On my last blog, I started getting a small but steady number of regular readers and so I decided to promote something I'm passionate about in an effort to make a positive impact through blogging :)
I became involved with the World Food Programme (the United Nations' hunger sect) by creating an online hunger campaign. These get smaller groups of people more educated about hunger and more likely to donate. I decided to call it Bowls Half Full as a symbol of optimism, because (not to sound corny) every dollar counts, and every person can make a difference. Yeah that sounds trite and false, but truthfully, $1 donated = food for 4 people who are starving. And $50 can feed a student for the entire school year. But still, why would you want to donate to combat hunger? Here's why:
1. Your money will go towards the people in need. A lot of people are skeptical of donating because they think their money will go to administrative costs. And in many cases, that's entirely true. In fact many organizations spend far more on administration than the cause itself. The World Food Programme has one of the lowest rates of administrative spending, and it continues to go down.
2. It's tax deductible.
3. Be a good person. Honestly, it feels good to donate. Hunger is the number one human survival need. We absolutely need food and water. Hungry communities cannot grow because they are being deprived of nutrients needed for brain and bodily function. Mothers give birth to sickly babies because they don't have enough food to sustain the growth of the baby. Each generation is getting weaker. Can we seriously let this happen when there are things we can be doing?
4. This isn't just happening in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. It's happening in America, too. There are starving Americans. This semester I have been volunteering with a group on campus to go to a soup kitchen every Tuesday. Less than 5 minutes away from our private, cream-of-the-crop college, are people lining up and crowding inside this soup kitchen to get food.
Here are some other hunger and hunger-related organizations that I like and respect. Simply reading about their missions and why they do what they do is a step in the right direction. Education is really the first step.
Feeding America (read about hunger facts in America, it's unsettling and shocking; fantastic opportunities for volunteering too)
Oxfam (they have a sect for hunger)
Hunger Fast (an organization raising awareness about hunger through fasting)
Tap Project (a fantastic UNICEF project focusing on getting clean water for communities around the world by having restaurant patrons donate money for tap water)
Free Rice (online games in different subjects--for each question you correctly answer you donate rice)
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