Support Bread for the World's work with a $100 donation, and I'll match it. Plus I'll mail you a special Christmas gift. Join me in this challenge by going to Rick Steves' Christmas Fundraiser Challenge.
I've enjoyed sharing my experiences filming our public TV special in the Holy Land over the last month. It was a powerful learning experience for me, and I hope you found it worthwhile, too. Now it's great to be back home.
Whenever I travel outside of the peace, stability, and affluence of Europe and the US, I find myself adjusting my worldview. I become more in tune with the realities of people who will never have the joy of seeing their name on a vacation plane ticket. If these times seem tough for our friends and family, imagine how tough they are for hungry and poor people -- especially in tumultuous and less stable parts of our world.
To add extra meaning to my holiday season, I'm helping to raise funds for Bread for the World, an organization that advocates for hungry people at home and around the world. This year, the needs are particularly great, so I've got a fun challenge to do something that, collectively, can make a huge difference: Consider supporting Bread for the World's good work with a donation of $100 -- and I'll match all gifts up to $100,000. Imagine: As an extended family of caring citizens, together we can empower their work with $200,000! Make your donation by going to Rick Steves' Christmas Fundraiser Challenge.
Bread for the World advocates for the world's poorest people. In others words, they lobby Congress to go light on budget cuts that will hurt those in need. Considering all the interests competing for attention on Capitol Hill, I'm proud to support what I consider the best way possible to give the hungry a voice.
Bread for the World is amazingly effective. While the food provided by all the charities in our country only amounts to 6 percent of the food assistance available, our government provides the rest. That means Bread's advocacy work has a huge impact. For every dollar Bread raises, it leverages $100 in terms of funding that is vital to poor people. Assuming that ratio holds, if we hit our $200,000 target, we'll generate $20 million of life-giving, hope-instilling funding for this cause. I'm convinced that supporting Bread is the very best way to leverage my charitable giving. That's why I've been a Bread member for 30 years.
So here's my challenge: To give this holiday season an extra punch this year, go to Rick Steves' Christmas Fundraiser Challenge, and help Bread for the World with your gift of $100 or more. As a thank you, I'll match your donation (so Bread will receive double what you donate) and send you three gifts from my Rick Steves' European Christmas collection:
- Rick Steves' European Christmas DVD
- Rick Steves' European Christmas coffee-table book
- Rick Steves' European Christmas music CD
I'll happily pay for the cost of these three gifts, plus shipping, so that Bread for the World can put 100 percent of your donation to work. Make your gift by Dec. 10, and you'll get everything in time for Christmas.
Thanks and Merry Christmas!