Helping Hearts, Blog of Anne Sanders

With only five days to go, Christmas is getting closer but it's not too late to do something to make a difference this holiday. The unique gift items below can be given with the best intentions—to help others. You can send the notice of the present by email or in many cases, you can print out your own card to hand to your friend or family member.    1.        Spend $25 or more to free forced labor slaves with International Justice Mission . 2.       A sheep from Heifer International  - A share is $10 while a whole sheep is $120. Heifer provides all kinds of animals from chicks to water buffalo to families that can use them to generate income and useful resources for the family. 3.       A chicken from Mercy Corps International  - for $35, it provides eggs and future hatchlings as well. 4.       A water purifier from O...

In my younger years, I spent days listening to U2’s dvds (and cassettes, too, admittedly) screaming, “With or without you.” Well, now U2 front man Bono is pushing for change and he has good news. In a TED conference in February Bono said , “The number of people living in backbreaking, soul-crushing, extreme poverty has declined from 43 percent of the world’s population in 1990 to 33 percent by 2000. And then to 21 percent by 2010. Halved! It’s heart stopping! If you live on less than $1.25 a day, if you live in that kind of poverty, this is not just data. This is everything. This rapid transition is a route out of despair and into hope.” On the trajectory Bono presented, by 2030 there will be zero people living on less than $1.25 per day. But Bono knows this trend won’t continue “with or without you.” It needs to be nurtured by governments that are eyeing cuts to charitable programs and supported by people so governments don’t make those cuts. Bono is hoping that the spread of ...

Dear God, I often wonder what you would have me do to help others. It sometimes seems like I can’t help someone who really needs it, for how does that person find me? And even if he did, how could I truly help in the all ways he might need it? Providing food and money only helps with physical needs when spiritual needs can outweigh those. Someone in the grips of despair has emotional needs, too. You say that pure religion is caring for widows and orphans. That lets me know that caring for others is important to you, but I don’t have enough money to support another family. Or do I? One thing that I have found is a way to pool my money with others by sponsoring a child through a group like Compassion International or World Vision. These organizations take the monthly amount I send them and combine it to provide services for many children in one area. The wonderful thing is I’m not just providing for someone financially whom I’ll never know. I can write to my child and hear ...