Compassion International

Every Christmas Season since starting this toy review website in 2008, we like to take a brief break from talking about the best toys for kids and instead direct attention to a worthy charity.

Last year we wrote about Compassion International. Compassion is an organization that allows you to commit to monthly giving to support a specific child in need. My family has supported two kids through Compassion for a few years now. You can read what I wrote about Compassion last year here.

Some of you may not want to commit to monthly giving, but would be willing to make a one time donation. Compassion has provided a list of real needs that can be met for a specific dollar amount. So it’s not just giving a dollar amount into a fund and you never know what it goes towards. You can give $10 toward garden seeds to help a family grow their own food. Or $30 towards school supplies.

Or my favorite, give a Chicken for $16. That’s right, a chicken is more than a meal to a family living in poverty. It can provide a source of income, manure for a vegetable garden, and a steady supply of eggs. This gift helps a family to put food on their table and provides them with earnings.

If you would like to make a one time donation and see the full list of gifts, you can do that here.

Charity: Compassion International

Every year since we started this website in 2008, I like to take a day during the Holiday Shopping Season to highlight a worthy charity. During this season of shopping and giving, I think it’s important to remember that there are people in the world who cannot afford the life style that many of us lead. Today I want to encourage you to learn about Compassion International.

Compassion International Sponsor a Child
Every year since we started this website in 2008, I like to take a day during the Holiday Shopping Season to take a break from talking about the best toys and instead highlight a worthy charity. You can see a listing of all our previous Charity posts here.

During this season of shopping and giving, I think it’s important to remember that there are people in the world who cannot afford the life style that many of us lead.

Today I want to encourage you to learn about Compassion International. Compassion International is a Christian child advocacy group that seeks to break the cycle of poverty by providing resources to children such as food, shelter, education, and health care. Founded in 1952, Compassion currently helps more than 1 million children in 26 countries.

Compassion provides the opportunity to sponsor a child for $38 per month. This is a unique opportunity to radically change the life of a child whom you will never meet in person.

Letter from our Compassion Child
A Letter from our Sponsored Child
My family started sponsoring 2 children through Compassion over a year ago. It’s been great. Our sponsor children write letters to us and tell us about their family and what they are learning in school. Both of our sponsor kids happen to live in Haiti, so when the earthquake struck in January 2010, we were concerned about our kids. It took several months after the earthquake until we received a letter from our children letting us know that they were ok. It was a big relief for sure.

If you would like to learn more about sponsoring a child, you can learn more about that on the Compassion site here.

If you are not ready to sponsor a child at this time, but would still like to make a one time financial donation to this organization, you can learn more about that here.

Choose TOMS Shoes, Help a Child in Need

Each year during the Holiday’s, I like to use this website as a platform to support and promote charities and organizations that are doing good in the world by helping those less fortunate. You can see a list of the other causes that I’ve highlighted here.

TOMS Shoes is a company with a mission. For every pair of shoes that you purchase, they will donate a pair of shoes to a child in need.

To learn more, watch the video and then visit www.tomsshoes.com to buy shoes for men, women or kids and for every pair you purchase, a child you will never meet with a new pair of shoes.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysE2VlyvdnI]

The Today Show Toy Drive

The TODAY show on NBC has kicked off their 16th Annual Holiday Toy and Gift Drive for needy families in the United States. Did you know that nearly one in five children are living below the poverty level in the United States? The gifts that are donated will be distributed to children’s whose parents would otherwise not be able to provide a special gift for the Holidays. Recipients are more than 200 non-profit family organizations including homeless shelters, children’s group homes, foster family services and more.

You can read the press release from the TODAY show with more details about the program here.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

This year Amazon is matching donations made online from the Today Show’s Amazon Wish List. Go to The Today Show Wish List page on Amazon, add items to your cart, and Amazon will ensure that the toys are sent to kids in need.

Bite Back: Donate to Help Fight Against Malaria

Malaria is a tropical disease that kills 750,000 children each year. That’s one child every 30 seconds. In Africa, this devastating disease is carried by mosquitoes and spread by a bite.

Bite Back” is a campaign sponsored by the non-profit organization Compassion International. They are working to fight malaria in Africa by providing mosquito nets to protect poor families from mosquitoes that carry this disease. A donation of $10 will purchase one insecticide-treated bed net, distribute it to someone who needs it and also teach that person how to use the net effectively.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci3nK0R0rk0]

As you do your holiday shopping this year, consider that for only $10, you can help to save a life. You can learn more or donate at http://biteback.net.

Donate to Living Water International – Advent Conspiracy

Lack of clean drinking water kills more people per day than anything. The estimated cost to make clean water available to everyone in the world is $10 Billion. Americans spend $450 Billion on Christmas every year. Do you see what could happen if we all give just a small percent to solve this problem? Advent Conspiracy has partnered with Living Water International to dig wells that provide clean drinking water for people in need. http://www.adventconspiracy.org/water/ Watch this video and then click on the link to learn more or to donate. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU]