The holiday season brings a host of opportunities to use your wealth in meaningful ways, as you focus on loved ones, share festive wishes with those near and far, and consider year-end giving objectives.
SageVest Wealth Management chooses the holiday season to extend our best wishes for your health, wealth, and happiness throughout the festive season and into the New Year. We also choose this special time of year to direct our company’s philanthropic endeavors. This year, in addition to our traditional charitable partnership, SageVest asked for your input in selecting other deserving organizations in need of our support. The votes are in and the winners are …
Sitar Arts Center of DC
SageVest Wealth Management is a strong supporter of the Sitar Arts Center in Washington, DC. The center offers a wide range of after-school, weekend, and summer programs for students from Washington, DC, many of whom come from low-income households. Its music, drama, art, and creative writing programs inspire more than 800 youngsters a year, fostering personal, artistic, and academic growth in program participants.
Each year, SageVest commissions a piece of festive artwork, created by a program participant of Sitar Arts Center, to feature as our annual e-card. Click to view this year’s seasonal e-greeting, SageVest Holiday Greeting 2016, plus a special video message of thanks from Sitar Arts Center.
SageVest’s ‘Spirit of Holiday Giving’ Survey
In addition to our annual donation to Sitar Arts Center, 2016 marks the first year in which SageVest asked for your help in selecting other charities for consideration, through an online survey.
The following charities received the most votes in our survey and will receive a well-deserved donation from the SageVest team.
First Place – So Others May Eat (SOME)
Achieving the highest number of votes, SOME (So Others May Eat) is a local charity, working to help the poor and homeless in our nation’s capital.
There are more than 8,000 homeless individuals and families in Washington, DC. Nearly 20% of DC residents live at or below the poverty line. SOME is dedicated to addressing homelessness by:
- Offering crisis resources such as food, clothing, and health care to those in desperate need.
- Breaking the cycle of homelessness through the provision of services and resources designed to support recipients’ longer term wellbeing e.g., affordable housing, job training, addiction treatment, and other mental health services.
Second Place – House Of Ruth
Coming in a very close second, House Of Ruth focuses on creating and sustaining positive change for women, children and families impacted by poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, mental illness and/or addiction.
House of Ruth operates 14 programs in the DC Metro area, serving around 1,000 women and children annually. Building on the resilience and courage of the women and families it serves, House Of Ruth offers a safe and structured environment, plus comprehensive, coordinated services that help program participants to overcome the challenges of trauma and abuse, and achieve their highest life potential.
Third Place (Tie) – Fisher House Foundation
The Fisher House Foundation provides a home away from home across the US (as well as in England and Germany) for US military families whose loved ones are undergoing treatment or hospitalization.
The first Fisher House was established in 1991 to address the need for affordable temporary housing for families of active and Veteran military personnel facing medical crisis. There are now 71 Fisher Houses, located near 24 military installations and 29 VA medical centers. This number includes seven in the DMV region. In addition, the organization also operates the Hero Miles and Hotels For Heroes programs, which accept donated air miles and hotel points respectively.
Third Place (Tie) – Doctors Without Borders
Founded in Paris in 1968, Médicins San Frontières (known internationally as Doctors Without Borders) is an association of doctors, health professionals and others who voluntarily provide medical aid to all those who are suffering, regardless of race, religion, or political convictions.
Since its inception, Doctors Without Borders has treated tens of millions of people in more than 80 countries, providing emergency medical care for populations in crisis due to conflict, epidemic, or natural disaster. In 1999, it received the Nobel Prize in 1999 in recognition of its humanitarian work around the world.
