Kanye inadvertently supports Kenya

I woke up yesterday morning to my neighbour's voice emanating from my clock radio. He was being interviewed on Edmonton a.m. because of Kanye West. It was surprising, to say the least.

I don't know much about Kanye West, really, other than that he's a Grammy award-winning rapper who is married to one of the Kardashian girls that I often see on the cover of magazines at the grocery checkout. It seems Kanye's pretty good at putting his foot in his mouth on a fairly regular basis, and his latest escapade will hopefully benefit the non-governmental charitable organization being run by my neighbour Todd and friends.

Kanye West seemed to be in some financial trouble, 53 million dollars worth, so he was appealing to his fans on Twitter for help, and one of his remarks made it sound like investing in Kanye was better than investing in charities helping people in Africa. That ticked off a Kanye fan in Florida, who set up a website called Help Kenya Not Kanye. It lists ten charities that supply things like food, clothing, HIV kits, and school supplies to people in various places in Kenya. The fifth charity mentioned, under the heading "Famine > Fashion," suggests that for the price of one of Kanye West's $700 designer sweatshirts, donors to One Child's Village can feed a school of 200 orphans and ten teachers for a whole month! Sounds like a much better deal than an overpriced sweatshirt! (Of course, people don't have to donate $700 -- any amount is appreciated!)

Our new neighbour moved in next door last spring, after our dear elderly neighbour, Olga, moved into an assisted-living senior's residence. We don't know Tod very well yet, but I do know that he's the kind of guy who gives his annual garage sale proceeds to One Child's Village, and does a lot of other good work for the organization, helping with various events and fundraisers and overseeing its work.

I would love to see the charity get a real boost from a Kanye's narcissism (he later admitted that he is personally wealthy but wants to use other people's money to fund his next recording), so I share this story here. Kanye, I'm not your fan, so you'll never get any of my money, but I just gave a donation to One Child's Village. I suspect Todd is appreciating the inadvertent support your tweet is giving his cause!

If you are looking for a way to directly benefit Aids orphans in Africa, check out the links above, and check out the video below that was posted on YouTube a few years back...

We in the western world don't realize how far the price of a coffee or a large pizza can go... and Kanye West certainly doesn't need our support as much as our orphaned African sisters and brothers do!

Simple Suggestion #189 ... Give a gift that makes a difference

What do you want for Christmas this year? Is it something you really need? I could use some new oven mitts -- but if I'm totally honest, the ones I have still work just fine (though they're a bit worn and kind of ugly from past baking "accidents"). And the rest of the stuff on my Christmas wish list isn't really essential to my well-being, either -- or anyone else's, for that matter.

So I'm thinking I should be more like my mom. For our family Christmas exchange, she put "men's briefs" on her Christmas wish list. Not because she's odd that way, but because she knows that there's always a shortage of underwear for homeless guys who visit the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Clothing Room where she volunteers.

What if everybody on the planet gave/asked for gifts that made the world a better place for others, not just for themselves? Here's a funny little video in that vein to make us all think!

There are many organizations that provide necessary items to those who need them -- in our own back yard or in the developing world. Even better are those organizations that help people to help themselves, like microloan groups.

If Kid President (who is pointing his viewers to Unicef's inspired gifts.org website) has you thinking, here are a few more websites worth a visit:

Donate toward housing a family (Habitat for Humanity)

Give a microloan to help someone make a living (Kiva.org)

Donate toward justice issues in the developing world (Development and Peace)

Give an education (Mennonite Central Committee)

Donate food producing livestock (Food for the Hungry)

Give the gift of food (Canadian Foodgrains Bank)

Donate water  (Plan Canada)

So here's a note to the person who has my name in our family gift exchange: Ignore everything I may have told you that I want for Christmas. I'd be happy to receive a donation to any of the above organizations! Or, some men's underwear...

P.S. Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Click here.

Simple Christmas idea #30 -- Set up a new Christmas giving box

Think about next year...

As I'm writing this (on December 23rd) Josh Groban is singing, "There's so much to be thankful for" (I'm biting my tongue about where he's situated his preposition!) and I'm thinking this is the perfect suggestion as we move into a new year. As North Americans and people in the developed world, we are blessed in more ways than we can count... and often find ourselves with spare change in our pockets, unlike about 92% of the planet's population.

Now is a good time to make a plan for next year's giving. Setting aside a box for that spare change, or organizing our charitable donations for the coming year means that by next December, we'll have contributed to many worthy causes, and still have our spare change box to share with the Food Bank or the Salvation Army, or any other Christmas charity of choice. We do have so much for which to be thankful, and it isn't hard to spread that gratitude around, especially if we plan in advance. So find a little box, put it in a prominent place, and dream of those who might appreciate some shared spare change next year...

Simple Christmas idea #7 -- Choose charitable gifts

Gifting that keeps on giving...

Buying Christmas presents from charitable groups, fair trade organizations or local fundraisers means that not only the gift recipient will benefit -- you'll be helping others as well. I'm too late to promote the Just Christmas Fair, which usually happens the last weekend of November, but Ten Thousand Villages and Earth's General Store are good places to go Christmas shopping for fair trade items in December. I usually pick up my Christmas Chocolate from EGS, and love to see what's new at Ten Thousand Villages every year. If you know of any other earth-friendly Christmas gift shops, please let me know!