Stories of people doing great work are nice and all. But tough times call for drastic measures. So we're not tip-toeing around it this year: we want you to dig in your pockets and give. Just 20 bucks.

Because when we asked around, we found out that 20 bucks goes a long way. It pays for two at-risk kids to go to the Boys & Girls Club for a year, allows Second Harvest to feed a family of four for a week, And feeds two animals at the Spokane Humane Society two days.

So here's the plan:
Number 1: Scroll down and read about some of the nonprofits listed here. Pick one (or more) you'd like to donate to.

Number 2: Click on the "Donate Now" links that we've provided to donate online to some of the charities listed here. If you don't see a Donate Now link, we've provided a simple form for you to print and fill out on each nonprofit's page. Fill it out and mail a check with it, snail-mail style.

If every one of our 182,000 readers gave a $20 to a local nonprofit, that would mean more than $3.6 million going into the community. So come on. Lets do this.

- LEAH SOTTILE, Philanthropy Section Editor