With nearly 3 billion people around the world living on less than $2 a day, and almost 1.4 billion living on less than $1.25 a day, the scale of extreme global poverty is daunting and harrowing. Eugene Cho and his wife Minhee knew the statistics by heart. As a pastor in Seattle, WA, Eugene had preached, taught and blogged about them. But, he says, “It came to the point where we were doing lots of talking and we wanted to take deeper steps.”

After traveling to impoverished areas around the world and “witnessing some courageous examples of people trying to uplift people,” the Chos decided to commit their entire 2009 salary to the cause of fighting global poverty. They were left asking themselves one question: “How do we mobilize others?” They sought encourage their family, friends, and the rest of the world in their efforts by starting One Day’s Wages, a grassroots movement dedicated to fighting extreme global poverty.

One day’s worth of wages is approximately .4 percent of annual income. The amount may seem trivial, but it can make a world of difference. Celebrities garner so much press and attention for their philanthropic efforts, and the scale of the issue is so massive, that it can be easy to lose sight of how powerful an impact average individuals can have. One Day’s Wages was formed to communicate this message.
Read Entire Post: The Power of Many

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San Rafael’s graduates from sixth grade in 2009.

Five students graduated from sixth grade this fall in the small Guatemalan village of San Rafael. To many readers, this might seem like an everyday occasion. For those five kids, it was a major achievement, one which few in their village had achieved before.

On first glance, the beauty of San Rafael is breathtaking. The indigenous Mayan community is full of the colorful and intricate dress worn by the women and girls. Tucked into the rolling hills, the village is surrounded by a luscious, vibrant patchwork of cropland.

Read Entire Post: Unwinding the Cycle of Poverty Through Education

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This article was submitted by Toni Oberto.

What you’re not getting out of men dressed in fruit costumes singing about underwear, you will get out of PACT. PACT http://www.wearpact.com/ manufactures men and women’s underwear that is fully sustainable from production to delivery. The product starts at an organic cotton factory in Turkey. It’s then adorned in vibrant and bold designs with inks and dyes that meet or exceed GOTS and EKO standards. Before long, it’s delivered in a reusable fabric bag. And with 10 percent of all proceeds going to notable non-profit partners, it’s a smart choice for holiday presents.

What started as an idea light bulb in the minds of then Berkeley classmates, Jason Kibbey and Jeff Denby, has become a social movement and collaboration of designers, business partners, organic cotton farmers and nonprofit organizations. “We’re committed to seeing business as a part of positive social and environmental change. This business is an extension of our personal values,” says co-founder Kibbey. His and Denby’s socially responsible underwear concept became a reality when it caught the eye of designer Yves Sebhar during a product development course at Berkley. “Yves said if you can raise the money, I’d love to design for your product,” Kibbey says.

After seeing the first design in 2008, Kibbey knew it was a go. Sebhar has now designed four unique and fun lines for PACT and its participating organizations. Each print is tied to a specific cause: 826 National, Oceana, Forest Ethics and Global Green USA.

826 National assists and tutors students ages six to 18 in writing skills. Headquartered in San Francisco, 826 National now has centers in seven US cities. Founded by author Dave Eggers, the centers provide drop-in writing assistance for youth, free of charge, to encourage strong writing skills and future success.

Oceana is the world’s largest organization devoted to ocean conservation. In an effort to restore and protect the nearly 70 percent of our world covered by oceans, Oceana integrates marine scientists, lawyers, advocates and economists to campaign for policy change, reduce pollution and protect ocean life.

Forest Ethics commits its time and energy to forest and wildlife conservation, primarily in North America. Forest Ethics has helped protect more than 65 million acres of endangered forests. As an early believer in PACT, Forest Ethics signed up early to support Denby and Kibbey in any way possible.

Global Green USA is an international organization geared toward a sustainable future. Global Green is the American arm of Green Cross International, which President Mikhail S. Gorbachev created to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future, by reconnecting humanity with the environment.

Now, after thousands of dollars in donations, a carefully sculpted supply chain, and one incredible pair of undies, Denby and Kibbey have created a well-fitting, beautiful product that helps change the world one behind at a time.

“The most important step [as consumers] is trying to understand where the product is coming from. If you can’t find out where products came from or how they were made, you should really consider buying elsewhere,” Kibbey says of sustainable consumerism. “We value transparency. Our factory name is on the product itself. PACT is made in the least impactful way possible.”

With such high quality doing so much good, it’s hard to not try PACT underwear. Customers can choose from a variety of colors, patterns and styles. Or pick by cause. Whatever your method, PACT underwear wants you to rethink the way we purchase the things we need.

NEED readers can enjoy 25 percent off a purchase of PACT underwear by entering the coupon code NEED25.

PACT 826 National Oceana Forest EthicsGreen Global USA Green Cross International

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One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, recently returned from Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was making a video documentary with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Their trip took on a different focus when they visited Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid, and decided to do something to help. Kelly and Dina have returned to Minnesota and the medical project they initiated continues in Afghanistan.

Rahim, Sahebo, Fatima, Qadir, Marai, Ajabhul, Zib, Frishta, Sawid, Qandagha, Rohina, Suirullah, Shirhd, Piroz, Ayob, Nuzia, Pulwasha, Hayutullah, Khomari, Faizullah, Omarkhan, Nazia, Saifulla, Fatima and Ajabhul.

These 25 kids living in the Charahee Qambar IDP camp were the first to receive urgently needed hospital treatment as a direct result of donations to our Helmand Children’s Medical Fund. And as I write this report, one month since we began this grassroots effort, 151 additional children have been taken to Kabul children’s hospitals for treatment. That makes 176 kids, and the number continues to grow every day!

If that wasn’t cool enough, donations from all over the world have so far helped us purchase 96 pairs of shoes, 96 sets of warm clothes and 150 malnutrition kits. Upon discharge from the hospital, each child is given a kit including a three-week supply of milk, sugar, high protein biscuits, soap and a toothbrush. These kits were Najib’s brilliant idea, and he even sourced all the items in a wholesale market for maximum value.

Equally important as the tangible benefits that this effort has created, the intangible benefits are opening up paths to some serious peace-building. Just one month ago the people living in this camp told me how US bombs tore apart their lives and forced them into this squalid camp. They couldn’t imagine that anyone on this side of the world even knew that they existed, let alone cared about helping them. But now they are aware that Americans in every corner of the US, as well as people in Singapore, Finland, Switzerland and Hong Kong (thanks CNN!) have reached out in support of their families.

This is big deal when you consider that Afghanistan is an extremely clan-oriented society, which means that for every child saved approximately 50 relatives are directly touched by this show of support. (Unfortunately, the same formula can be applied to every civilian casualty or displaced Afghan, which works against our military efforts and strengthens the Taliban who exploit these people’s hardships.) Whether these relatives are living in the camp or back in Helmand, the word is out on what we are doing! According to my math, nearly 9,000 Afghans have seen the generous spirit of Americans, and there is no telling how far this effort can go towards promoting peace.

As for the Helmand Children’s Medical Fund, Najib and Wasim continue daily trips from the camp to the hospital, and they estimate that 50 more kids need hospital treatment. They believe that they will be able to screen and treat the rest of the sick children at the camp with the drugs available through the on-site health tent. If donations keep up, we should be able to provide warm clothing for every child who needs them as well. That means that by mid-January, we will have helped every sick child in the camp. Wow! However, before we break out the champagne, we need to make sure that this effort amounts to something long-term. Winter has begun and the mud camp is now covered in snow and ice. Even with warm clothes, we need to prevent these newly-healthy kids from backsliding into sickness.

So where do we go from here, you ask? Well, for the past month Najib and I have been networking maniacs, leveraging every resource to put together a pretty amazing game plan.

First, we have formed a partnership with A4T (Afghans4Tomorrow), a highly respected, US-based nonprofit that focuses on the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. A4T established one of the girls schools that we visited on our trip, it runs the A4T guesthouse where we stayed, and both Najib and Santwana Dasgupta, executive director of Partnership for the Education of Children in Afghanistan and our partner in the War Kids Relief program Junior Investor, are on the A4T board.
Read Entire Post: 176 Kids Healthy and Counting

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One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, recently returned from Kabul, Afghanistan, where he was making a video documentary with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Their trip took on a different focus when they visited Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid, and decided to do something to help. Kelly and Dina have returned to Minnesota and the medical project they initiated continues in Afghanistan.

More than 70 children have received urgent medical care through this unprecedented collaboration of American and Afghan civilians.

Exciting things continue to unfold with the Helmand Children’s Medical Fund project. Every day donations come in, and every day Najib and Wasim run more and more children to the hospital. So far over 70 children have received urgent medical treatment. I am home recovering from the most exhausting 15 days of my life. I have also been working on a strategic plan to leverage our resources in order to provide more substantial and lasting support to these IDP kids in such desperate need. My goal is to make sure that this effort is more than a temporary “Band-Aid.”

I have just a few more details to work out and will soon be making an official announcement on the future plan for the fund. It’s a brilliant plan, if I do say so myself, so cross your fingers that it all comes together!

In the meantime, check out these videos posted by CNN and KARE 11.

>> Read the article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune
>> Read the initial blog on how the HCMF got started

HCMF Donations at War Kids Relief Children’s Culture Connection

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One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, is working on a video documentary project in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is traveling with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Among other places, they have been visiting Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid. Dina emailed an update about what they are doing and we wanted to share it with you.

If I thought the past two weeks have been busy, they’ve been nothing compared to the past two days of running around getting the last video footage for our project before we leave. It’s been a wild carnival ride as Habibi, our driver, whizzes us all over Kabul in his little Toyota while Najib lines up appointments on his cell phone as fast as I can think of things to put on the list, which includes interviewing a bank and a radio station, attending a girls basketball game and a conference for disabled land mine victims, taking three more kids to the hospital and attending a wedding. Somehow Najib stays calm and collected throughout all this. I guess praying five times a day really helps him stay centered. Maybe I should try that, too.

Yesterday, of all the things Najib managed to line up for us, the only one he was having trouble arranging was an invitation to an Afghan wedding. As I already mentioned, Najib is a master networker who seems to know half of Afghanistan so I could tell it was bugging him that this wasn’t coming together. Every day when I asked him if we scored a wedding invite he’d quietly say “not yet.” Unexpectedly, while we were at the International Disabled Persons Day conference (Afghanistan works especially hard to take care of the many victims of the landmines laid during the wars. Would you believe that of the ten million land mines buried in Afghanistan, more than 3 million are still active?), Najib overheard a manager in the hall talking about a wedding that would be held there the next day. Read Entire Post: Mission Accomplished

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One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, is working on a video documentary project in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is traveling with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Among other places, they have been visiting Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid. Dina emailed an update about what they are doing and we wanted to share it with you.

Wow, it’s been just over a week that we started our little HCMF fund and I am blown away at how it continues to significantly change the lives of IDP families as it gains momentum. Yesterday we weren’t able to bring any new cases to the hospital because we had some follow-up to do with a few current patients. Wasim brought the little boy with the eye problem to another specialist, and the two girls in the hospital suffering from malnutrition and bone disorders (Sahebo and Fatima) were discharged. With medication, their malnourishment should be under control, but they will need extensive physical therapy so we took them to get registered at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hospital. ICRC is a Kabul facility famous for working with thousands of amputees injured by land mines planted during both the Russian invasion and the civil war (1980-90s). Since Najib and Wasim worked there as medics, both have lots of peeps on the inside. ICRC will provide physical therapy for the girls on a weekly basis, and will also give each a wheelchair. It won’t be easy to wheel them through the mud in the camp, but it’s a start.

Read Entire Post: What War Really Is

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One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, is working on a video documentary project in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is travelling with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Among other places, they have been visiting Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid. Dina emailed an update about what they are doing and we wanted to share it with you.

Because of the press coverage, Helmand Children’s Medical Fund got a lot of donations, so Sunday was a busy day at the hospital. So far we have brought 26 children from the IDP camp to the hospital for desperately needed medical treatment. In addition to our first three patients suffering from malnourishment, there have been cases of severe pneumonia, tonsillitis and respiratory tract infections. We are providing a three week supply of milk to every child upon discharge from the hospital to help them continue to gain strength. It’s just a few bucks but will go a long way in their recovery. Depending on how strong donations come in, we may buy blankets for them as well. It’s hard to get better when you can’t stay warm, and the weather is getting steadily colder.

(I’ve also personally discovered that you can’t get better from a cold if you don’t stop running around for five minutes … but that’s my own problem to deal with. I’ll recover when I get home, just in time to do my holiday shopping. That’s always relaxing!)

Through visiting an organization called Aschiana and meeting a family, we got an incredible glimpse into the lives of Afghanistan’s youth, and saw what these kids are made of despite their difficult situations.

Read Entire Post: Resilient Youth of Afghanistan

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One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, is working on a video documentary project in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is travelling with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Among other places, they have been visiting Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid. Dina emailed an update about what they are doing and we wanted to share it with you.

After all the excitement with the media on Friday (from CBS and CNN in Kabul to the front page of the Star Tribune in Minnesota), we got back to business on our filming project.

Read Entire Post: A Day of Dialog

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One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, is working on a video documentary project in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is travelling with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Among other places, they have been visiting Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid. Dina emailed an update about what they are doing and we wanted to share it with you.

The HCMF momentum is growing, and we not only took two more children in for medical treatment, but both CBS and CNN news tagged along with us for the fun! I’ll admit it makes things a bit more hectic slogging through the muddy camp with an entourage, but I am happy that they want to help us get the word out, not only on the relief effort, but the reality of the situation for people in these camps as well. I am hoping that by seeing this story that someone or some organization with more power than me can get involved to make a more substantial, enduring difference for these people.

Read Entire Post: Security Concerns for Kelly and Dina

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