giving a week to charity

i have 26800 staroptions left for 2008, how can i give a week or a few days to some worthwhile charity? i could get arizona in the summer,sbp for feb break,or colorado for thanksgiving.i would hate for them to go to waste.

i could get days in svv or svr.

pointsjunkie said:

i have 26800 staroptions left for 2008, how can i give a week or a few days to some worthwhile charity? i could get arizona in the summer,sbp for feb break,or colorado for thanksgiving.i would hate for them to go to waste.

i could get days in svv or svr.

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Redweek has a section devoted to donating your timeshare to charity. You can't deduct it as a charitable contribution, but it's a nice way of using up unused StarOptions.

http://www.redweek.com/help/articles/donating-timeshare-to-charity

You could also just book and then contact the local charity of your choice and tell them that you'll donate it for their next charity auction.

You might want to review the info. on the Advice page about taxes, but I don't believe that donating the use of your timeshare is tax deductible, if that is a consideration.

Oh, I see that Lisa already posted that.

You do own a lot of weeks now! Will you have a hard time using them until you retire? I juggle our 6 weeks a bit - I would hate to waste any of them!

You'll find that the tax info in the TUG Advice article and in the Redweek articles is about the same. That's because I wrote all of them!

My biggest concern with donating a week was liability. I think the owner is ultimately responsible for any damages caused by the tenant.

To mitigate this issue, I ended up donating a week to my kids’ school auction. I figured that whoever bought it would be more responsible (well at least better track-downable) than whoever bought it from the random charity that I donated it to.

BTW, 67,100 StarOptions (i.e. a studio in Maui that I had booked with an option for the buyer to change to something else in SVN worth that many SO's) went for $2200 at auction. Not bad.

-nodge

Make-a-Wish Foundation has tremendous needs for Orlando housing as Disney is the #1 request of these very ill children.

The Central Florida Chapter fills the lodging requests for all states. They can always use donations, they need about 2-3 months notice for the matching/scheduling process.

Their info is:

1053 North Orlando Ave, Suite 1
Maitland, FL 32751
Office Phone: 407-622-HOPE (4673)
Office FAX: (407) 622-5803
Toll Free Florida Only:
(888) 874-WISH (9474)

Dave M said:

You'll find that the tax info in the TUG Advice article and in the Redweek articles is about the same. That's because I wrote all of them!

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You rock, Dave!!! Thanks for sharing your expertise with us novices.

Dave M said:

You'll find that the tax info in the TUG Advice article and in the Redweek articles is about the same. That's because I wrote all of them!

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When I saw the title of the thread, I was going to refer you over to Dave M's Kingdom ....I mean the Marriott Board :ignore: ....for his expert advice.

And I agree about Make a Wish or another Childrens Charity would be an excellent use of your extra points - GOOD for YOU!

johnmfaeth said:

Make-a-Wish Foundation has tremendous needs for Orlando housing as Disney is the #1 request of these very ill children.

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What a wonderful idea - has that idea ever been posted anywhere on TUG? I think it should be a sticky or on advice page somewhere! I am going to suggest it to Brian, if not.

It should probably be included as an addition to the charitable giving article in the Advice section.

Pointsjunkie-- your altruism is impressive.
One suggestion that may be obvious, but I thought it worth pointing out. You could consider securing a week and selling that or selling the points. Donate the cash to your favorite charity (which would likely be appreciated more than the points anyway). Then the donation is tax-deductable for you.

i am not doing it for a tax deduction or the money , i just thought there is some kid out there who is going through some sort of hell and a few days of happiness would lift their spirits.

i like the make a wish idea , i will call them . thanks everyone.

johnmfaeth said:

Make-a-Wish Foundation has tremendous needs for Orlando housing as Disney is the #1 request of these very ill children.

The Central Florida Chapter fills the lodging requests for all states. They can always use donations, they need about 2-3 months notice for the matching/scheduling process.

Their info is:

1053 North Orlando Ave, Suite 1
Maitland, FL 32751
Office Phone: 407-622-HOPE (4673)
Office FAX: (407) 622-5803
Toll Free Florida Only:
(888) 874-WISH (9474)

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i spoke to them today, i feel so good, i was actually crying when i made the reservation. some little boy and his family will be going to disney and swim with the dolphins in may. i highly recommend donating extra staroptions for a family who could use some happiness in their lives. whAT A HIGH!!!

thanks for the address and telephone number. i will probably be doing this every year.

pointsjunkie said:

i spoke to them today, i feel so good, i was actually crying when i made the reservation. some little boy and his family will be going to disney and swim with the dolphins in may. i highly recommend donating extra staroptions for a family who could use some happiness in their lives. whAT A HIGH!!!

thanks for the address and telephone number. i will probably be doing this every year.

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Barbara - that's a WONDERFUL thing! Good for you!

Good job!

pointsjunkie said:

i spoke to them today, i feel so good, i was actually crying when i made the reservation. some little boy and his family will be going to disney and swim with the dolphins in may. i highly recommend donating extra staroptions for a family who could use some happiness in their lives. whAT A HIGH!!!

thanks for the address and telephone number. i will probably be doing this every year.

Click to expand...

Way to go!

I've added the Make-A-Wish Info. to the Owner Resources Sticky, so we will always have it available.

Good for you, PointsJunkie!!!

A few years ago our Girl Scout troop went down to Orlando and worked at the Give Kids The World community for 5 days. They have plenty of volunteers during the winter, thanks to the many wonderful senior citizens who donate their time, but a lot of the snowbirds head north for the summer to escape the heat, so it's an optimal time for families, scout troops and church groups to head south and take over to help run the place in between visits to The Mouse House.

http://www.gktw.org/

Give Kids the World is a wonderful place. It's a little "village" where sick kids can come and visit with other kids who understand about pain and needles and baldness. The families stay in individually decorated houses that are built to be comfortable and homey but with all the amenities of a hospital. A little train is driven throughout the village all day long picking up kids and bringing them to the pools or towne square. (I was the most excellent train conductor.) The towne square has a cafeteria, a Make A Wish castle, an arcade, handicap accessible rides, and an ice cream shoppe that is open from dawn til dusk.

GKTW has agreements with Disney and SeaWorld and Universal for the families to get into the parks for no cost as well. And then each night cast members from the different theme parks visit the towne square to entertain the kids and their families who are too sick to travel anywhere.

All of it is 100% free to the families, including the airfare. (For those with extra Frequent Flyer Miles, Make A Wish is a great organization to donate, too). They try to accomodate as many kids as they can, but sometimes there is a critical need for accomodations because time is running out but no accomodations are available. That's when people like PointsJunkie enter the picture.

It's a heartbreaking and heartwarming place all rolled into one.

i gave this info to other people at TUG and 2 other tuggers have decided to donate to Make a Wish with their extra week or points.

so if you have extra points it is such a worth while thing to do.

how nice!

Hi Barbara (Pointsjunkie),

High kudos to you for not only giving but spreading the word !!!

And thanks to moderators Denise and Dave whose efforts will help others learn of this.

I learned of it because of a Deli owner in Mount Kisco, NY who is very active.

Cures would be best, but smiles along the way are incredible treatment too. And rare good memories for a family under siege...

John