giving back

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love." - Mother Teresa

Last night I was thinking about the holidays - thinking about Thanksgiving and how I haven't really paused to reflect the way I would have wanted to before the holiday. Then I went on with my evening and got excited reading my friend Willie's updates on Facebook about this organization he is working with. I don't know if I have mentioned it much here but I really have a love for missions and efforts to create change globally. I also find myself in love with Uganda and Rwanda and the women and children in these countries. They are somehow a part of my consciousness when I think of the war against AIDS so while I do things to contribute to fighting AIDS locally, I often reach out to programs that affect Uganda and Rwanda when I do something to benefit AIDS globally. It's not just AIDS - but clean water and health issues and many things. If we were chatting over coffee and wanted to go deep, I could talk your ear off and you'd see my heart spill out before you with all of the ways I wish I could change the world.

So anyway...
I was thinking about the big picture and how some of us think the world's problems are just TOO big and we give thinking about it, grab a drink and watch some trash TV instead of dealing with the the heaviness of it.
I understand.
Yet, since we are all probably going to do some Christmas shopping I thought I'd mention a two places that offer great gifts while benefitting people in need of help.

Youme Clothing

Youme Clothing is a collaborative recycling project with a desire to take what is old and make it new, locally & internationally. It is a partnership between people to produce a creative expression of the heart for the people.
RAGS TO RESOURCES!
They currently conduct clothing exchange programs in the following countries:
Uganda, 
Swaziland, Mozambique, and Kenya. Each item is one of a kind, with fabric that comes from a child in either Swaziland, Kenya, or Uganda so color and placement of the swatch of cloth may vary.

Check out this video to get an idea of the impact they make. My friend Willie has gone to Uganda for clothing exchanges before. He's on the video too...



Samaritan’s Purse

Sometimes we think it takes being a millionaire to be charitable. This is SO not true. Here’s one way I have helped others in the past. I realized that for the price of a grande vanilla latte (my favorite café drink) I could provide a child with milk for a week.

A cup of milk seems so simple, but its essential nutrients like protein and calcium are vital to poor children fighting malnutrition. That’s the reason we provide milk and other nutritious items to many schools, orphanages, and hospitals in poverty-stricken countries. A gift of $4 can provide a week’s worth of milk, so we can help a needy child grow. For $7 you can offer a week’s worth of hot meals to children in Calcutta India.

Samaritan's Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan's Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God's love through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Each year they produce a gift catalog with things you can buy as gifts that offer hope to the world. The gifts span from $4 all the way up to hundreds of dollars contributing to a variety of ways of impacting lives from clean water, to livestock, to providing doctors or providing bibles, to rescuing children from exploitation and so much more. Check it out by clicking here.