Saturday, February 11, 2012

I Guess We Didn't Get the Memo...

This morning, Regina and I decided to try and go for a walk/run. The sun was shining outside. It was a lazy Saturday morning. We were feeling guilty from the great dinner and dessert the night before. Our friends David and Martha had brought us a pecan pie. I won't tell you how much I ate because it would be self-incriminating...

Anyway, I guess we were the only ones who didn't get the memo that an Arctic cold front had come through Tennessee last night. We bundled up, stretched, even put on gloves and intrepidly headed out the door and down our road. Sadly, after about 100 yards and our noses falling off due to frostbite (exaggeration here), we promptly turned around and headed back to our warm house.

On the way back, I displayed one of my many hidden talents. I spotted eleven cents in the road and stooped down to pick it up. My spotting and picking up coins all over the world is legendary (at least in my mind). For some strange reason, I have this gift for seeing and picking up stray coins. While I call it a gift, others (read Regina, my family, etc.) have other ideas. However, my practice is when I find these stray coins, I take them home and place them in my "World Hunger" bank adding them to my other loose change. When the bank fills up, I take it out, count it, convert to bills (or a check) and give my donation to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund.

Eleven cents isn't very much by our standards. But I began thinking: "What could eleven cents do in a hungry and needy world?" I sure wouldn't miss it and evidently the person who dropped it didn't think it worth the effort to stop and pick it up. So, is there any value to the eleven cents I just placed in my World Hunger bank?

* Eleven cents won't even buy a meal for a hungry child but it is at least halfway towards providing a warm, nutritious meal to a kid in the Horn of Africa. Pretty valuable!
* Eleven cents won't solve the world's malaria problem but it is 2% of the cost of a mosquito net for a family that lives in an area with rampant malarial problems. Just 50 more Eleven cents would provide that net. Pretty significant.
* Eleven cents won't help all the thirsty people in the world but it will provide almost 5% of the funds needed to give a family clean drinking water for one day. Again, not bad for a measly eleven cents left in the road.

The world didn't get the memo that there is hope for the hungry, sick and thirsty. And I didn't get the memo that eleven cents doesn't make a difference.

However, consider yourself served! You just got the "eleven cent" memo. What will you do about it?

For opportunities to make your eleven cents count, visit: www.worldhungerfund.com and see some possibilities for yourself of what eleven cents can do.

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