My husband and I give regularly to a spiritual community and to medical relief organizations. And sometimes to our alma maters. But I have recently experienced a level of giving and generosity that is extraordinary. The students, parents, teachers, and administration at the school where I teach, as well as a local corporation, have adopted a "Sparrow Child"--a 14 year old girl who would have been a Freshman at our school but who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last August. She is very sick. Our school community has raised thousands of dollars to help this girl and her family with the overwhelming daily costs of dealing with her care: gas to chemo treatments, lost days of work, etc. From students giving pennies, dimes and dollars at an assembly to the corporate matching of student and staff volunteer hours, our school community has shown what giving is all about. Even though most of us have never met her, Brittany is in our hearts.

The thing that usually gets me to give is an NPR pledge drive. Not this time though; I've dropped my membership until the Takeaway is cancelled.

I was just recently reading about food shortages in Africa and how people need to be able to learn to provide for themselves and I'm also thinking about how it's Mothers Day coming up and I just sort of realized that I don't need to send a box full of flowers to my mom and my grandma and my mother in law and my other grand mother but sort of show them how, how they raised us and what we think of them that we could do something like giving to Afro International and do something really meaningful for them this year. So that's what inspired me today.

Both the Tsunami of 04 and Hurricane Katrina made me donate. As horrific as those events were, it wasn't until my own family's neighborhood was destroyed by the San Diego wildfires last year that really made me see close up just how scary natural disasters are, no matter what type. I have a whole new level of compassion for anyone who has to go through such an ordeal.

I am a huge George Clooney fan, and it was his involvement in the telethons following 9/11 and the Tsunami that compelled me to start contributing to those in need. My first gift was to the Red Cross and since then I have continued to give to world aid organizations. It just goes to show that celebrities can make a difference.

My parents taught me from a young age to donate money and support organizations,no matter how little the amount -- everything counts. I regularly donate to my college, high school, and organizations that friends are active with for walk-athons, dance-athons, etc. I also donated to the read Cross after the Tsunami in 2005, the September 11 attacks, and funds to help a pre-school in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

First we lost Bob Edwards to the bobblehead decision makers who somehow divined that what I really wanted on Morning Edition was a new, younger, more vibrant cast. Now we have to joggle our band selectors between FM and AM to stay with the new old guys, or stay put and suffer a morning fix of sights and sounds that I would liken to the NPR equivalent of crack cocaine. I have never bought crack cocaine, and I am absolutely not buying this new show. Please repair the damage done before we all go raging mad like angry zombies in a Danny Boyle film. So much frenetic energy on a morning NPR show can only go so far, I would say one or two weeks is quite far enough. Kindly pull the plug on this farcical fiasco and put everyone out of their misery.

I give annually to organizations I personally interact with -- which includes an arts organization and a spiritual community.

I am also very motivated to give to organizations that adhere to that old adage "give a man fish, he'll eat for day. Teach him how to fish...". Heifer International is my favorite. By providing animals -- who can provide milk, babies or fur they can sell -- recipients are given gifts that keep giving and opportunities for small business development. I can't praise the cause highly enough. heifer.org

Finally, I give the gift of time: as a mentor to a teen and occasionally, at a soup kitchen.

I usually give a buck to the bum who opens the door for me at the bodega. I was talking to him the other day and it turns out he actually makes about the same as I take home after taxes. I'll keep giving though, because I know that our roles may be reversed at any moment and he might be the one working while I depend on the kindness of others.

HOCKENBERRY! Why do you insist on adding your editorial comments when delivering the news at the top of the hour? You piped in your opinion on a story about MySpace winning a lawsuit this morning. If you are going to editorialize, why bother presenting this segment as "news"? Why not just call it opinion and be honest with your listeners?

I must say, in markets with Morning Edition as an option, you folks are going to loose audience like crazy. This is my main gripe with this program: don't corrupt the "newscast" segments with your opinions...then you can do whatever else you want elsewhere in the show. Otherwise, you're not much different than commercial talk shows intent on being sensational for the sake of entertainment.