CAN ANYONE HELP?... I DON'T WANT TO LOSE 23,000 MILES...

[I]United sent a message:23,000 miles expire on October 31, 2006 with two easy ways to keep them:
1. Fly a paid roundtrip on United...anywhere we fly...I live in Seattle, so I could fly to Portland for $180 and back in one day to keep the miles, but as I figure it, the 23,000 miles are worth about that, so why bother...
or
2. Use Any Milage Plus partner to book a flight...

Then I will be able to keep my miles for another 36 months.

I tried to get a gift on United site, but these miles do no qualify. I was one of the early joiners of United Milage Plus (the first digits of my number are 00012.....etc.) that's a very early joiner (23 years ago?).

Any suggestions? Could the miles be given to a charity?

Grayank