Written for Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty. Last year the subject was Environment.

To tackle the issue of poverty is no small feat. After thinking about it and wallowing around in the sadness of it, it’s time to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and do something about it. Personally, I think the power of education, compassion and encouragement will lead to a real improvement in poverty. Whether it’s here in the US or abroad, I feel there are some basic fundamentally similar solutions that we can all participate in.

So what can I do? What can we do? I went out on a search to see what affects I could cause locally and globally. Some of the key influences that you can give to are donations of food, time and money to help fight the cause.

Locally

• Donate to your local food bank
• Volunteer to tutor a child
• Donate to your local school lunch program
• Volunteer for the Big Brothers, Big Sisters
• Donate books
• Write to your elected officials
• Just volunteer

Globally

• Donate to Grameen Foundation
• Donate a cow, goat or rabbit
• Donate to Kiva
• Donate to One.org
• Donate to Make Poverty History
• Donate to an organization of your choice
• Educate and sponsor
• Don’t buy stuff that’s not made with fair trade and worker’s rights in mind:


What else can we do? Do you have any suggestions? What will you do? Tell us.