June passed away in April, she was 82. She was one of Canada's most celebrated authors and social advocates. She helped the homeless, dealt with issues of racism and injustice. She did much volunteer work.

In 2004, June was diagnosed with inoperable cancer and refused to undergo treatments.

I came across a last interview with her that I thought was very moving. She talks about her life, her marriage, and the fact that her cancer is terminal.

What an amazing woman.

Not too many days left until Christmas, but for those of us who still have some shopping left to do, Shopexa is an opportunity to benefit charity while we finish finding perfect presents for family and friends.

It won't cost you anything extra to shop and buy this way, and Shopexa will donate 50 percent of its profits from the purchases you make to the charity of you choice. Some of the charities included will benefit cancer, end hunger, save the environment, children, women and the homeless.

Shopexa was launched on December 15th, with Jay Siva as the founder. According the background information provided on the Shopexa website, Siva is a self-published author and webmaster who seeks to create and develop new innovative projects that will fill real needs. Shopexa is affiliated through Amazon, and Amazon handles all transactions and purchases.

You can make Shopexa your home page, choose your charities and invite friends to join you. From what I can tell, Shopexa will be a year-round service. As for Christmas shopping, unless you are one of those extremely efficient shoppers who completed their holiday shopping weeks ago, this is a chance to make a difference in the life of someone we may never meet, while spending money we would be spending anyway. It is the essence of the Christmas spirit.

Thanks Mike Marshall for this tip!

And too, our very own Allie Beatty has created an advertising portal for the largest shopping sites to benefit research in finding a cure for cancer, diabetes, lung and heart diseases. Shop4Cures earns advertising commissions when visitors click through and shop her affiliates, and her profits are donated to cure research. By offering coupons, free shipping, and other incentives she hopes to encourage people to use Shop4Cures for their online shopping.

Kim Stubblefield, former high school cheerleader who worked nearly two decades at Union Hospital filing medical records, had it all. Marriage, family, work and her health. She is now unemployed, uninsured and essentially homeless. What happened? First a divorce, and then a throat cancer diagnosis. She lost her job, which led to her losing her health insurance. She has seizures, and a mild stroke has left her slightly paralyzed in her left arm and leg. In the news story The Southern Illinoisan has featured about her, by her own admission, is a person who has run out of options and is quickly running out of hope. In a series of bureaucratic rejections few of us would understand, Social Security disability won't help her, the Department of Public Aid won't help her, and she has been told she doesn't qualify for Medicaid.

"I’ve always worked, always contributed to what I would call the system," Stubblefield said. "But, I don’t understand how I can just keep getting turned down and keep getting turned down over and over again. All I’m trying to do is stay alive, so it goes far beyond frustrating. I just don’t understand how the system works." If this were an isolated incident, it would be disturbing enough to shame us as a nation, but this is happening to people all over the country. There are 45 million uninsured people in this country.

Jim Muir, columnist for The Southern Illinoisan, writes in an Op-Ed piece, We've failed our moral test, "On the state level we can spend $9 million to elect an Illinois Supreme Court justice and pay do-nothing, double-dipping politicians a six-figure retirement, but a dying woman can't get medical help. On a national level we can spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build a bridge in Alaska that 50 people per day use and a zillion dollars on a war in Iraq - but a cancer-stricken woman can't afford to go to the doctor. I don't care what your political party affiliation is -- there is something tragically wrong with that picture." Indeed.