Sharing news and worthy causes is absolutely allowed @chezney! It helps to draw attention to a post if you include a photo as well (if it's not your own just cite the source and then it's fine).

Don't worry if things are slow to start with, it takes a little time to build followers. I'm very glad you decided to join this amazing community! When you get time, most people do a #introduceyourself post (with as little or as much personal info as you want to give) and a photo of yourself to verify you're a real person (it's fine to put on a bit of a 'disguise'... it's really just to show you're not a robot!) Any questions, you know where I am! :-)