Blog Action Day: POVERTY

15 posted on October 15, 2008

POSTED IN: Social Justice

Today thousands of bloggers will unite for Blog Action Day 2008 to discuss a single issue: POVERTY. Here are some statistics that should challenge you:

Water Problems And Poverty:

Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.
According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

Risks to Children Around the World
Nowhere do we see the marks of poverty clearer than in the children of the world. Of the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:

640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)
300 million children without shoes

So in the face of these kind of statistics what do we do? Here’s a simple concept that I’ve been trying to live out lately.

In other words, give yourself a pay cut! What if you voluntarily chose to live on less of what you made so that you could give more of your money away?

I’ll let you think that one over a bit. We’ll come back to this topic later this week.

In the meantime, join the thousands of other socially consious bloggers and take part in Blog Action Day 2008. Help spread the word about the issues of poverty facing us today. There are some great resources available here, here and here.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 11:40 am and is filed under Social Justice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

11 Comments

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October 15, 2008

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1 Corey said:

It scary to think that the cup of coffee that I bought is 3x the amount someone lives on for a day. Living on less is something I think the American Church needs to deeply look into. Our spending is out of control, while our giving is lacking. Thanks for these stats and the reminder of what we can do.

Coreys last blog post..Blog Action Day 2008: World Poverty
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October 15, 2008

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2 Brad Ruggles said:

Corey, there is so much that we as the church need to address. I really didn’t want to talk too much about the solution today, I’ll save that for a future post. But you’re right, we should be known for our generosity and love.

Can’t wait to share your post and the ad campaign you guys developed. Awesome stuff.
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October 15, 2008

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3 Blog Action Day: Game « HeSaidSheSaid said:

[...] Brad Ruggles [...]
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October 15, 2008

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4 Brian Becker said:

Hey Brad, glad I found your blog somehow (Brad Cooper maybe?) Anyways, if Americans simply MANAGED their money better, we could give ourselves a pay RAISE and then GIVE EVEN MORE! Here’s a crazy stat:

In 2003 Washington Mutual gained ONE BILLION dollars in overdraft fees…yeah…OVERDRAFT FEES! If we could just balance a check book, think of how much money could be sent in aid!

Balanced check books or not – we’ve all got to do something that goes from theory to action! Great post.

Brian Beckers last blog post..Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
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October 15, 2008

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5 Brad Ruggles said:

@Brian – Wow, that’s an amazing statistic! You’re absolutely right. A big part of being able to give more is managing our own money correctly. I’ve heard Dave Ramsey talk over and over that if we want to see giving increase in the church, first help our congregations become debt-free and manage their finances.
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October 15, 2008

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6 Juli Jarvis said:

I just returned from the Dominican Republic with Compassion International. The needs can be resolved if we will all do our part, one child at a time.

Juli Jarviss last blog post..Child Advocates — Tear Down This Wall!
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October 15, 2008

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7 Brad Ruggles said:

@Juli – You’re right. We all have a part to play. I’ll definitely be talking about Compassion International in my follow-up post on this topic.
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October 15, 2008

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8 Andy Borgmann said:

In other words, give yourself a pay cut! What if you voluntarily chose to live on less of what you made so that you could give more of your money away?

What I find interesting isn’t so much the living on less. I feel like I have that down. The bigger struggle for me is the faith to know that all will be okay with the future and that some of the money I take saving for a rainy-day or saving for retirement etc…would be much better used helping alleviating poverty.

Andy Borgmanns last blog post..This Economy’s Perfect Storm: Immigration & Influx of Cash
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October 15, 2008

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9 Shanda said:

I posted for Blog Action day today too…
We live on so little now that living on less seems impossible. But that’s how I felt when I felt led to sponsor a Compassion child. Now we’re gearing up to sponsor another child, not knowing how we’ll do it. Stepping out in faith…With Christ, impossible is nothing.

Shandas last blog post..Poverty
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October 17, 2008

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10 » 3 Ways To Become A Generous Giver – BradRuggles.com said:

[...] Wednesday I wrote about poverty for the Blog Action Day. I’ve found that most people by nature want to [...]
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October 27, 2008

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11 » Do Something – BradRuggles.com said:

[...] a great message that sums up exactly what I was talking about in my Poverty post last week. Below is an example of one of the posters. The simple graphics and bold message help to draw [...]