Our first real test

(Emily's voice) - Pictures taken from Peter Singer's article "Peter Singer's Solution to World Poverty" published in the New York Times On the Web dated Sept. 5, 1999 (http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/singermag.html).

The past two nights in a row we have been invited out to hang out with friends and spend money on things that we don't need to! Friday night we were invited to go and see a movie and last night we were invited to a local pub for a friend's birthday party.

We already used up our one-movie-a-month money earlier in the month to see "9" (which I highly recommend to everyone; super animation and a really creative idea for a post-apocalyptic world). Fortunately, my sister gave us a gift card to the movie theatre for my birthday and we still had some money left on that so we used it up Friday night (no more freebees!)

But last night. Oh last night! There is nothing I love more than to meet a bunch of friends down at the Madhouse for a pint of cider and some delicious sweet potato fries. I love it so much that I have been known to go and sit there by myself at 4 pm to guarantee a table for when everyone else arrives at 6!

So we arrived and announced that we wouldn't be staying long and asked the waiter if it would be possible just to get 2 waters. In most restaurants the wait staff would look at you with disbelief (did they just order 2 waters?). But, lucky for us there are places like the Madhouse where the staff are decent folk and are happy to fulfill such a request. It probably helped that we were sitting at a table with 8 other people, all of whom just ordered a crap load of appetizers (pretty sure the waiter is going to get a large tip, whether we order anything or not). Now the table is laden with delicious treats like nachos, chicken wings and the aforementioned sweet potato fries and it took all of my will power (and trust me folks, I don't have much!) to not look at the steaming plates. It kind of felt like when you walk into a room and there is someone there you don't really want to talk to so you try not to make eye contact. I found myself doing that with the food; do not make eye contact, do not make eye contact.

Now, by this point, my salivary glands were squirting with anticipation, all my senses alight with yearning. And then I had a sobering thought. We are not eating food in this restaurant to help the starving children around the world. The amount of food sitting on this table right now, is more food than some children will see in a week, let alone one evening. We have a whole fridge filled with food back at home. Go home and eat the food you have already paid for.

Okay. So that really was our first test. Can we go out and still have some fun without feeling pressured to spend money? Yes. We can do it.

Nice Quotation

"If 100 jumbo jets crashed tomorrow, killing everyone on board, the world would be united in mourning, but every day a similar number of people die of hunger related diseases."

Great commercial

(Emily's voice)

I saw a great commercial (or should we call it a public service announcement?) on TV the other day for the World Food Program. Check it out:





Whenever a famous celebrity endorses a charity it seems to draw a lot of attention. For some reason we tend to trust celebrities and value their opinion. I suppose it is because they are the trendsetters of the world, and if they're doing it, then we've got to do it (like when the whole world cut their hair just like Victoria Beckham)! Or maybe we are just fascinated by their seemingly glamorous lives and by doing what they're doing we feel like we are a part of it too (hence the trashy mag after trashy mag at the grocery store checkout).

I suppose if I was as famous as Sean Penn I would try to use that fame to garner support for causes I thought worthwhile. And the World Food Program is definitely worthwhile.

Science Nerd Loves Data

(Matt's Voice)

A big part of my required reading for learning more about global poverty has been Peter Singer's "The Life You Can Save". This has been a wonderful read for me because it delves so much into the psychological research about why and how people do/don't give charitably and the research (and lack thereof in some cases) about the effectiveness of certain organizations and anti poverty strategies.

I LOVE this stuff. It is science at it's most wonderful. Facts, double blinded studies, and the difficulties of research in the field - oh my!!!

I do so love data. I am certainly swayed by emotional arguments but, especially in the last few years, I have become a more logic driven creature. I want evidence for everything. (I have also learned that in a discussion with people it is considered rude to demand that they cite their sources).

Factoid of the day... or at least this day. Did you know (and I'm prepared to cite my sources if you want...)
People tend to give MORE when told about a single child in need as opposed to several children. Even adding one extra child to the picture decreases donations. The more people in a group that needs our help the LESS likely we are to give.

I mostly agree with this

This links to an article about comedian Sarah Silverman talking world hunger. Her idea?... Well, I'll just let you read about it.

*Note: The youtube video in question in embedded in the article. It's a bit racy so consider this your censors warning.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/sarah-silverman-sell-the-vatican/article1324392/

Ok, so I bought some dodgeballs...

Ok.... so I bought some dodgeballs. So much for saving money to give to the poor, I'M A-GONNA PLAY ME SOME DODGEBAWL!!!!

I think that we need a rule addendum (is that a word?.... did I use it correctly?.. "rule" is such a difficult word..)

I'm going to add a rule that we are allowed to spend a reasonable amount of money on physical recreation. Since dodgeball is my most favouitest passtime in the whole wide world I'm just going to go ahead and rationalize it. There... Done.

I feel like this is ok. I'll spend a few bucks going to the bubble to play basketball on the weekend, Em will spend a bit on volleyball leagues etc. We will soon be living in a winter wonderland (sorry for the reminder Mom) and we will need to get out of the house and move around a little.

I'm comfortable with this. I do feel some tiny twinges of guilt... but then I just smash their guilty little torsos in with a dodgeball!

Talking about giving at Thanksgiving Dinner

(Voice of Matt)

At Thanksgiving Dinner last weekend we got to talking about our little project. Several family members had read Emily's article in the newspaper (Grandpa Winslow had gone out of his way to bring it down and show it to my folks) and so it was an easy way to chat about our year ahead.

(here in case you missed it - or don't live in TBay)
http://www.chroniclejournal.com/stories.php?id=217180

Like you would expect talking about giving gets everyone a little more comfortable opening up their closet and letting their dark skeletons of charity-past out to play. I've always known that members of my family were involved in charitable giving of some sort or another. The foster child photo on the fridge growing up, my Dad's trip to Rwanda, my mom's work at the food bank... and a vaguely remembered trip (or two) by Bev to work in an eye clinic in India. I suppose there is a culture of giving in our family but it is not talked about much unless there were a lot of photos involved.

Several family members mentioned a long history with The Plan International (formerly Foster Parents Plan). I suppose, that while it might feel strange to talk about giving, there is not better time that Thanks Giving. We are social creatures and by sharing out charitable pursuits, hopefully, it will energize us to continue.

And the reactions begin...

Yesterday I told a few of my coworkers about our plans to give away our money. My supervisor, who is a bit of a cynic, made an interesting comment. He said, "isn't it convenient that you are starting to give away all of your money now after you have bought a new computer and gone on a big expensive trip." And it is true. It was my birthday last month and from Matt I received a netbook, a small but noteworthy expense. Also, Matt and I spent the greater part of the summer hiking the Appalachian Trail, a very expensive recreational trip (see our other blog 3millionfootsteps.blogspot.com). It was actually on our hike that we came up with the idea of giving away most of our money. I think that we realized that we could survive with barely any possessions, quite happily in fact. During our 2.5 months hiking we lived with 2 sets of clothes, our tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, food and water and very little else and we still lived SIGNIFICANTLY MORE comfortably than the 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty.

And so yes, it is convenient that we are starting this project after spending a lot of money on extraneous items. Perhaps that is even greater of a reason for doing this challenge; that we live in a position where we can pick and choose the times that it is convenient for us to give.

On the other hand, would anyone give if they weren't allowed to decide on their own when it is the right time for them?

Is it really possible?

Alright, enough of the serious talk. Let's get down to the nitty-gritty. Is this challenge really going to be possible? I am completely a self-professed gear head and I think that it may be difficult for me to resist buying a new fleece or pair of Carhartts. It is especially hard because I work outside all year long and so it is really easy for me to justify those kinds of purchases. I think that the best way for me to resist is just to avoid. I am not going to tempt myself - I am going to stay clear of the gear stores of Thunder Bay. To ease my sorrows I will probably just end up baking copious amounts of delicious treats - not such a bad compromise.


Here are the rules that we are going to follow:

1. No limit for spending money on food at the grocery store or farmers' market.
2. No limit for spending money on rent, hydro, telephone, or internet.
3. No limit for spending money on our car (gas, oil, repairs) or car related things (insurance, license plate stickers).
4. No limit for spending money on rat food and bedding (for our pet ratties Beaker and Bunsen - but NO toys!).
5. Purchase no clothing (unless ABSOLUTELY necessary to maintain a professional role and in this case try to buy as much second-hand as possible).
6. Monthly payments towards my student loan are allowed (and necessary, got to get rid of the ol' ball and chain!).
7. Dinner out (or any meal) only once a month. No buying alcohol while out.
8. We are only allowed to buy alcohol once a month (in both of our cases this will not be a problem as neither of us are big drinkers).
9. Out to see a movie only once a month.
10. One night out a month to do something recreational that costs money (bowling, mini-putt, etc.)
11. No spending on any household items unless absolutely necessary (if something breaks than we are allowed to replace it).
12. No recreational trips out of the Thunder Bay region.


So far - that's it. I'm sure that we will add more rules to this list as the year progresses and that some of these rules may morph and evolve. It is interesting to note that already some of the rules are becoming a little obscured. This usually occurs when there is something that either of us really wants. For instance, Matt is running a dodgeball league this year at the university and somehow was able to justify the purchase of a set of dodgeballs! Not sure how he got away with that.....????

Besides giving up buying gear, the thing that will be hardest for me is not going on any recreational trips. We have an annual tradition where we drive down to southern Minnesota to a nature centre that I once worked at to buy delicious apples from their orchard. It is really disappointing that we are not able to go there this year. I think it is also disappointing for our family and friends because they often reap the harvest of the fall apple road trip!

Our goal with this challenge is to see if we can live a semi-normal life while still giving a considerable amount of our earnings to the World Food Program. It is our hope that through this investigation we will be able to convince more people that it is relatively easy to give.

-E

World Food Program

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is an organization that deals with immediate food emergencies, as well as assists countries in developing infrastructure to be able to cope with poverty related issues on their own.

On the WFP website they have set out 5 objectives:

1. Save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies
2. Prepare for emergencies
3. Restore and rebuild lives after emergencies
4. Reduce chronic hunger and undernutrition everywhere
5. Strengthen the capacity of countries to reduce hunger

We have, for years, given money to the WFP and now want to do it on a larger scale.

So why the WFP? We began by looking only at secular organizations. We weren't interested in an organization with an ideological agenda (beyond that of 'stability and education lead to a better world') of any kind. Also, an extremely efficient organization is a must. No CEO's driving BMW's.

Research has shown that people are more likely to give more if there is a specific person or situation that their donation is going to - an fortunate fact, in that it encourages people to give more, but an unfortunate fact in that it makes fund raising for bigger picture projects more difficult. We both feel like it is important to support more large-scale solutions to the problems of poverty and we wanted to give to an organization with a large scope. The WFP seems to fit the bill.

Why $1.25?

As a personal quest, we have decided to give all of our extra money that we earn this year to the World Food Program.

In 2008, the World Bank set the poverty line at $1.25. This is less than what the average North American spends on a bottle of water. For us, this number is extremely poignant. It serves as a tangible example of how little some people have to spend on their daily needs. According to the World Bank there are 1.4 billion people living in extreme poverty. This means that there are 1.4 billion people in the world who are unable to meet the most basic of human needs (adequate food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, health care and education). In my mind this is absolutely appalling.

We feel that as wealthy Canadians (wealthy in comparison to the people living in extreme poverty), we have a moral obligation to give money to assist in the battle against world poverty. We have chosen the World Food Program as our main beneficiary. We are also going to go 'trick or treating' for donations for UNICEF (a Halloween must!) and purchase one fistula surgery through The Fistula Foundation.