A little good news

Thank-you to the following individuals who donated a total of $130 US over the last few months towards a donation to The Worldwide Fistula Fund:

Sarah Boyle

United Kingdom

Sharon Evaniew

Saskatchewan, Canada

Matthew Laxer

North Carolina, USA

Robert Ross

New Jersey, USA

Patti Moran

Ontario, Canada

Tom Pink

Ontario, Canada

Kathy Reaves

Florida, USA

Robert Wickberg

Vermont, USA

Cheryl Wolfe

Montana, USA

It was my pleasure to match your donations by sending $260 US to the WWF. This donation resulted in the following letter (which I have reproduced because blogger won't let me post the PDF):

THE WORLDWIDE FISTULA FUND
P.O. Box 27879
Saint Louis, MO 63146-1379

A Tax-Exempt Not-For-Profit Charity Under Section
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
Tax Identification Number 30-0139210
www.worldwidefistulafund.org

(866) 991-6955 Toll Free

(314) 991-6955 Local

August 17, 2009

Thank you for your generous donation of $260.00 to support the work of The Worldwide Fistula Fund.

Nearly 4 million women live each day with the misery of an unrepaired vesicovaginal fistula from difficult childbirth, and each year another 150,000 women develop this devastating (and completely preventable) condition. These women live in the poorest countries of the world, where they are largely voiceless, politically powerless, and lack access to the clinical care that would restore them to health and recover their dignity.

The mission of the Worldwide Fistula Fund is to promote excellent, ethical, comprehensive care for women with obstetric fistulas.

Our strategy to accomplish this is to band together and support a network of committed individuals with fistula expertise who share this common ideal.

To this end, we

• support the direct provision of high-quality clinical care for women with obstetric
fistulas,

• promote excellent training for fistula surgeons incorporating these values,

• advocate relentlessly for the unmet needs of women suffering from fistula, and

• encourage scientifically valid research in fistula treatment and prevention.

It is only through the generous support of donors like you that our mission is possible.

On behalf of fistula victims everywhere, we thank you for your generosity.

Very truly yours,

L. Lewis Wall, MD, DPhil, President
The Worldwide Fistula Fund

No goods or services have been provided in connection with this gift.

Thank you!

I think it's great that 10 people (including myself) located thousands of miles apart combined to help this incredibly worthy cause.

I will be continuing to organize events in order to raise money in the name of secular humanism for the WFF, The Smile Train, GiveWell, Oxfam and other like organizations. However, I have removed the PayPal contribution tab from this site because I find it detracts from my primary message that religious beliefs are irrational. Belief in myths and supernatural entities should not be accorded any more respect because they are accompanied with a charitable intent. Would you consider my belief that little green men live on my roof any more respectable if I claimed they were telling me to give to charity?