Sunshine and Sippy Cups

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.” – William James... Giving back to others in the world around me is something that I am very passionate about. Growing up in poverty, I know what it’s like to not have enough. Luckily, I grew up in the United States, where we have programs to help mothers who are raising children – programs that act as a safety net if you lose your job, someone gets sick, or an emergency happens. Children in countries around the world aren’t always so lucky.

Especially after becoming a mother, the struggles that other families must go through, just to provide the most basic of essentials to survive – well, it just tugs at my heart in a whole new place. When I talk about charities that I support, I often get asked why I would want to send money to mothers and children in other countries, when we have starving kids right here in America. Here’s what I wish more people would realize – we THROW AWAY more food in this country than some other areas even have available at all. No children in America starve to death, unless they are a victim of abuse. Imagine it – You’re homeless, with not a penny to your name, and a baby to feed. You’ll visit a food bank, the Salvation Army, a soup kitchen. If your child was near death from lack of food – they’d be saved at a hospital, without you needing money up front.

Now imagine that there are no resources available.

That your neighbors have no food either. There are places in the world where children actually die from lack of food, water, or medicine. That is NOT something that a mother in this country, not matter how poor, will ever have to face. Which is why I support some wonderful charities here in my town that are a tremendous help to local families in need – but I also passionately support families across the globe who are in even more desperate need than I’ll ever be able to understand, living life here in the US.

I realize that not everyone feels that they have many resources to help when it comes to big issues such as poverty. But there are always ways that you can help – big or small. One amazing group that is working towards ensuring that children don’t go hungry is the World Food Programme. Currently, I’m working to support their program in Bolivia:

Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in Latin America: of its 9.5 million population, two thirds overall – 80 percent in rural areas – live below the poverty line.

This is a poor nation, where the majority of their income – and food – comes from agriculture. But frequent natural disasters make agriculture an unreliable source of income, leading to a serious amount of children growing up malnourished. The WFP is striving to get these children basic nutrition so that they can grow up healthier, so that they can go to school instead of working, so that they are fed enough to even be able to concentrate while in classes, and to enhance emergency preparedness and response capacity in their country, to minimize the impact of future disasters. These kids are the future of their country – the more we help them grow up strong and successful, the brighter the future for their families.

What can you do to help?

Get to know these kids! Watch the video below, click the graphic above, or visit them online – You can ask a question for the children in Bolivia that will be translated and delivered by Ximena, WFP’s Communications Officer there. Let them know you’re listening, you care, and that you want to help!

If you want to do more, there are so many resources on the World Food Programme’s website that you can check out, that make it truly simple for every single one of us to help out:

• Donate any amount you want – small donations add up to really help!
• Play the Free Rice game – It’s rather addicting, and every correct answer means a donation of free rice to kids in need!
• Take a hunger quiz – you’ll see how much you really know, and you’ll be making a donation of one warm meal!

Make sure to take a minute to take some of these small actions – they might seem small to you, but they’ll have a huge impact on families who are in dire need of your help. As moms, we should do all that we can to help make sure that no other mother, anywhere in the world, has to watch her children go hungry…. So make sure to share this info with your friends and family too.

“We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee.” – Marian Wright Edelman