Helping Out highlights some of the many charitable events and activities going on in the Charleston area. Submissions should be sent to dailyjournal@scbiznews.com.

Share Our Suzy will host the fourth annual It’s Black and White benefit from 7-11 p.m. Jan. 21 at Harborside East. The black tie event with a nautical spin will feature live music by Atlanta party band Yacht Rock Schooner, food by Granville’s Catering and adult beverages. Guests also can learn about the needs of breast cancer patients, ways to assist and directly impact the lives of women battling the disease in the Charleston area. Share Our Suzy’s goal for the event is $25,000, which will go toward helping hundreds of women with gas cards to get to treatment, wigs, childcare, assistance with utility bills and other daily necessities.

Share Our Suzy bridges the financial gap for day-to-day expenses that insurance does not cover. It was started to aid local photographer Suzy McGrane who ultimately lost her battle with cancer in 2005. The SOS Foundation continues Suzy’s mission to allow patients to focus solely on recovery and remission, not the financial stress brought on by their disease.

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WINGS for kids received four stars from Charity Navigator, the highest rating from the charity evaluation organization. Ratings are based on a nonprofit’s organizational efficiency and capacity, including assessing how a nonprofit spends the bulk of donations in its program, keeps its overhead down and leverages fundraising dollars. More than 5,000 charities are featured on the Charity Navigator site, and of those, less than a third are rated with four stars. A four-star rating means a nonprofit is “exceptional: exceeding industry standards and outperforming most charities in its cause.” January marks the beginning of WINGS’ national expansion, with Atlanta preliminarily pegged as the first city. It also signifies the beginning of the University of Virginia’s four-year study on WINGS, which will measure the impact and effectiveness of the nonprofit’s social and emotional education program. WINGS teaches social and emotional skills to elementary school children in an after-school setting.

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Pictured, from left, are Joyel Crawford of Verizon Wireless and Steffanie Godsill Dohn of Crisis Ministries. (Photo/Provided)

As part of its corporate commitment to ending domestic violence, the Verizon Wireless Call Center helped Crisis Ministries purchase a new commercial stove for its Family Center with a $5,000 donation. The shelter reports that about 85% of families at Crisis Ministries are escaping abusive situations. With a stove now in its Family Center, families will be able to have a more private place to gather rather than the community soup kitchen, which serves hundreds of people each day.