funds MBC research through a scientific peer-review process. Their mission is to transition metastatic breast cancer from a terminal diagnosis to a chronic, manageable disease with a decent quality of life.

Breast cancer fundraisers are everywhere, but most of the money raised goes toward breast cancer prevention and early detection efforts. Very little of it, only 2-3%, is dedicated toward research for Stage IV, metastatic breast cancer (this is the spread of breast cancer to non-adjacent parts of the body — most commonly to the bones, liver, lungs and/or brain). Many effective breast cancer treatments exist, but if the cancer metastasizes and spreads outside of the breast, there is no cure.

New Rattitude
Supported by Ryan

I donated to New Rattitude, a national Rat Terrier rescue and adoption organization. I chose this organization because we adopted a Rat Terrier mix, Maxwell Smart (who goes by Max or Maxie), who was found as a stray in Ohio and was adopted by a loving foster home in Illinois after finding out he only had a week left before he was going to be euthanized by the local shelter. We found Max at his foster home, or he found us as the saying goes, and we quickly fell in love with the Rat Terrier breed and their big personalities in a small package.

New Rattitude is a nationwide non-profit charitable corporation and is 100% volunteer-operated. They are dedicated to rescuing and rehoming of abandoned, abused, neglected, sick, and unwanted rat terriers and rat terrier mixes. New Rattitude is made up of members and volunteers that work to rescue rat terriers and place them in a nationwide network of foster homes, where they are cared for until they are able to permanently settle into screened and approved adoptive homes.

Foresight Fund for Retinoblastoma Research
Supported by Cassi

One of my best friends, Jamie, found out that her 7 week old daughter, Norah, was diagnosed with retinoblastoma (a form of childhood eye cancer) after finding a mass in her left eye. Norah underwent an enucleation of her left eye to remove the cancerous tumor that was so large other treatments would not have been effective. She is now 4 months old and has 3 rounds of chemo under her belt. She’s kicking cancer’s butt and has showed no additional spread of the tumor/cancer cells to her optic nerve.

I’m choosing to donate to the Foresight Fund for Retinoblastoma Research through Alex’s Lemonade Stand in honor of Norah as she battles eye cancer. All donations to The Foresight Fund for Retinoblastoma Research are restricted to research on innovative approaches to preventing and treating retinoblastoma tumors, retinoblastoma genetics, and retinoblastoma predisposition.

Muscular Dystrophy Association
Supported by Sarah S.

I donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) in memory of my cousin, Philip Edgerley. MDA promises to transform the lives of people living with muscular dystrophy through research, care, and advocacy. I have seen first hand how wonderful this organization is, and appreciate the innovations in science, innovations in highly specialized care, professional education for clinicians and specialists, community education, and advocacy on Capitol Hill. A wonderful organization to support on Giving Tuesday!

Allies for Teens in Foster Care
Supported by Rachel

This year, I’m giving to Allies for Teens in Foster Care. Growing up, I had many foster siblings and they brought my family a lot of joy, laughter and happiness. I want to support these teens, showing them that the community cares for them as they age out of the system and help give them the resources they need to flourish in life.

Hunger Task Force Farm
Supported by Hannah
The Hunger Task Force Farm is a free and local food bank that grows fresh fruits and vegetables on 208 acres and distributes them to those who need it in the community. Last year, Hunger Task Force harvested half a million pounds of fresh produce to serve Milwaukee’s hungry. I strongly believe in the work they do, especially because they are providing nutritious and fresh food to supplement nonperishable and canned items that pantries typically offer. I have volunteered here for several years and will continue to do so, as they rely heavily on help from volunteers to harvest produce and care for the fields.

The Magellan team is glad to have the opportunity to help so many worthy organizations in our community and beyond to support Giving Tuesday 2022.