Dick Spotswood: During Marin season of giving, here are a few good nonprofit groups

Happy Hanukkah and a very Merry Christmas to all IJ readers. As in the past, during this holiday season I’m providing suggestions for giving to worthy causes based in Marin and San Francisco.

It’s an appropriate time to think of others who are not as blessed as many of us. It’s also timely to look ahead to tax time by making tax-deductible charitable donations before the end of the year.

I have personally vetted the nonprofits listed, know the organizers and have all of them on my year-end giving list. Helping those in need isn’t just a seasonal duty that all faiths have always preached. Each of these selfless organizations are now seeking Marin volunteers to propel their mission throughout the year.

• St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin (vinnies.org). They’re known for their free hot lunch programs that are served to men and women in need every day of the year at 820 B Street in downtown San Rafael.  Less known is St. Vincent’s parish conferences that operate from most Marin Catholic churches. Their goal is to prevent homelessness by keeping precariously housed people from losing shelter.

• Jewish Family and Children’s Services of San Francisco, The Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties (jfcs.org/give). In Jewish teaching there is a special responsibility for reaching out to children, the aged, the alienated and the dependent, and for the resettlement and acculturation of refugees and immigrants.

• Big God Ministries (biggodministries.com). The is a nondenominational Christian program helps the homeless in Marin with donations of warm blankets and coats, or money to purchase these essentials. Every Thanksgiving, it distributes free turkeys and bibles to people in need in Marin City and San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood. Its December Toy Drive provides these same communities with toys and warm clothing. Big God’s founder, Pastor David Hall, was raised in Marin City. He is literally a big man, with a big heart that radiates joy.

• Tribe Rising (triberisingindia.org). Founded by Mill Valley’s Annette and Paul Venables, the program’s goal is to provide education to the Santal people, a lower caste community in India’s West Bengal. They’re raising funds to build and operate high school and middle school for children, who, because of their hereditary lower caste, have few opportunities to receive quality education. Their partner is an Indian Jesuit priest who supervises operation of the residential schools.

• Homeward Bound of Marin (hbofm.org). The nonprofit provides shelter, housing and job training, including a first-rate school for those looking for employment in the restaurant industry. It helps unhoused people to find their own path to housing and stability. Homeward Bound, in conjunction with many Marin Rotary clubs, have opened Puett Place, a new structure in the Hamilton area of south Novato with 24 apartments for unhoused veterans. When fully occupied, Puett Place has the potential to end veteran homelessness in Marin.

• Swords to Plowshares (swords-to-plowshares.org). Founded by Vietnam-era veterans, its mission is to heal the wounds of war and restore dignity, hope and self-sufficiency to all veterans in need. It aims to prevent and end homelessness and poverty among America’s true patriots — those who serve in uniform to protect our nation.

• Haiti On The Rise (haitiontherise.org). The nonprofit was founded by Jackie Lee, a parishioner at San Rafael’s St. Raphael Catholic Church who was born and raised in Haiti. The island has been plagued by poverty, corruption, disease and misery ever since the French left their Caribbean slave colony in disarray. Haiti On The Rise channels funds to build schools and help families to individuals and groups vetted by Lee so that the money is not stolen before it can be channeled to Haitian families desperately in need.

Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.