Chanatown

2012 is here, and the giving continues. I'm pleased to announce that I've dispersed the next round of donations through my semiannual giving campaign . The most recent amount went to the Garfield Park Conservatory. On June 30th, a severe hail storm hit Chicago (one of the loudest I've heard in my three decades of living here). Unfortunately, one of the victims of this massive storm was the Garfield Park Conservatory. That evening, the roofs of the beautiful Fern Room, Show House, Desert House and nine propagation houses were severely damaged. For more information about the storm damage or to donate directly,  please visit the website .

The first half of the year has come and gone, so I'm pleased to announce that I've dispersed the first of hopefully several checks to various charities and organizations through my giving campaign ( more information here ). The first check went to Eden Place Nature Center, a 3.5-acre urban garden, nature preserve, and educational center on the South side of Chicago. Read more about the center here , or visit their website directly. As always, thank you for reading my posts and not complaining about the inclusion of ads, affiliated posts, and referral links. They are a small, but steady source of revenue that allows me to continue helping those that could use it. In addition to a donation to Eden Place, Chanatown has issued eight loans to Kiva , and after repayment, has now sponsored fifteen now in total. With all of that in mind, I'd like to announce the recipient for the remainder of 2011. July-December 2011 Beneficiary: Garfield Park Conservatory Photo Credit: M...

First, I'd like to thank you the reader for visiting and reading my blog. Without readers, I would not be driven to take time out of my schedule to write with any sort of frequency. Second, I'd like to thank you for your patience in seeing ads on my site. My hope is that they are relevant enough to the posts that you may actually want to click on them. I know I have been tempted to do so (a big no-no with Google, so for the record, I have not clicked on any of my own ads). With that being said, I have been observing a steady trickle of pennies coming through the gates, enough to collect my first check. As promised, I recently issued 8 new Kiva loans ( for more info, please visit the Why Ads? page ). For 2011, I'd like to use all blog generated revenues to benefit two charities, the first being announced today. January-June 2011 Beneficiary:   Eden Place Nature Center Eden Place is a 3.5-acre urban garden, nature preserve, and educational center on the South side of Chi...