Go Hungry for Change

Global Fast :: We Changed 10,000 Lives from JJ Starr on Vimeo.

This is a new type of movement. Global Fast empowers anyone to make an impact as big as their vision. It's about your words and actions, not the size of your wallet. They give you the necessary tools to reach your community and change the world through charity and personal sacrifice. 

"By fasting and being uncomfortable for the afternoon, I am forced to remember how good I have it. And regardless of how much I want to complain (and still do), I am confronted by the fact that missing a meal is not even comparable to having to drink muddy water out of a hole in the ground. My hope is that by doing Global Fast, my heart starts to change, so that I actually care more about people in desperate need than I do my own comfort, at least for one meal a week. Its a step towards compassion, something that the world can always use."

This video includes shots of Pepperdine University students, where leaders created a one-day fasting event that raised over $10,000 to help refugees in Darfur. It also includes new footage from water wells built in India, as a result of a one-day fast for World Water Day 2010.

Visit globalfast.org for more information

She is only ten years old

 

In 2010 Iran's Department of Statistics announced that 10 million Iranians live under the "Absolute Poverty Line" and 30 million live under the "Relative Poverty Line."

It is such hearth wrenching realities that make me want to run back to Tehran and lend a hand.  Helpless and far across the globe I can't help but to feel ANGRY!

I'm Mad as Hell

1 billion people live in chronic hunger. In the time it takes to watch this video, two children will die of hunger.

 

http://www.1billionhungry.org/imaginechange 

On October 11, 2010 a new global hunger index released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) showed that one billion people face hunger this year.
The present dramatic situation has come about because instead of tackling the structural causes of food insecurity, the world neglected agriculture in development policies, resulting in an under-investment in this sector, in particular in developing countries.
It is unacceptable in the 21st century that almost one in six of the world's population is now going hungry.   According to the WFP At a time when there are more hungry people in the world than ever before, there is less food aid than we have seen in living memory.
Put pressure on politicians to end hunger. 

Sign the petition and push for change wherever you are - One Billion Hungry

A Magical Pair of Shoes

Firouz Naderi is an Iranian-American scientist and the Associate Director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), responsible for Project Formulation and Strategy. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the recipient of a number of awards, including NASA's Outstanding Leadership Medal. He was most recently recognized by the American Astronautical Society (AAS) with the William Randolph Lovelace II Award for outstanding contributions to space science and technology. But most importantly his a humanitarian and compassionate man. Watch this touching video where he tells the tail of an amazing boy and a noteworthy cause ....

 To sponsor a child of your own http://www.keepchildreninschool.org/

It is true that it is those honest heartfelt stories that touch us the most, so much so that we are compelled to act.  The first time I heard this story I was ashamed. I have a closet full of shoes and still find myself saying, I need that new trendy pair of heels for that perfect outfit.  It is then that I truly grasped what it meant to be selfish.

A Letter from Soraya

Three years ago, at the age of 19, I was just getting out of a drug rehab center, had not finished high school, and had no clue what I was going to do with my life. But I was one of the fortunate few who were accepted into the Omid-e-Mehr program.

A few months ago I graduated from the program.

Much has happened in these three years. The highlights I remember most are that I received my high school diploma; received my IELTS level 6 internationally English language certificate; received my internationally recognized ICDL certificate for the computer skills I have acquired; completed my advanced accounting course and received my TVTO accounting certificate from the Iranian Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; learned about the law and my rights both as an individual and as a women; visited every major museum in Tehran; been on many field trips around Iran to see both monuments and nature (the picture you see is from last year's trip to the Caspian); made many new friends; and found out what it feels like to be on top of the world.

I now believe in myself, am working full-time in the accounting department of a wonderful company in Tehran and live with two of my friends from Omid-e-Mehr in a small apartment. The future looks wonderful. Three years ago I did not think any of this was possible. For me the most important thing that has happened is that today I have a choice, a choice to decide what I want to do with my life, and the tools to succeed in whatever I choose to do.

None of this would have been possible without the Omid-e-Mehr. None of this would have happened without people like you supporting the Omid-e-Mehr. Words can not express what you have done for me. This is just to say thank you and to wish you the very best for the holidays.

Omid-e-Mehr will always need your support. Your support has helped me change my life. You can give the same gift of life that you have given me to thousands of other girls who truly need it.

Soraya