‘Tis the season!

I read a few weeks ago that the Salvation Army would be accepting credit card donations at their “kettle” stations. Earlier this year, they had introduced a “text” giving program where individuals can make a donation simply by sending a text message on there cell phone http://www.salvationarmy.ca/2009/12/07/text-hope-salvation-army-launches-it’s-first-ever-text-message-giving-program/
Add this to their campaigns on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and the new age of generating awareness and donating is upon us.

Yesterday, I was walking through a local mall and was approached by a woman working a kiosk, soliciting donations for “Save the Children” I found it difficult to say that we already sponsor a child.
Like most people we know, we contribute to charities when we can, we help organize, attend and support fundraising events and from a business standpoint we sponsor a great many charitable events every year. Also, like most people I know, I often think I can and should do more. The interaction with the volunteer in the mall makes me pause and think.

I am always fascinated with the rapidly changing world we live in. It seems that everyday there is a new discovery or event that makes us stop and take notice. At the same time I find it difficult to reconcile the rate of technological change versus the suffering that we see daily in the news of people all over the world. Recently, I was watching a television special on the Beatles and the commercial breaks were entirely filled with ads for sponsoring a child in Africa. The backdrop to all the images of children in poverty was the John Lennon song “Happy Christmas (War is Over)” - maybe better known as “So this is Christmas”. It seems odd to me that we have been unable to find a way to solve the problem of world hunger.

A couple of years ago I attended a “One X One” Gala during the Toronto International Film Festival. This fundraiser was hosted by Matt Damon and was in aid of H2O Africa
This charity is creating public awareness of the water crisis in Africa and gathering support for clean water programs in effected regions. I am not sure how much money this one event raised but I seem to remember that it was well over $1,000,000. And this was a single event – one single evening!
The point is, with all the money donated to charities each year, and all our resources, why are we still struggling with hunger and clean water crises?

Last week was the first test flight of the Virgin Galactic – a commercial spacecraft that, in theory will allow people to buy access to a trip to “outer space”. http://www.virgingalactic.com/ An absolutely remarkable achievement and yet, how do we reconcile this kind of wealth with a series of ads asking for $1 per day to support a child in a poverty stricken third world country? At http://www.water.org they ask for a $25 donation to provide a person with water for life.
I struggle to understand this - the disconnect between the money available (and donated) and the technology available with the needs of nations ravaged by poverty and disease. Surely there is something wrong with this equation. Truth is that I am an optimist…perhaps naively so…but if we don’t question, how can we ever hope to effect change.
In the spirit of the season, do something nice for someone today and have a great day.
Cheers,
George