Before the holidays, there was a lot written about the safety of China’s exports; namely, toys. Many shoppers were on high-alert, looking for toys that were not manufactured in China, or, at the very least, were not at the top of any recall lists.

And then today I read a story in the Wall Street Journal that began like this:

“Over the holidays, millions of American children received Chinese-made toys powered by cadmium batteries.

Cadmium batteries are safe to use. They are also cheap, saving American parents about $1.50 on the average toy, compared with pricier batteries.”

The article then goes on to say that the cheap price of these batteries does not reveal the heavy price the Chinese workers making them must pay for inhaling the toxic red cadmium dust. Problems such as kidney failure, lung cancer and bone disease can be the result of breathing in this toxic metal.

You can read the entire article here. And note this: “In America, five years after Hasbro stopped using nickel-cadmium batteries, Mattel and Toys “R” Us are yet to follow suit, but say they are exploring alternatives. Wal-Mart no longer purchases cadmium batteries from GP but declined to comment on whether it still uses them in its products.”

It is bone-chilling to think about how many people may be now suffering or even dead so that we can save $1.50 on the ‘average toy’.

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Chances are you have it: a bucket, container, shoe box or dish where you throw change found in your pockets at the end of the day. We have two: “his” and “hers”. I’ve been collecting change in mine for a couple of years and had filled a half-gallon size jar.

I know some people who have very specific plans for these change jars. The money is being used for a family trip, or to buy a piece of furniture, or for the kids’ college funds. However, I had no plans for this change. It was just ‘fun money’.

But, as I brought the jar downstairs and started to divide the coins into piles of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies, I had a thought. Turning to my little helpers (Belly and Jilly), I told them they could decide how to spend a third of the money. However, instead of spending their portion on themselves, the money had to go to helping someone else. We would each get one-third of the total coins rolled.

Belly, in full American Girl Doll mode, said she wanted to help a place like the one that helped Kit’s father. The story of Kit is set during the Great Depression when her father had to visit a soup kitchen. We decided that Boston’s Pine Street Inn was pretty close, so we will be sending them a check (and since Fairly Odd Father’s company has a matching gift program, we can double our donation).

Jilly had to think about where to send her portion but decided she wanted to help animals. We will send her donation to our nearby MSPCA which has a nice new cat room to showcase the older cats.

The number of charities I would like to help is endless. However, I was touched after reading this post about the number of schools and libraries that lost all their books to Hurricane Katrina. Books, to me, are one of the most important things a child should have, and therefore, I will be purchasing some items from this wish list.

If you have a jar of coins with no plans attached to them, consider donating them to a cause that speaks to you. Chances are someone else will see your quarters, nickels and dimes not as change, but as gold.

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