How much?!

With Christmas just around the corner...and already in all the stores...I feel the need to give a plug for the less fortunate in our world...someone needs to! It is estimated that last year Americans spent around 450 BILLION dollars on Christmas. Let me repeat this...450 BILLION DOLLARS only on Christmas. Now, what tugs on my heart is that it would take just 2% of that amount to provide fresh water for every people group that needs it...so, I'm not that great at math but I believe that is just under 10 Billion dollars...to provide every people group that needs fresh water with a fresh water source. I'm not talking one bottle of fresh water but a long term source such as a fresh water well. This really just tugs on my heart and makes me ask how can we help, how can we change this because this is not okay. One of my professors said something that really stuck out to me (finally! Boy, does he stretch my patience!) Because there are so many needs in the world we can often get overwhelmed with where to start and what cause to support but that the most important thing to do is to educate and instill compassion into younger generations. Hopefully, by doing this each generation will become more and more compassionate and thus, in theory, the poverty of the world will decrease accordingly. So, in an effort to educate and instill compassion I want to point you to a wonderful organization-world vision. World Vision provides child sponsorships but at Christmas they provide opportunities for people to purchase gifts for needy families, in the US and across the globe. You can purchase animals for families that can use the eggs or milk as well as sell any extra items for a profit. And, to tie it all in with the fresh water problem...you can also help purchase a well for a needy community. Worldvision.org- check it out and spread the word! And, with the economy in the shape that it is I'll add that these gifts are really affordable. I hear sad statistics and this happens...I need to share them...