Every year I get inundated with requests to donate to the Great Give. I went through every organization participating in the 2023 Great Give and picked my favorites

Top 3 Picks:

10selden – My passion project facilitating artists to make their creative dreams come true. I am planning some great things in the coming year!
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/10selden

Bethany Land Trust – an amazingly active and passionate group of environmentalists, naturalists, and natural historians. Another passion project of mine is being able to catalog and map native american stone structures.
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/bethany-land-trust-inc

Clark Memorial Library – Fantastic community hub for Bethany. They were lifesavers for us as the kids grew up with our weekly visits to see Ms. Dorothy. Now the library is my primary source for all digital borrowing of audiobooks. For a small community library, they have done an amazing job of keeping relevant in ever-changing times.
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/bethany-library-association

Honorable mentions:

Halfway Home Rescue – We’ve adopted multiple dogs and cats from Halfway Home. They are so great to work with and so passionate and caring. It’s so wonderful that they have partnered with Petsmart to help adopt these pets. We love them! 
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/halfway-home-rescue-inc

Best Video Film and Cultural Center – Seems to be the hangout for our New Haven Friends from the 80s and 90s. Comfortable cozy location to see live music with great coffee and wine and beer. 
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/best-video-film-and-cultural-center-59a8bc82-da49-4085-bf60-0277f2f0fcf3

Massaro Community Farm – Where I take my bee-keeping classes and where we get our CSA vegetables!
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/massaro-community-farm

Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven – They run this great program called I heart my home where they help navigate through the complexity of adding solar, heat pumps and making your home as energy efficient as possible.
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/nhsnewhaven

A Broken Umbrella Theatre – We LOVE the Regicides improv comedy troupe!
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/a-broken-umbrella-theatre

Lost In New Haven – such an amazing collection of New Haven history curated by Robert Greenberg. So excited about their new location. I strongly recommend signing up for a sneak peek visit as part of Arts and Ideas https://www.artidea.org/event/2022/4831 
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/lost-in-new-haven-inc

Haven’s Harvest – Ali set up a partnership with Amity High School that saved thousands of pounds of food from going into the landfill. 
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/lost-in-new-haven-inc

Sleeping Giant Park Association – An amazingly dedicated group of volunteers that maintains over 30 miles of trails on the iconic Sleeping Giant. Ali did her thesis research on miles of trails in the park. She’s also a giant master!
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/sgpa

The Astronomical Society of New Haven – We always loved their star parties at the former Yale Bethany observatory. We haven’t been to one of their star parties for years but have very fond memories.
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/the-astronomical-society-of-new-haven

The New Haven Documentary Film Festival – We’ve seen some AMAZING films over the years including a pleasant surprise with our son playing piano (we had no idea he was filmed!)
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/nhdocs-the-new-haven-documentary-film-festival

Site Projects – brought amazing outdoor art to New Haven that makes me smile every time I see it.
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/site-projects

Edgerton Park Conservancy – probably my favorite park in New Haven. Many fond memories of the CT folk festiva and green expo, and who cant forget sledding in the winter?
https://www.thegreatgive.org/organizations/edgerton-park-conservancy