Sunday, November 28, 2010

give more; spend less


Today is Advent Sunday. This is a season that we, as Christians, prepare for the coming of Jesus. I want this season to be about more than running around to parties, fighting the traffic and getting the right gift. In preperation our family went and served Thanksgiving lunch downtown at Brownstone's Free Thanksgiving Dinner. It felt good to be take a small amount of our time and help out those who are under resourced.

Last year our church introduced us to The Advent Conspiracy.
The AC encourages congregations to, "think of meaningful acts of kindness as meaningful gift options to replace traditional gifts." This grassroots movement also supports Living Water International. LWI is addressing the world's water crisis in Ethiopia, Brazil, Haiti, and Mexico just to name a few places.

Another organization that has recently entered the scene in the Ian Somerhalder Foundation. They want to, "empower, educate and collaborate with people and projects to positively impact the planet and its creatures." Vampire Support has teamed up with the IS Foundation and is selling t-shirts where, "All profits made will go directly to the IS Foundation. [The foundation] will set aside the money from the shirts for projects with The National Wildlife Federation and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill clean up efforts."

If you are interested in supporting an organization that's goal is to end poverty and hunger, you may want to give to Heifer International. We had the opportunity to tour Heifer International's green office in Little Rock, AR several years ago. HI believes that they can't end world hunger without also saving the earth. Their philosophy is offer a long term solutions by empowering those in poverty and encouraging them to pass along their knowledge and the off spring of their animal to others is their community.

Rice and Bean Ministry is trying to feed 500 families for a month. It takes approximately 100 to feed each family. I know Fred and his team would appreciate your support. They are, of course, trying to feed families all year around in Costa Rica. It only cost $10 dollars to buy a bag a food to feed a family for a week.

If you are ready to give more and spend less (two of the AC founding principles) I encourage you to consider giving some of what you would normal spend on Christmas gift to one of these worthwhile causes.

3 comments:

papafred said...

thank you marye... we were trying to feed 500 families for a month but now after the storms we had God has helped us change the focus . in our zone we had 10000 + families out of their homes for a week and with the style of home and where they were they lost everything . we have been able to help 1060 of these families as of now but for december we want to help atleast a 1000 more or 5000 if we can with food and supplies.. anything we do will help..
LOve you
serving our God costa rica
Fred

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing about the Advent Conspiracy. I'm going there next. Have a blessed Advent season.

Unknown said...

This sounds interesting. I like to do things that promote growth in a positive way.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” mahatma gandhi