Donors Choose: kids need us, with or without cheap theatrics

Update: you guys finished funding one of the projects below, which is incredibly generous.  I'm a big fan of micro-donations, so feel free to kick a buck or two into another project! --PalMD

OK, you guys have been great. We've funded eight projects in needy Michigan schools, reaching 630 kids---and many of the projects are multi-year so even more kids will be reached.

But from a strictly selfish viewpoint, I want more. One of my favorite bloggy friends, Dr. Isis, has brought out the big guns. She is offering to much public self-humiliation to encourage extra giving. I've got nothing on that. My own writing humiliates me daily, and my picture is right up there on the left sidebar.

Thank you to all of you who have given in the first half of this month-long campaign. Whichever project you fund, whatever blog you donate through, your money is going for a good cause.

But I still hate to see my home state continue to circle the drain. Michigan classrooms are begging. Even wealthy districts are reaching out (not in this campaign) to parents to have them purchase school supplies. All I'm asking is a couple of bucks for needy schools in Michigan. I can afford to buy glue sticks for my daughter's school. The DonorsChoose kids can't even afford to buy lunch.

So here's a list of the programs currently on my list, and how much is left to fund them. If you can give a dollar or more, great. If you can't, tweet it, facebook it, get the word out. Don't give until it hurts. Just give what you can, be it money or a keystroke. (It also couldn't hurt to show Isis that while we love her, cheap stunts aren't gonna do it. Heh heh heh).

• A story to tell: reading and writing program with Gates Foundation matching funds, $319.00
• Inner City Soccer Team, $466.00
• Chemistry is everywhere!!! ---FULLY FUNDED, THANKS TO YOU!
• Music to Motivate the Mind, $505.00
• Building Mathematical Literacy, $360.00
• Express yourself through Poetry $396.00
• Tools of the Trade: Making comics to help teach kids English, all they want is a freakin' printer, $323.00