I grew up Catholic and whether you’re Catholic or not, you’ve probably heard of Lent. Lent is the time of year where Catholics give up something important to them in preparation for commemorating a very important religious event. We’ve probably heard at least one friend say “I’m giving up chocolate for lent” or “I’m giving up sweets for lent”. Somewhere in my childhood I was instructed to give something instead of giving something up. Whether this was giving something huge or giving something small or giving something small on a daily basis, the idea was to recognize our good fortune and be willing to give it away to those less fortunate.
Many of us as we get into holiday season think of giving to a local food bank, or sponsoring a local family, or otherwise sharing our good fortune not only with our families but with those less fortunate. Sometimes it’s easy to identify a way to do this by working with a local agency or perhaps a local group we’re affiliated with has already set this up. But often, the task of figuring out how to donate that money gets in the way of us giving because we don’t know where to look or how to identify that opportunity.
I have a great idea. Did you know that every a child dies every 45 seconds of Malaria and the disease accounts for 20% of all childhood deaths in Africa? That’s 1,920 children each day!! So as of today, there are 28 days until Christmas. That means 53,760 children in Africa will not live until Christmas. I know it sounds like a small thing, but you could make that 53,759 or 53,758. You could help 1 or 2 children live to see Christmas this very year.