On the 12th Day of a Christmas....thoughtful ways to give

We'll go a little off track on this last day of Christmas and talk about how the internet and it's wide variety of tools can help us have a BIG impact with a small gesture. I'll highlight three easy ways to use your internet connection to change someone's life (by loaning, giving or clicking...)

Do you have an extra $25? Don't worry, you'll get it back! Kiva is an online, mico-finance organization. It works like this: a woman in Uganda makes her living selling food from a cart. Her cart falls apart, and she needs $ for a new one. You loan $25 to her through Kiva, which works through a micro-financing organization in Uganda. The women gets a loan of $100 (or whatever she requested to purchase or build a new cart). She makes more money because her cart is more effective. She re-pays the loan. Kiva gives you your money back (or lets you invest it in someone else's loan request). The total amount of money loaned through Kiva to date is over $170 million. The average loan size per individual is only $360. That's a lot of people getting helped! The underlying mission of Kiva is to alleviate poverty by connecting people (through lending).

Do you have an extra $10? You don't get this back in green, but you'll get it back by improving the educational experience for someone right here in your own community. Donor's Choose is "an online charity connecting you to a classroom in need." It works like this: a teacher identifies a need in his/her classroom (something the tight educational budgets aren't able to handle). He/she writes up a project on Donor's Choose website. You and your extra $10 look through the requests on the Donor's Choose website until you find one that deserves your $10. You can search by state, city and school. Cedar Rapids currently has 10 or 11 open projects. As you peruse the site, you'll see teachers are requesting anything from pencils for poetry writing, to a set of books or instructional materials, to ipods or a data projector. You can give anonymously or if you choose to share your identity, you'll get a thank you from the teacher.

Do you have some time to click? Every day you visit The Hunger Site and click the big yellow "Click Here to Give" button, you're giving 1 cup of food to a person in need. Your screen will show you a list of sponsors who are actually funding the cups of food (in exchange for the opportunity to advertise to you). Even better; if you don't have all of your holiday shopping completed, consider shopping on The Hunger Site. You'll find unique gifts, made around the world (and from here); and with every item you buy on the site, you'll also be funding a food donation. For instance; I ordered one of these awesome bags for my sister-in-law. It's hand-made by Cambodian women out of recycled rice bags. When I purchase this, I'm helping a Cambodian woman retain her financial independence, I'm supporting recycling, and I'm donating 50 cups of food toward the fight to end world hunger (and I'm also giving my sister-in-law a bag as cool and unique as she is).

I hope you have a wonderful holiday and a relaxing break. Upon your return, check your mailbox for a Brewed Awakening's card! Enjoy a cup of coffee to ease yourself into the Happy New Year!