Searching for Ten Dollars

For almost every holiday, Jason's grandmother gives all of the grandkids and great-grandkids $5. So next month when Halloween rolls around, Jason and I will likely get a combined $10.

It's a nice little treat that we can count on every couple of months. A gift of ten bucks that we can spend on a couple of sandwiches from Subway or to download a new bit of music that we've been wanting or to splurge on the biggest banana split ever at a local diner. Nothing extravagant - after all, it's just ten dollars. This isn't life-changing money.

At the beginning of August, several of my blogging friends went to Bolivia to write about the conditions there for the folks at World Vision. One of my biggest regrets about not posting last month was that I wasn't able to write more about what they were doing (though I retweeted and facebook shared the crap out of every link I could!). I found their stories to be absolutely compelling and beautiful.

And I didn't really know what to do with them.

The problem of poverty is so. damn. big. How do we help? How do we make an impact in a place like the Horn of Africa when there is so much pain, so much need, so much death, just so much?

This week, the good folks at World Vision are offering a way to help. You can text "FAMINE" to 20222 and donate $10 to the relief efforts for that area of the world. (If you don't want to/can't text, check out this link for another way to donate.)

Does $10 make a difference? Not really. My $10 by itself is insignificant. Your $10 by itself is piddly. That guy over there? His $10 means jack. But it's not just your money or my money or his money. It's our money. And when enough of us start giving, we can see change happen. We can see lives saved. We can see hope restored.

My friend Joy is asking a simple question: what one thing will you give up to make a donation of $10? Our family likes to order pizza on Friday nights, but this week we're going to eat in so we can make our donation. It's not much. But when people are searching for a way to cling to life, I think I can search for something unnecessary in my life to find a few dollars to add to yours so we can all make that possible.

Let me know in the comments what you're giving up so you can make your donation!


This post is a part of the World Vision link-up. If you want to write about what you're giving up to help those in need, check out this post and add your voice to the crowd! Together we can make a difference!