August: Hunger

I chose the topic of Hunger for the start of my project, mainly because of the most recent drought in the Horn of Africa. Close to 10 million people urgently require food aid in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, with children and the elderly in the direst situation. 

The organization I chose to support this month was the United Nations World Food Programme. www.wfp.org. 

Their easy to navigate website enables prospective donors to gain valuable up-to-date knowledge on food shortages and hunger crisis’s world wide. There are many active and simple ways to help including, donating as little as one dollar, equating to feeding four children! You can feed many in need with just the change in your pocket!

Now, as a college grad, mounds of debt and living on my own in an outrageous economy, donating money is the last thing on my mind. However, considering how little it takes to feed one person compared to how much I can easily spend on a caribou coffee (no offense caribou) every time I visit Minnesota ...I can surely spare the “change”. My contribution this month: $20.00 US dollars = Feeding 80 People!

I challenge you reader! What "luxuries" could you do without this month to ensure a person in need will not go hungry? 

If that wasn’t enough to inspire you, here are some stats about hunger courtesy of WFP.

• 65 percent  of the world's hungry live in only seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia. 
(Source: FAO news release, 2010)

• There are more hungry people in the world than the combined populations of USA, Canada and the European Union.  925,000,000 Hungry vs. 841,000,000 Pop. US, Canada, EU

• HUNGER is the number one health risk. It kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. 

Donate, spread the word and fight against hunger!

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The Oath

For my 25^th birthday, moving forward and growing older, I want to look back at my life and say I made a difference. How Can I Help? is my first active step towards improving the quality of life in the world and in myself. I am taking an oath and taking a stand to help aid organizations find cures and find peace on our globe. My project is small and simple, one organization, every month, for one year (to start).

This project by no means expresses a simple solution to our worlds’ issues and conflicts. This is a personal journey and a continuous effort, with hopes that it someday educates and inspires others.

My goal is to one day fund a trip abroad and assist, hands-on, the organizations I admire and support. Along the way, I will be building a database of admirable organizations and knowledgeable resources so that others, too, can choose to contribute in areas that need it the most. I’m looking forward to how far this project will take me. I hope by starting this, it will trigger the same inspiration in friends and in family to start their own oath of humanitarianism or philanthropic projects. 

The Oath:

I, Jessica, pledge to make a world-wide change every month. 

Through a different charity organization, I will contribute my effort in one or more of the following ways: donating money, volunteering my time, mentoring, writing to local officials, or becoming a social advocate. I promise to be the change I want to see in the world.  

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