Monterey County Gives! launches – here’s how you can get involved.

I can’t say that what you’ll find in the pages of this Monterey County Weekly annual edition, in which we launch our annual charitable campaign to support the big ideas of local nonprofits, will cure all of society’s ills.

But I can say with reasonable certainty that it’s one of the best shots we have at remedying some of them. Each of the 144 nonprofits involved came up with an idea – some big, some a little smaller, but each unique to a problem they’re trying to solve.

Here’s how things will unfold over the next six weeks:

The website for the Monterey County Gives! campaign website launches at midnight, Nov. 12. Straight out of the gate, we have $700,000 in hand, including $325,000 in Matching Grants and $375,698 in Challenge Grants. The goal is to get to $2 million in donations by midnight Dec. 31.

That will happen because of all of you, donors who give a little or donors who give a lot. A 7-year-old named Scout, for example, already donated $5 (a fortune for a 7 year old) to the Big Sur Education Council to support its big idea of training the next generation of environmental stewards. An anonymous donor already gave $10,000 to Gathering for Women, an outreach that provides shelter and pantry services for homeless woman or women at imminent risk for homelessness, to support their big idea of renting its own space instead of being a subtenant of other organizations that have their own schedules and needs.

As we’ve put this issue together over the past few weeks, there ends up being a lot of discussion about favorites. I admittedly have a soft spot for Gathering for Women, because through sheer force of will, they’ve created a place where homeless women on the Peninsula know they can go for food, clothing, comfort and companionship. Someone else in our office grins every time Teddy Bears With Heart comes up; their mission is to provide a new stuffed bear to children in traumatic situations – accident scenes, ambulance rides or emergency rooms, for example – giving scared kids something literal and loving to hold onto until the storm has passed. Their goal this year: raise money for 15,000 new bears. That’s a lot of bears. But there are also a lot of kids who will need them.

In Gives!, there’s something for everyone.

In Gives!, there’s something for everyone. If you have a weakness for scruffy dogs, shy bunnies or grumpy cats, Animal Friends Rescue has an underage, overage, injured, shy or overlooked dog, cat or rabbit who needs help getting healthy and ready for adoption. Or Peace of Mind Dog Rescue takes in dogs from senior citizens who can no longer care for them and places them in loving foster homes until they are adopted. And if they’re never adopted, they stay with their foster families.

It doesn’t take much from a single individual to make gives a success. It takes a little from a lot of individuals. Even $5, like that 7-year-old in Big Sur gave, can go a long way toward helping any of the laudable nonprofits participating in this year’s Gives! For Gathering, it could buy a bunch of toothbrushes. For Teddy Bears With Heart, it’s a new bear. For some of the literacy nonprofits, like Read to Me (in which older kids help younger kids learn to read) it’s the cost of a few new books.

If history is more your bag, you can donate to the Old Monterey Foundation and its dream of bringing Lower Presidio Park back to life, adding picnic tables and benches and opening up views of the harbor to visitors. And the Friends of the Fort Ord Warhorse is looking for a little financial love to sponsor its annual event celebrating the history of the U.S. Army horses and mules that served in wars throughout history.

This year’s goal of $2 million is a whopper. But so was last year’s goal and the year before. As much work as it takes to put the campaign together, from the design and coding of the website, to choosing the nonprofits, to putting the paper together, it’s fun watching the excitement build around all of the organizations doing big and little things, all for the betterment of the community, whether through helping people, pets or championing the arts.

Give a little because it means a lot. Or hell, if you have it, give a lot, because that means a lot too.

MARY DUAN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at mary@mcweekly.com or follow her at twitter.com/maryrduan.