Editor:
During this season of giving, we like to give back to those who have less than we do. Traditionally we help out by doing an act of charity - giving to food banks, turkey drives, soup kitchens, and Christmas baskets.
And these are all wonderful and very worthwhile causes. No Islander likes to think of a friend, relative or neighbour going without. These acts help people survive the immediate crisis. They help folks provide a happy Christmas for their families.
We need to help people survive in difficult times, but we also must work for long-term solutions to reduce poverty on this Island and around the world. We wish to encourage Islanders to consider fighting poverty by walking with two feet: one foot being 'acts of charity' and the other foot being 'acts of social justice'. The two must work together for us to walk strongly.
While helping people out in tough times is absolutely necessary, it is also absolutely necessary that we also work toward eliminating poverty. So how can we work to eliminate poverty?
We can buy local foods and gifts that support a living wage for local citizens. We can buy fairly traded products. We can talk to our MPs and MLAs. We can join local groups working to eliminate poverty. We can donate money to local groups working to eliminate poverty. Island groups who specifically work on this issue are the McKillop Centre, the Cooper Institute, the P.E.I. Working Group for a Livable Income, ALERT and the local chapter of the National Anti-Poverty Organization (NAPO).
So this year when you are making your charitable donation, consider what you can do to walk with the other foot. Let's keep moving and work together to eliminate poverty - at Christmas and all year long.
Sara Roach-Lewis,
Women's Network P.E.I.
(a member organization of the P.E.I. Working Group for a Livable Income)
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1 comment:
Whether it's a Christmas gift for your husband, wife, child or friend, the act of giving is a show of love and appreciation. It also satisfies a basic need in all of us to please another. All too often, though, we forget about the larger purpose of giving, the purpose giving Christmas gifts to charity can fulfill.
Of course the act of giving a gift to a loved one or someone close to you has an immediate positive impact in seeing the joy on their face as they receive the gift and then them lighting up when they see how much you thought and cared to pick that particular gift for them.
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