Happy First Birthday, S.O.S.

Have a few extra bucks? Wanna put them to good use, right now? Check out Sink Or Swim Philadelphia - S.O.S.,  for short - a nonprofit that will let you play Good Samaritan to uninsured and under-insured folks in medical need for whom a few dollars will go a very, very long way.

It's simplicity is a thing of beauty. Just go to the S.O.S. website, click on the word "recipients" and a bunch of stories will pop up that describe folks who could use a little help. A new recipient is posted each month, and donors can decide to whom to donate and how much to give them. The needs aren't huge - there's no million-dollar wish lists - but, if fulfilled, they'll make a huge difference.

Among the needy are Carolanne, an amputee, who needs $600 to repair her prosthetic leg. Joe, a quadriplegic, who is $4,000 shy of buying a handicapped-accessible van. Yelez, diagnosed with schizophrenia, for whom $2,500 will pay for medications to keep her stable.

SOS Philly, founded in October 2011 by a nurse named Marion Leary, is celebrating its first birthday on Sunday, Oct. 28th, from 2pm-4pm with a party at  Garden Variety, the open-air market at 2nd and Poplar Sts. in Northern Liberties. There's a lot to toast: In its inaugural year, over $17,000 helped 11 people in need, with just a few mouse-clicks. What a truly wonderful idea!

Happy birthday, S.O.S., and thanks for the good deeds you allow to happen.