The recipients of our charity might resemble us more than we might care to think!!! When we think of the strangers we help when we make a charitable donation – if we think of them at all – they probably bear little if any resemblance to us physically or otherwise. Their homes are in faraway corners of the world or in neighborhoods closer to home that we know only by name and most likely from a news report. They are outside our line of sight, in a public housing project, a homeless shelter, a nursing home, or a rehabilitation center. Consider, for example, that in the US : Thirty-one percent of children under 18 live at or below the poverty line, defined as $23,021 yearly for a family of four. An employee earning the minimum wage ($8.25/hour) must work approximately 136 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment at a fair-market rate of $1,412/month. Roughly 2.7 percent of residents over the age of 13 are living with HIV/AIDS. According to the World Health Organization, one percent of a population infected with the virus constitutes a generalized epidemic. Approximately 75 percent of jobs require a college degree, while only 61 percent of students complete high school. For African Americans, the completion rate is only about half as much. The recipients of our charity might resemble us more than we might care to think however. Life being as precarious as it is, misfortune can befall anyone. Savings can be wiped out by sudden illness, a seemingly secure relationship can fail, and a job can vanish.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 07:55:28 +0000
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