Spend Less, Give More
First, here's a video I'd love for you to watch (email subscribers, you'll have to click on the "Spend Less, Give More" title to come and view this on my blog, as videos never come through in email feeds).
I love, love, love this video (and last year's as well!). While I'm not advocating that we completely give up exchanging gifts at Christmas time (it's fun to give, after all!), what if we all spent a little less money on stuff this December and instead, gave that saved money to help provide clean drinking water to people who have none? What if we all spent $100 less than usual, and sent it to Living Water, or some other financially responsible charity? Think of the difference just the readers of this blog could make.
Maybe you can't manage to spare $100, but what if you could spare $10? On average, this blog gets around 2000 hits a day, not counting the 450 of you that receive my posts via email. Estimating low, suppose that there are 1000 of you that come here each day. If each of you gave $10, that would be $10,000, which is an enormous amount.
884 million people in this world do not have access to clean drinking water, but Living Water can bring it to them in the form of wells for about $.98 a person per year. If you cut back on your buying by $100 and sent it to Living Water instead, you could help 100 people have clean drinking water for an entire year! That's amazing! Even if you just sent $10, that would provide clean drinking water for 10 people for a whole year.
Think about it...you could spend less money, have fewer post-Christmas bills, and save someone's life by providing them with clean water. It's a win-win-win.
(ps. I know that there are a fair number of people out there who refuse to donate to charities because they fear their contributions are squandered. While this is true of some charities, Living Water makes their financial records public. Last year, 95% of their money went to programs and development, with only 5% going to administration.)
(p.p.s I have another idea for coming up with money to donate (and this one has nothing to do with Christmas spending!). I'll share it with you on Saturday.)
My husband just suggested the very same idea. We work with the homeless, so we are close to so many who have so little. It seems wrong for my family to just jump on the Christmas bandwagon. We do Christmas, we have a tree, exchange gifts, make cookies, etc. Honestly each child only gets about 3 gifts and a stocking. This year, however, we want Christmas to be less about us and more about others. We are trying to do this in a balanced way, however. We want our children to understand what a blessing it can be to give. They have been so blessed by receiving. We have mentioned to them that we might focus on gifts that are needs of theirs, rather then only wants. Of course, I am a sucker for the Christmas stocking! My kids look forward to theirs!
It might seem more tangible for my children to know that we are helping people who need clean water to live. We might even be able to study the region of the world the organization supports. I think if we put a little thought into it, the family would be very blessed by reaching out!
Thanks so much for posting the video and writing about this today. My husband and I are also trying to find ways to give more and spend less on ourselves and our family because we already have too much. Living Water is one of many wonderful organizations that are making a difference in people's lives each day and even a small contribution, such as $10, can go a long way in helping reach their goals of serving others and providing a better quality of life. But if we look around, I'm sure we can all find people in our own communities that we can serve as well.
I can't wait to read your next post about giving! Thank you for reminding us what Christmas is really all about. : )
Awesome Video! Thank you for sharing this with us and challenging us to give more of ourselves. It would be amazing if all your readers could donate al least the $10! What a huge difference that would make! I sponsor a World Vision child but I know God is always challenging us to do more, give more - "whatever you did for one of the least . . . you did for me."
Thanks for being the Holy Spirit's voice in my life today.
Thank you for the added inspiration. I'm made the decision to donate to KIVA for next pay day. My DD is heavily invovled in helping to build a school and well in India right now, through one of her classes in high school. They should raise 10,000 by Christmas. Love your blog. 🙂
I was inspired by your blog to give a big box of macaroni and cheese, and a case of chicken noddle soup to the food bank! There are always those who are less fortunate...
I meant, "Chicken noodle soup!"
This is a great concept!
I hope to volunteer my time at the Salvation Army in my town this holiday season. Either by packaging hampers or cooking meals.
This year I decided to increase cash donations to my usual recipients. The biggest increase goes to Navy-Marine Corps Relief, which provides funds and educational loans to needy Naval members. The enlisted guy still has a job but the spouse may not have, or the member was wounded and the paperwork for disability hasn't come through yet, or ... The circumstance I hate most is the member has been paying rent but the landlord didn't pay the mortgage. The landlord loses the building so the member - who is blameless - loses the apt. In theory the landlord owes the member but figure the odds of that ever happening.
What I particularly like about Navy-Marine Corps Relief is how well they screen out the free loaders. That and how low their operating expenses are.
Ahh, you guys all rock! I love that you are giving back.
William, that's exactly what I love about Living Water...so many charities waste money on expensive donor luncheons and such, but LW seems to put their money where it counts.
And I agree...getting kicked out of the house because your landlord didn't pay the mortgage seems so unfair.
William, as a Navy wife, I just want to say thanks for donating to Navy-Marine Corps Relief. I've had friends who have needed it.
Thank you for the wonderful message. I too am always concerned with what charities I choose and always check before I give. My favorite charity is World Vision, they also provide their financial statement to the public and operate on a 5% admin margin...which is impressive! Please check them out. =)
Any tiny bit you can give means the world to these families, some times it even means life.
While I am just reading this in my email on 12/31 (I was out of the country for the first half of December) I love the video and the whole concept. It's ironic that even though I didn't give to this particular organization, I already have lived this concept this year. I spent waaaay less on things and gave waaaay more to the charities to which I donate all year long. More money to Hale House, which takes care of drug addicted babies in NYC. More clothes(new ones, not just my children's hand-me-downs) to the local organization that gives a hand up to families. You get the picture. Thanks for posting the video. I saved this for next year. Happy New Year.