My $2 donation to charity

The saddest commercial I have ever seen is from my childhood. Children of the '80s and dog lovers will remember a spot where two male voices are coming from inside a house. One voice says, "Where's that puppy?" and another male voice says, "A puppy? He's not a puppy anymore. He stays outside now." Then, the commercial moves to a dog looking hopeful in his doghouse, but you can tell he's freezing in the wicked winter weather. And then a tear runs down his little doggy face. I felt like, at any moment, the homeowner was going to come out and rescue him - but he never did. Every single time I watched it, I thought it was going to end differently.

It made me cry every time I saw it. I don't even know what it was advertising - the humane society? Dog food? Windows? But it got me, because when I was little, I loved animals.

It was also a dog that got me to give my first charitable donation. Before there were Loonies and Toonies, we had $1 and $2 bills. When I was little, I saved up my allowance and Tooth Fairy money. I also got to roll my mom's pennies and sometimes keep a $1. One night, a telethon was on for the Toronto Humane Society. I remember seeing dogs alone in their cages, waiting for someone to love them, and dogs running down the road alone, searching for their owners who'd ditched them. (Remember The Littlest Hobo? That theme song can still make me cry, too.)

I told my mom I wanted to pledge my savings to the humane society so I could save a dog. I ran to my room and got my brown leather wallet out of my end table and pulled out 12 $1 bills. It was my life savings. I remember I called the humane society and told them they could have my $12.

Later, we got our pledge form mailed to us - and there was a horrible mistake. They'd registered me for a $2 donation, $10 short of what I really wanted to give.

I cried. Again. Two dollars seemed too little.

I don't know where that person went for many years. My teen years and my 20s were all about me. Yes, for years, as an elementary and high school student, I brought in my obligatory bags of food for the local food bank and I carried the Unicef box around my neck at Halloween, but I definitely lost that sense of devastation and charity that visions of suffering puppies once aroused in me. For a decade, I basically gave nothing and did nothing for other people. I can't take those years back, but I'm trying to make up for them now.

Every day, we are told times are not good and the world is in a recession. This week, the Kingston area lost hundreds of jobs. Charities are worried. The people who used to give are giving less and, in some cases, the givers may need to become the users.

Yesterday morning, the Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington United Way announced that it raised $2,848,000 for numerous local groups, including women's shelter Interval House, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Kingston Youth Shelter and Kingston Literacy. I went to the celebration breakfast that recognizes the achievements of local giving people.

This area raised $48,000 more than the goal. It's good, but it won't be enough because it's never enough.

I scoured YouTube looking for the abandoned dog commercial. If I ever find it, I'll share it with you because I promise you, one look at the pup and you'll drain your bank account to help the world's most vulnerable creatures.

Don't even get me started on the 1980s McDonald's commercial where a group of children go skating with Ronald McDonald - but then one little boy gets left behind ...