It’s been said Giving Tuesday is “a day dedicated to giving on purpose with purpose”. I’m not sure who coined the phrase first, but I like it! Last month, we talked about the importance of going deep with organizations to understand how we’re helping those we intend to help. And while giving once on a particular day (i.e. Giving Tuesday) isn’t necessarily going deep, it is a day set aside to purposely give to causes we care about. It’s a day to be intentional with our giving, and today I hope to help you bring your intentionality to another level by sharing organizations I’d support this Giving Tuesday and WHY. These organizations are ones I’ve personally gone deeper with either by spending my time supporting, interacting with, or supporting financially (and in most cases, all of the above!). Even better yet, they all embody the idea of “Helping Without Hurting”, a theme threaded throughout most of the stories we’ve read together – one being the organization who designed the framework itself! Ready? Let’s dig in!

As many know, I’m co-leading a mission trip back to Haiti this June (Yay!). As part of our leader training we had the opportunity to experience a poverty simulation lead by HOPE International. I was eager to partake in the experience for the first time, not knowing at all what it would entail. I was pleasantly surprised (and surprise is the name of the game)! We were taken through an immersive experience forcing us to make decisions and actively partake in roles to stay alive. It really hit home for me. After all, imagining what it would feel like to live in extreme poverty while carrying the immense heartbreak and burden it brings, is what ultimately drove me to walking with people living in poverty in the first place. I’ve often thought, “I don’t know what I would do if I were forced to survive on the streets”. This simulation helped uncover some of that in a deeper way – so much so, that I eagerly want to share it with you! 

In speaking with Ashley Dickens, the HOPE experience facilitator afterwards, I learned she’s already written a story about the experience and I decided there’s no better words than hers to share it with you!

Ever wonder how exactly your donation is being used when you give to a cause that stirs your heart? Curious to know whether the approach you’re supporting truly makes a long-term, sustainable impact? Me too. I often struggle with the complexity of how to give in a healthy way, while truly knowing my support is […]

Poverty is an opportunity to uncover great beauty in other people. 

For years it’s been this beauty and opportunity that has drawn me to be an advocate for the poor! While that desire has been tugging at my heart for a long time, I wasn’t always quite sure the best way to help, where to begin, or worse, aware that things I do can potentially hurt the poor in the process of trying to help. In my last story, I recounted one of my most shameful efforts that did indeed, actually hurt the poor. Today, I want to share with you one of my recent experiences that I believe lends itself more to helping!