World Vision

It's easy for people in our society to get caught up in our their own little world. Parents may have to go to work, pay the bills, take care of the house, or watch the children. Young adults and teens may be concerned with things like school, sports, friends, dating, or getting a part-time job. Within our busy lives, is the cultural pressure to always have the newest cell phone, the fastest car, or the best of anything that we can afford.

I think that most people, including myself, don't usually bother to think about the children in third world countries who are lucky to get one meal a day, or the people who have to walk miles from their home just to get water. Those who can afford to do so, ought to support charities and organizations that help impoverished people in the world. One great organization that I know of is World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization that helps families in the United States and many other countries around the world. World Vision has a child sponsorship program, disaster response teams, and a gift-giving program to help people in poverty.

The sponsorship program allows someone to provide for a specific child or family in need by giving a monthly donation to World Vision. For thirty-five dollars a month, someone can provide their child with food, clean water, health care, and opportunities for education. Children who live in areas that are affected by AIDS are also given health care that helps to prevent AIDS. The money goes toward caring for a parent that is suffering from AIDS as well. It is also possible to sponsor an entire family through World Vision. For forty dollars a month they can have food, clean water, health care, educational opportunities, and better housing. It also helps them start a family business, so that they can support themselves. World Vision allows the sponsors and the sponsored child or family to write letters to each other, so it's a personal connection, instead of simply giving money and walking away.

Donations can also support World Vision's disaster response teams. These teams help people who are suffering from floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, drought, food shortage, war, and other natural and man-made disasters. They supply necessities like water, food, blankets, and shelter. They often stay quite a while to help rebuild homes that were destroyed.

The World Vision gift catalog offers many ways to help those in need. Someone can choose what they wish to provide for an impoverished person and donate the necessary amount of money. A person that doesn't have much money to spare could provide a thirteen-dollar chicken, someone who is quite rich could buy a well that costs over 2,000 dollars, and there are at least a hundred other choices in between. Most people in the United States would be capable of contributing something.

Almost everyone knows that many people in the world live in poverty, but only some choose to do anything about it. Humanitarian organizations like World Vision make it very easy to help someone in need. I believe that anyone who is capable, ought to do something to help those in poverty. Next time you see that iPod that you just have to have, think about how much of a difference that money could make in someone else's life.