Poverty is the lack of what you need to live on. Food, water, clothes, that sort of thing. Poverty is effecting people world wide. And Blog Action Day 2008 is doing something about it. They made a list of 88 differant things to do. Over 10,700 people are blogging about it, and 11,600,000+ people are reading about it.

“If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall freely open your hand to him, and generously lend him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks.” - Deut. 15:7

Doug Cloud knows what Poverty is, he’s been there. Read his story…

WHAT IS POVERTY?

Poverty (also called penury) is deprivation of common necessities that determine the quality of life, including food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, and may also include the deprivation of opportunities to learn, to obtain better employment to escape poverty, and/or to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens.

Those living in poverty and lacking access to essential health services, suffering hunger or even starvation, experience mental and physical health problems which make it harder for them to improve their situation. One third of deaths - some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day - are due to poverty-related causes: in total 270 million people, most of them women and children, have died as a result of poverty since 1990. Those living in poverty suffer lower life expectancy. Every year nearly 11 million children living in poverty die before their fifth birthday. Those living in poverty often suffer from hunger. 800 million people go to bed hungry every night. Poverty increases the risk of homelessness. There are over 100 million street children worldwide. Increased risk of drug abuse may also be associated with poverty — Wikipedia

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” — 2 Corinthians 8:9

Freerice.com is a free online vocabulary game. Every question you answer correctly, they donate 20 grains of rice. The more you play, the more rice you donate. So far 46,857,413,890 grains of rice have been donates.

Here are some ideas from the gigantic list from Blog Action Day’s web blog.

16. Stop being Lazy
1. Eat meatless meals 2x a week. Donate that grocery money to a local food bank. - TarotByArwen
34. Save your old stuff and sold it for charity
55. Do not waste water on that day.
63. Save electricity on that day and contribute the equivalent savings to a local charity.
9. Make flyers to stick in the local library (or anywhere).
31. If you have take out coffee, skip it for an entire week, donate the savings!
33. Talk with your children about poverty and who it affects.
45. Pray for the comfort and safety of the world’s poor. Pray for the strength, wisdom and courage to help each of them find prosperity.
52. Visit The Hunger Site every day and click the link to feed the hungry. It’s fast and it’s free and there’s absolutely NO excuse not to do it every day you’re online!
80. I think in order to stop poverty is to give what the people really need, not just giving it away for the sake of ‘being kind’

Check out all 88 ideas right here. It’s an amazing list created by lots of people.

“I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the poor.” - Ps. 140:12.

Some awesome blog posts & Websites on Poverty:

1. Blog Action Day - Just do something
2. What I did for Blog Action Day
3. Blog Action Day: Fight Poverty with your wallet
4. Blog Action Day and Fair Trade month
5. Poverty.com - Hunger and World Poverty
6. sportsagentblog.com - Blog Action DAy 2008: Poverty

Get Involved:
Kiva - Loans that save lives - loan money to a poor person, and you receive a picture of the person who’s live has been changed.
Change.org - Blog Action Day: Global Fund - Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Donate to your local homeless shelter or food pantry.

“Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack,’ he said. ‘Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ ”— Mark 10:21

Tags: Blog Action Day