Be A Difference » Blog

The Kind Gift Of Humanitarian Aid

scott — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:01:23 +0000

World Concern’s Susan Talbot recently traveled to Haiti to help bring in donated items for families suffering after the earthquake.

A lot can be done with a phone, email and good relationships. In the case of World Concern’s Susan Talbot, she’s been able to use her skills to generate $61 million worth of humanitarian aid for the poor in the last year. That’s $61,000,000 worth of in Gift-In-Kind (GIK) donations, which is anything donated that is not money.

$61 million is tough to put into perspective. But consider that this is helping nearly 5 million people. It’s 5 million people who have received a variety of resources, including medication for intestinal worms, a wheelchair to find mobility again, or a computer to become connected to the digital age for the very first time.

“All of our GIK is field driven,” Susan told me. “I don’t start collecting items until our staff tells me they need items. We don’t just hand out stuff in the field. It all has to have a function or collaborate with what we are doing. It needs to have a purpose rather than just giving out commodities.”

Where does Susan get these GIK humanitarian donations? They come from many sources, including schools, farmers, businesses — and medical supply companies.

Bringing in commodities is a tricky business, though, because when you are trying to help a community, you could end up hurting it instead. The way Susan and the rest of the World Concern team does it, though, is carefully considered.

“We provide supplies in a crisis, like food, when the marketplace is not functioning,” Susan says. “When commodities are available locally, we try to avoid giving away those things. It works against what we are doing. It makes no sense to support women in a microfinance shoe business, and then bring in a shipment of shoes.”

Building relationships with the people we serve is important. Skill-building is important. Teaching people is important. World Concern does that, equipping people to know how to stand on their own two feet once we are finished working with their community. Susan knows though that coming alongside people in need with a tangible good, though, can help change — or even save — a life.

Learn more about our Haiti response.

Contact Susan.

Sourced from: Humanitarian Aid and Relief

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The Persistence of Dreams

scott — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:34:02 +0000

Poverty can have a lethal impact on the dreams of children. One young girl was sure her desire to be educated would never be fulfilled. When she was registered with Compassion, her dreams thrived.

Sourced from: Compassion Stories

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Is There Any Point?

scott — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 07:21:07 +0000

Perhaps you’re looking at this site and thinking, “Man, the world has so many problems and needs. Is there really any point in me trying to make a tiny, little dent in it all?“
I was thinking about this very thing today and a story came to mind.
“A man named, Tom, was walking on the sidewalk by his home. A group of children were playing soccer on a lawn across the street. Suddenly, sirens could be heard and a firetruck could be seen racing up the street. The children’s soccer ball rolled out onto the road and a young girl named, Kaitlin, ran out to get it right in front of the speeding firetruck. Tom lept into action, dove onto the road, grabbed Kaitlin and rolled out of the way of the braking truck as it skidded past. Kaitlin was unhurt.”

However, on that day around the world hundreds of men, women and children died in automotive related accidents.

Did that make what Tom did for Kaitlin and her family any less significant? Was there any point in him saving that one precious girl when he couldn’t help all the other hundreds killed that day around the world?

The needs of the world are great. But the needs of the one child in Ethiopia who desperately needs sponsorship, or the one family in Bolivia who needs clean drinking water, or the one village in Sri Lanka who needs vaccines are not so immense and yet helping them is no less great.

Let’s not listen to the voice that says we can’t do it all so let’s do nothing.
Instead let’s listen to Helen Keller, born blind and deaf, when she said,

“I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”

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Apple trees transform the life of a farmer in Ethiopia

scott — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 05:37:36 +0000

With the support of World Vision, this struggling farmer escaped the cycle of poverty and is now using his success to help others.

By Jessie Lester, World Vision U.S., and Aklilu Kassaye, World Vision Ethiopia
March 2009

Bezalem stands with his family outside their home. World Vision helped lift this Ethiopian farmer from poverty into a state of self-sufficiency that now allows him to assist others who are struggling.
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Being A Difference

scott — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:01:48 +0000

Sometimes I look at my life and ask myself why I don’t live better. Why don’t I invest in the worthwhile things of life? Deep down I want to make a difference in the world; in people’s lives. I want to help, love, smile, laugh, give more.
But where do I start? What can I do? How can I do it? Am I alone in this? That’s what this site’s about – starting the journey. Being a difference is changing the way we live to something better. It’s being the person we want everyone else to be. It’s more than just the money we give, the petition we sign, the website we build but it is who we are when we’re at home, work, school, the mall, the car. Being a difference is being unexpected.

It’s when people expect anger, cruelty, bitterness, resentment, harshness, or humiliation; when they expect pain, vengeance, hatred, or indifference and yet are shown compassion, forgiveness, and kindness. Being a difference is the opposite of indifference. It doesn’t look away when people are suffering.

Being is more than doing and the scope of what is accomplished matters less than the heart it is done with. Being happens in the great times and in the quiet times.

I’m at a point in my life where I’ve looked at where I am and realized that I want more. Not more money (although when the bills come it sometimes feels like it), power, fame, glory but what I really want is meaning.

So, what exactly do we have in mind?

Here’s a start: When people expect your worst offer them your best. When they expect anger, cruelty, bitterness, resentment, harshness, or humiliation; when they expect you to serve them pain, vengeance, hatred, or indifference surprise them and instead show them compassion, forgiveness, and kindness.

You can be a difference for good in the life of someone today; right now. Life is too short to be miserable and kindness is good for you.
Looking for something good to do? Something worthwhile? Looking for a purpose? Try helping someone. Try holding the door for the next mother with a baby stroller you meet at the mall. Try giving the slow fast food kid a smile and a kind word instead of a frown and a curse. Try clicking here and giving ten bucks to get a poor family a net to protect them from deadly malaria.

Life seems a lot brighter when we take our eyes off our own two feet. Happiness breeds happiness and if you bring it to someone else you’ll find some waiting there for you when you get there.

Gandhi said “We must become the change we want to see in the world.” That’s what we’re on about here. We want to be the difference we want to see in the world. We want to be and live the way we were meant to as human beings.

• For more about us and what we’re trying to accomplish with this website
check out: About Us

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