Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Loose change, full child.


Don't ask me how I have time to read about these things. I'm not even slacking off at work. It's probably magic. But since I do have time to read (and write!) I thought I'd let you know about the charity of the day, Feed Just One.
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Feed just one was founded by 26 year old Dallas Harris, almost a year ago. I found out about it through Relevant magazine's website (yes, Relevant magazine is my only source of news).

For those of you who aren't going to click the link and read Seinna Morrow's article, I'll sum up (sort of).
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Dallas wanted to use his American wealth for good. Research brought him to Feed My Starving Children, an organization that donates nutritious meals of rice, soy, vitamins and dehydrated vegetables to other organizations in impoverished areas around the world. The meals are free, but the other organizations have to cover the shipping costs, which can reach $10,000 a shipment.
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So Dallas formed Feed Just One, building off a Mother Teresa quote: “If you can't feed a hundred people, feed just one.” The quote pretty much says it all. You can donate as much or as little as you want. Sending one meal costs 4 cents. You can feed one kid for a month off $1.20 and $15.35 will feed a child for a year.

And, because we all know that walking billboards are clever advertising, Dallas also sells t-shirts and (in theory) stickers and most of the money from these products goes to feeding kids too (a $15 shirt feeds a kid for three months).

The other day my sister and I were gracefully gliding across the ice and a nursing home commercial came on bragging luxerious extras, like three meals a day. We laughed and Holly promised to make sure my kids didn't put me in a cheap nursing home with only two meals a day.
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In many impoverished areas the lucky kids get 3 meals a week.
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You might remember the clever anti-smoking commercials that counted to eight and then informed us that every eight seconds big tobacco loses another customer because they die.
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Unfortunately the statistics for children starving to death only involves counting to five.
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I realize there are a lot of charities out there that you could be giving to. I just think this one's worth looking into. Both Feed Just One and Feed My Starving Children make sure that the majority of the money given to them goes to the people they're helping. Work is done through volunteers to keep costs down.
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Plus, remember how easy this is. $1.20 feeds one child for one month. Everyone has a an extra $1.20. They accept checks, money orders, and credit cards (through paypal).

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