Elizabeth & Brendan

That is our plan for 2010.  And give back actively rather than the passive giving we normally do.  We started to feel the need to do something while watching the Biggest Loser.  There is always a bit about the Pound for Pound challenege where if you lose a ound, they donate a pound of food to a local food bank.  This of course was usually followed by a commercial highlighting that 1 in 8 Americans go hungry.  Media worked.  It got us feeling guilty and interested in helping.  Because even after the trials and tribulations of 2009, Brendan and I are doing well compared to the average American. 

For the past year, we have been donating through Kiva.org.  It is a micro-finance site that allows for direct person-to-person lending.  (And since it is non-profit, you don’t make money on the loans, it is charity people.)  According to the website, “Microfinance is the supply of loans, savings, and other basic financial services to the poor.  As the financial services of microfinance usually involve small amounts of money – small loans, small savings etc. – the term “microfinance” helps to differentiate these services from those which formal banks provide.”

We found out about Kiva through a gift.  Jody and Katie gave us a Kiva gift certificate for our wedding and we have taken that giift and helped out four people (in Kenya, Ghana, Peru, and Tajikistan).   The premise being tht you take the money and as you get repaid, you loan it right abck out.  The one thing I wish is that they would post stories after the loan is repaid so you can check in and see how these people are doing.   

Which leads us to wanting to help out more in our own backyard and we plan to work with BostonCares, Somerville Homeless Coalition or some other organization. We have the applications, just need to feel them out and send them in.

“It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.”
Albert Einstein

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 10:48 am and is filed under Boston-area, Family, Food, health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.