It's interesting that this topic came up because I've been thinking about it a lot as the New Year rolled in. I know you said "legitimate charity", so this may not qualify. This a very-soon-to-be charity.

My sister is actually creating an organization called "I Love You More", which was inspired by my mother, who passed away in September after a 21-year fight with large-scale ovarian cancer. She was in hospice care for about 3 weeks, the last week of which required round-the-clock care as she slipped into a coma brought on by kidney failure. Those last several days were the hardest for us, particularly for my sister who provided most of the care. When hospice began, we were under the false assumption that we'd have a nightly nurse to stay and assist in caring for her, but we discovered that an overnight nurse would cost an additional $300 per night. We were only able to afford 2 of those nights between myself, my sister, and my brother who lives 2 states away, but in our case more wasn't needed as mom passed after only 6 days from the moment she made the decision to have the implanted tube to her kidney removed.

The purpose of the organization is to help families in need of funding a night or number of nights so family members can rest during end-of-life care for a loved one.

This will be especially helpful to families whose members may not be medically qualified to give the kind of care a loved one might need, yet be able to avoid having to add the enormous emotional, physical, and financial stress of transporting them to a hospital to spend their last moments.