Not too long ago, I blogged about FreePledge on my personal blog. But if you missed reading that, FreePledge is a site that helps you support your favorite causes and non-profit organizations at no cost to you. FreePledge provides you with a new and innovative way to fulfill your charitable intentions when you shop for books, videos, CDs, electronics and other goods and services online at your favorite stores.

How does it work?

When you shop through FreePledge, you buy from the same retailers, pay the same prices, and get the same products and services. FreePledge is paid a commission and they give 100% of the listed donations back to non-profit organizations of your choice. And the amount of donation depends on how much you spend online. You can use the Donation Estimator to find out how much you can donate every year. Every penny makes a difference!

And there are 168 retailers and 189 non-profit organizations to choose from!

What’s new?

In conjunction with Mother’s Day this May 13th, FreePledge teams up with a host of retailers so that you can make a gift TWICE: Once to your Mum, and once to your (or her) favourite non-profit organization. Check out the Mother’s Day Store for a list of participating retailers and how much you will be able to donate to your favourite non-profit organization. Or Mum’s.

Yes, at no extra cost.

And yes, Mum will be delighted :)

Some food for thought..

Did you know that:

• about 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes? This is down from 35,000 ten years ago, and 41,000 twenty years ago. Three-fourths of the deaths are children under the age of five.
• in 1999, 10% of children in developing countries died before the age of five?! This was down from 28% fifty years ago.
• famine and wars cause just 10% of hunger deaths, although these tend to be the ones you hear about most often? The majority of hunger deaths are caused by chronic malnutrition. Families simply cannot get enough to eat. This in turn is caused by extreme poverty.
• besides death, chronic malnutrition also causes impaired vision, listlessness, stunted growth and greatly increased susceptibility to disease? Severely malnourished people are unable to function at even a basic level.
• in 1999, it was estimated that one billion people in the world suffered from hunger and malnutrition, about 100 times as many as those who actually died from it each year?
• according to the 1996 World Food Summit, 840 million people live in the condition of chronic, persistent hunger, one-seventh of our human family? The vast majority of hungry people live in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Bet you didn’t.

Often it takes just a few simple resources for impoverished people to be able to grow enough food to become self-sufficient. These resources include quality seeds, appropriate tools and access to water. Small improvements in farming techniques and food storage methods are also helpful.

How can you help?

With a simple, daily click of the yellow “Help Feed The Hungry” button at The Hunger Site, you can help provide food to those in need. You pay nothing. Food is paid for by the site’s sponsors and distributed by Mercy Corps worldwide and by America’s Second Harvest to food banks throughout the United States.

You can help even more!

In addition to clicking the yellow “Help Feed The Hungry” button, you can help even more by shopping in The Hunger Site store. With each item purchased, you generate funds for the hungry. The store offers a wide array of items to show your support as well as fair-traded and handcrafted items from around the world that help families and communities pull themselves out of the poverty and hunger cycle. And they ship internationally too! :)

But if I don’t have a credit card?

Many hunger experts believe that ultimately the best way to reduce hunger is through education. Educated people are best able to break out of the cycle of poverty that causes hunger.

Come on, every click counts in the life of a hungry person.

Let me tell you a lil’ about Sheila McKenna.

Sheila works in the South Pacific where Conservation International and Kanak tribes of New Caledonia have collaborated for many years to conserve ancestral waters and natural resources. Sheila and her colleagues conducted an intensive biodiversity assessment of 42 coral reefs near New Caledonia’s Province Nord.

Sheila’s work has had a profound effect. Conservation International’s research has laid the groundwork for lasting conservation in the region, inspiring the local government to develop a comprehensive national conservation plan. The Kanak have also invited Conservation International back to work with them on their bid for World Heritage status, a designation made by UNESCO that protects places of cultural and natural heritage around the world.

The Kanak are protecting what, in their words, “belongs to the Earth” and have helped preserve healthy ecosystems that are home to groupers, herrings, snappers, sea cucumbers, and other marine life.

Donate or become a member to Conservation International so that Sheila and other staff can continue their work. Their work with the Kanak and other communities around the globe depends on your membership.

For your information, Conservation International membership starts from USD 35 per year. But if you’d like to make a donation, NO AMOUNT is too small. Visa and Mastercard holders only.