Madera Group

Photo credit: One World Children’s Fund

I adopted my daughter Sushma, a dear, funny, strong, intelligent child from Nepal, two years ago. And wow has life has changed since then! So last week, when my great pal Cary Dakin and I attended the Stepping Up for Kids Luncheon and met some of the people involved with founding and running One World Children’s Fund (OWCF) http://www.owcf.org/, my heart strings were particularly pulled.

Based in the Bay Area, OWCF is working with disadvantaged and impoverished children in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the US. I want to strongly encourage you to make a donation to their important work and this is why: There are 150 million children a day that are going to bed hungry—yeah 150 million! Like you, I find this tragic, unconscionable and unacceptable.

I wasn’t at just another fundraising event but I was witnessing the work of an NGO that in some ways has deeply affected my own life—not directly, but from the larger commitment that I share with so many incredible people who are working 24/7 to change radically the way we care for and love the children in our daily lives and in the larger world.

My daughter has much in common with the children that this organization serves. These children are born into families and communities that cannot support their well-being and basic sustenance. There are millions of children like my Sushma—children who have strong spirits, intelligence, beauty, and a purpose. But because they are born into families that have severe economic limitations and live in societies that only recognize their class, caste, gender, you get the picture … their lives do not reach their potential without the support of organizations like OWCF. It does not have to be this way.

Let these beauties into your hearts this season and help shape the course of their lives.

OWCF’s mission statement reads:

“One World Children’s Fund networks aid directly to grassroots organizations that serve disadvantaged children around the world. We recognize that local people know best how to resolve problems in their communities when they have access to resources to build a sustainable future for children and their families.”

So before buying another holiday gift, make a donation to OWCF in the name of your own child, niece, nephew, mother, father, partner … let’s give this season to those that will be deeply affected by your contribution. Like me, you are probably already giving to several charities, but dig a little deeper and begin to wrap these children around your heart and learn about OWCF’s work in the field.

To learn more about OWCF or to make a donation please go to http://www.owcf.org/ and click the Donate Now button! $500 dollars can support 25 AIDS orphans for a year, $15 provides basic education for one month.