It's kind of funny how once you start doing something (like Filanthropy Friday), you start noticing things more (like names of charities). It's kind of how when I got pregnant, I started noticing other pregnant women (much more than I did when not pregnant) and when I had Cash I started noticing other babies.
Well, now I seem to be much more aware of charities (and cookie dough factories). The other day I was having lunch with a friend of mine at Berryhill (they have a very yummy seafood burrito). We've eaten lunch or dinner at Berryhill many times, but this was the first time I noticed a small sign in the same shopping center that said "A Glimmer of Hope". It made me curious and I was convinced that "A Glimmer of Hope" had to be a charity, that or a cookie dough factory
As soon as I got home, I googled them.
Turns out A Glimmer of Hope is a charity.
It was started by a woman in Austin who was profoundly shaken by pictures she saw in the 1980s of the famine in Africa. She wanted to do something, anything and so she started A Glimmer of Hope, specifically focusing on Ethiopia. Their goal is to help transform villages through water, education, healthcare and microfinance projects.
One of their current campaigns is Buy Bricks, Build A School . You can buy one brick for $20 - it takes 750 bricks for a classroom and 3,000 bricks to build a school (For Liz: I don't think these are literal bricks, I'm pretty sure it's the dollar value associated with the brick). I bought one brick and gave it as a gift to Cub.
Let me recap: You saw a sign in a mall for a "charity" you had never heard of. You find out that the charity buys bricks for "schools in Ethiopia" and so you bought a virtual brick for your toddler son who can't conceptualize this whole scenario? That about right? Are you aware that if you are starving you can't go to school? So if kids in Ethiopia are starving they can't walk their skinny little legs to school anyway. Seems like sending them candy bars might be a better option for them.
ReplyDeleteSounds kind of dumb when you read this little synopsis doesn't it? I don't think I need to say any more than this. Enough said.
Your realistic friend,
Liz