HourChallenge

I am pretty amped up right now. I just extended my first small business loan of $25 to Ruhid Aliyev of Saatli town, Azerbaijan. Aliyev rents a sandwich bar in the local bazaar of Saatli town selling sandwiches to local customers and vendors. The business is going well but he [...]

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I am often criticized by people who believe that we should not ask our government to give more assistance to other countries. Don’t we do enough already? Don’t we give more than other countries? Isn’t the money just wasted? Shouldn’t individuals and not our government give money to help the poor? [...]

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This 6-minute video describes better than anything I’ve seen, why we should join the One Campaign and together become “one” resounding voice for the poor. It also reminded me why I give an hour each day to this cause.
If you haven’t yet, go to One.org and add your voice.

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A friend recently pointed me to Lynne Hybel’s website. Her new book, Nice Girls Don’t Change the World discusses issues of poverty with a particular emphasis on how it has impacted women and children. I just read an excellent article by her titled “My Sister’s Keeper”. If you have a few minutes [...]

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Here’s a quick idea that will only take a few hours to organize.  Plan a stand up event for your church, school or group of friends.  This is an easy one to put together.  All of the information you’ll need is available at standagainstpoverty.com.   Last year at our churh almost 150 [...]

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I’ve been surprised and encouraged by the responses to this blog so far. Most of the comments have been offline, phone calls, conversations, personal emails, etc. Some have been stunned by the information presented so far (as I was when I began my journey over a year ago). Others have been compelled [...]

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Ok, so now let’s say you’re convinced that 1.) the problem is great and 2.) that you can and should do something about it. What’s next? Well, I mentioned some small steps in my last post. Another critical step is to begin to learn more about what is being done already to eliminate poverty.  The [...]

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The problem of extreme poverty can be overwhelming, even daunting. When I first began to grasp the massive, broad-reaching extent of this problem I felt like giving up right there. What can I do? Isn’t this a problem for the governments of these countries? Don’t we give a bunch of money [...]

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It’s difficult to see poverty in white, suburban America. I am so sheltered from it. I don’t personally know a single soul who is suffering from the dehumanizing poverty that takes lives. This is one thing that needs to change if I am going to keep my hour-a-day commitment. I’m gonna [...]

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