Despite bad times, there are still some do-gooders out there

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but amidst the usual doom and gloom in the news, there have been some uplifting tales of do-gooders making headlines for the way they've been giving money to the less-than-fortunate.

It's been welcome news for the nonprofit industry. According to Sandra Miniutti, vice president for Charity Navigator, which evaluates the health of 5,500 of the nation's largest charities, the latest numbers that exist -- for 2008, with 2009 numbers being released this summer -- charitable giving dropped 6% as the recession heated up.

"That's the biggest drop in fifty-some years of tracking this data," says Miniutti.

But the following three folks apparently haven't gotten the memo that we're giving less these days.