Every year, we as a church celebrate the four weeks leading up to Christmas; we call it Advent. We light candles, we think nice thoughts, maybe say a prayer or two. But I've never felt as if I were living it, that is, really preparing my mind and my heart and my spirit for the coming of Christ. So, based on a friend's "365 Days of Kindness" Project, I am going to be live and act according to the 28 days of Advent. So, here it is. I hope you’ll feel free to join me if you are so inspired.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Day 5: HOPE for people around the world living in poverty

As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest. Nelson Mandela
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/nelsonmand737776.html?src=t_poverty



If you’re in the luckiest 1% of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99%. -Warren Buffet


Again, today's act of hope was not too difficult. This is something I do the first Thursday evening of every month.

On that day, a group of us volunteer at "Mano a Mano", a St. Paul nonprofit which is "Working Hand in Hand to Improve Lives in Bolivia". They do so much for this impoverished country, that one should just go to their website to find out more: manoamano.org.

Our jobs as volunteers is to collect, sort, and pack donated medical supplies and equipment for use in hospitals and clinics in Bolivia. This opportunity to volunteer is organized by my friend, Maya, whose daughter, Tamar, lost her life in a terrible bus accident while traveling in Bolivia. Tamar was much too young to die, and if the accident had happened in a more developed country, she would most likely have survived.

Maya has channeled her grief into providing support to the people of Bolivia.

Her generous act allows each of us to give at least a little HOPE for citizens of a country that has the highest rural poverty rate in the entire world – 94% of rural Bolivians live below the subsistence level.


This small act of hope, for such a huge problem is so gratifying. I invite you to join us!

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