Find the sensational gift this season at the 'Girl Store'?
Come again? Yes buy your gift at the Girl Store. Go on.
Ok, you don't actually buy a girl there. You help her buy her life back.
Now that we have officially entered the exciting holiday season of giving, get ready to have a wonderful holiday yet take a moment and think of the less fortunate out there, many of them children and families who are unable to have the things we often take for granted at this time of year. And then do something about it. It used to be that the only action you could take was to feel badly. Now you can act and make an immediate impact and it takes a maximum of 30 seconds of your day. Simple, easy, important and guilt free.
Your first stop must be to help the tenacity and the great struggle being waged by Save the Children after the Typhoon in the Philippines.
There are of course a wide variety of game changing charities that need help and compete for donations and volunteering. This has become intense which can make it harder to select which organization to help. Added to this are confusing and false charities, making giving even more complicated.
Charities that help kids, and focus on the education of a girls are at the top of my list when it comes to donations. Why? Around the world, girls are not only deprived of education, they are punished for seeking knowledge. Here's the important part: A girl's education is about more than just the individual; it is about the future of her family and her community it reduces overpopulation, disease and terrorism. Improving girls' educational levels has been demonstrated to have clear impacts on the health and economic future of young women, which in turn improves the prospects of their entire community. When you educate a girl the reinvestment in her family means her children will be more likely to go to school and be immunized, leading to healthier, more productive individuals and communities. The spreading of prosperity and influence is called the ripple effect.
The Girl Store is an important example of an answer to the simple holiday question: "What can I do?"
Designed for simple action, it sends money directly to the organization educating the girls and buys them books and pencils. It garners donations and supports the education of underprivileged girls in India. It costs only $65 to sponsor a girl's education for one year through the program.
To understand the Girl Epidemic, watch the short film by Indrani.
So far the Girl Store is run by Nanhi Kali, an NGO for Girl child Education that provides primary education to underprivileged girl children in India. The Girl Store has people across the world help Nanhi Kali to make big changes for 75,000 girls. They are receiving educational support and the project aims to reach out to 500,000 girls.