poverty

It's difficult to imagine that 30,000 children die each day due to poverty and hunger. While we live in a culture where food abounds - on television, the Internet, fast-food restaurants on every corner, leftovers in our refrigerators - the world is vastly different just a few thousand miles (or a couple miles) from us.

March is Poverty Awareness Month for City Light Church. Poverty, as defined by a dictionary, means, "the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor; indigence."

Following are a few statistics regarding poverty, taken from Global Issues:

• Almost half the world (approximately 3 billion people) live on less than $2.50 per day.

• At least 80% of the human population lives on less than $10 per day.

• According to UNICEF, around 30,000 children (0-5 years) die each day from poverty.

• Out of the 2.2 billion children who live in this world, 1 billion live in poverty.

In August 2008, the World Bank announced that the poverty line would be set at $1.25 per day. It used to be $1.00 per day.

Can you imagine living on $1.25 per day?
1.4 billion people around the world do.

The United States, touted as one of the most developed nations in the world, also has its share of poverty-stricken households. According to a BBC news article from September 2002, the number of U.S. citizens living in poverty hovered somewhere around 33 million.

The United States poverty threshold is set by the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2007-2008, the poverty threshold for a household of 2 was set at $14,000/year.

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So... what can we do? Practically speaking.
That's what the month of March is about...
raising awareness about poverty, but also raising awareness of what we can do to help fight this humongous issue that seems so distant, yet is so close to home.

Please stay tuned.
May God tug at our hearts and give us compassion for those who need it the most.