When we think of charitable donations, what immediately comes to mind? Donating money to the church? To the poor? Maybe donating some clothing to a shelter? Or maybe even donating our time to help with various services around our church and community.

What most of those have in common, however, is that they all directly relate to helping the poor or the needy, one way or another; basically those "less fortunate". Yet, there is another sort of charitable donation that doesn't always come immediately to mind. It still involves donating money, but what it's put towards isn't exactly what you usually think of when you think of donating money to charity.

Several months ago I was introduced to the FM radio station Star 99.1, a non-profit (501(c)(3)) organization that is really a breath of fresh air in the FM airwaves. I was so pleased to hear the positive and uplifting words in the morning, the Bible-or-Not trivia, the contemporary Christian music played throughout the day and the sermons late at night.

After listening to Star 99.1 for a while, you begin to realize how truly filthy the other stations have become. Morning talk shows are rarely about anything other than sex, the lyrics for many of the songs are questionable at best and none of them provide any sort of positive words to start your day. Put aside any biases you might have against contemporary Christian music and give Star 99.1 a chance. You may be pleasantly surprised how enjoyable you'll find it.

Unfortunately, the audience for such a station is minuscule compared to the behemoths that are Z100 and other Top40 pop stations. Put that together with the fact that Star 99.1 is a non-profit organization and you have a huge lack of resources for them to stay on the air. They need their own charitable donations and right now they're holding a shareathon to gather donations.

Consider making that donation to help keep the Word on the air. There are countless stories of people who have come across Star 99.1 by chance on their radios and have taken what they heard to heart. Stories of people who have completely changed their lives. If not to shield your own ears from the filth of the alternative, then consider doing it for the spiritually poor who thirst for such a Word.

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
       Because He has anointed Me
      To preach the gospel to the poor;
      He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
      To proclaim liberty to the captives
      And recovery of sight to the blind,
      To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
       19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.
Luke 4:18-19

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