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With the holidays right around the corner, there is no better time than now to start planning any homemade holiday gifts you would like to make this year. Nothing captures the spirit of the holidays like a unique gift that’s been made with care and love. With a chance to stay away from the crowded malls you might just find yourself with extra holiday spirit - and cash, too - to take you into the new year. And wouldn’t that be nice.
Check out Gifts From the Heart for DIY gifts and crafts.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the hectic shopping season during the holidays, that often the true meanings of Thanksgiving, Christmas and other winter celebrations get lost. Here are a few ideas to help us all slow down, relax and enjoy the spirit of gratitude and giving this season. Some ideas include “greener” or more personal and meaningful gift options, ways to create new or get back to traditional holiday celebrations that focus on spending quality time with family and friends, and just making time during the season for yourself and perhaps serving others who are not as fortunate.
Check out Simplify the Holidays for ideas and tips for the coming season.
Wow. I feel such a sense of optimism. What an historic moment.
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via & video
And the Alfred E Smith dinner was pretty entertaining, too.
McCain’s speech
Today thousands of bloggers will unite to discuss a single issue - poverty. We aim to raise awareness, initiate action and to shake the web! Learn More
TED Talk
Researcher Hans Rosling uses his cool data tools to show how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He demos Dollar Street, comparing households of varying income levels worldwide. Then he does something really amazing.
more videos
Poverty Facts
- Almost half the world — over 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.
- The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined.
- Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
- Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
- 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).
more Poverty Facts and Stats, here, too
The Girl Effect
Give a Loan to the Working Poor
Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva is a non-profit that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world.
You choose who to lend to - whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq - and as they repay their loan, you get your money back. It’s a powerful and sustainable way to empower someone right now to lift themselves out of poverty. kiva.org
Take Action
Below is a sample set of actions taken from the “Morning” section of Our Day to End Poverty:
Also check out our quickstart guides for tips on great places to start working with Our Day!
Break the Fast
Learn—Have some serious fun with children. Download Food Force, a video game developed by the World Food Programme to teach children about world hunger food-force.com. Players work to get food aid to a fictional country in need, overcoming challenges and discovering the thrill of working to solve a serious global problem.
Serve—Lend a hand. Volunteer at a local food bank or other program that serves people who are hungry. Visit secondharvest.org to find a local food bank or food rescue organization that can use your help.
Educate Every Child
Contribute—Organize a school-supply drive or a book drive through your school, workplace, civic group, or place of worship. Donate the supplies to a school in the United States or overseas.
Serve—Join with others who are advocating legislation that seeks to eliminate school fees in the developing world. RESULTS, results.org, a grassroots lobby dedicated to ending world hunger and poverty, is taking action on this initiative.
Live—Read to a child in your life every day. Talk about what has happened in the story and what might happen.
Give All Children Healthy Futures
Learn—Read Tracy Kidder’s book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, about the work of Dr. Paul Farmer in Haiti and around the world, to learn more about how we can improve health in developing countries. Its bibliography lists publications for further reading.
Consume with Conscience
Contribute—Use “buy one, get one free offers as a way of contributing at no extra cost to you. Donate the “free” item, whether it is a can of food or a pair of shoes, to an organization that serves people in your community who are in need.
Live—Join the local business Chamber of Commerce branch that represents trade between your local region and foreign markets. By doing business with integrity, in a fair, honest, and lawful way, you will lead by example and encourage other business people to treat their trading partners with respect and dignity.
Give from the Heart: More Thoughts on Giving
Become more savvy about charities by visiting the National Charities Information Bureau, give.org, Charity Watch charitywatch.org, and Charity Navigator charitynavigator.org. They will provide you with information on charitable organizations in an effort to help you make wise choices when giving.
Plan an annual celebration that affirms the impact of your giving. For example, if you sponsor a child in a developing country, have a “birthday party” on their child’s birthday and talk about the things that the child has been able to do over the past year because of your contribution.
