Help Improve the Lives of the Poor

Poverty is a major issue in the world and should be solved as quickly as possible. However for that to happen, all of us need to work hard to help the poor. There are a variety of practical ways you can contribute to alleviating poverty. Remember that you could be in their situation one day, relying on and appreciating others for their help.

Steps

Helping the Poor Through Direct Action

1. Educate yourself. There are many ways that poverty is linked to reproductive rights, to workers' rights, to environmental justice. By educating yourself, you will figure out where your time and energy is best spent in helping the impoverished gain the skills and the power they need to help themselves.
   • There is a good deal of research that shows how the cycle of poverty is linked to the criminal justice system, which does little to re-educate its felons. Especially in a country like the U.S. the downward spiral of prisoners fuels their poverty and is a system that must change. This toxic feedback loop is especially difficult for people of color, who are already usually disenfranchised by poverty and the structure of society.
   • Reproductive rights are linked to poverty. Access to reproductive control, especially for women, means fewer children, which typically links to higher education and higher opportunities for work. Reproductive health programs mean fewer teenage pregnancies and better education for women.
2. Donate. Donations to your local and global organizations are incredibly important. Many of these organizations rely on donations to survive and serve their communities. Make sure you know where your money is going if you're donating money. You want to be sure that the organization is actually helping people.
   • Make a pledge to give up some treat for a month (like fancy coffee, or chocolate, or clothes shopping) and use the money that you save to donate to a local or global charity or non-profit.
   • Other than money you can donate food, clothing, toiletry items, old furniture, toys and books to local shelters and programs. These donations help people in straitened circumstances.
   • There is a variety of books for prisoners programs in various cities. See if your city or town has one. If not, maybe try to start one. Making sure that prisoners are getting the education they need (and often, have been denied) will help them to become productive members of society rather than stuck in the criminal justice system for the rest of their life.
3. Volunteer. There are tons of ways to help out in your community through direct action. Ask at your local religious organization, or non-profit. Check out programs at your local library and see if they need assistance.
   • There are many different groups that you can work with: children, the elderly, the mentally ill, the homeless, women. You'll need to decide which group you want to focus on.
   • You can do things like teaching a course in resume development, computer skills. You could start up a local community garden and teach courses on how to grow sustainable food. A large number of people who are poor cannot afford to buy much produce, so teaching them a sustainable and cheap way to grow their own food, could help alleviate some of that vitamin deficiency.
   • You can work in shelters, soup kitchens, community centers, at after-school programs, and employment centers.
4. Help an individual. Even helping one individual can make a small change for the better. If you see someone who needs help, talk to them. Give them some money, even a few dollars can help. Offer your help without being condescending or judgmental.
   • Try to help them find a place like a shelter or a soup kitchen.
   • Ignoring the poverty around you, or making judgment calls about the people in poverty, is a surefire way to do nothing to help. You don't know how that person got into poverty and you don't know what they are going to use their money for.
   • If you are afraid of what they are going to use your money for, you can offer them something (e.g. to buy food, give them a job, buy clothing, etc.). This way, you can make sure that they get what they need without using your money for something bad like weapons or drugs.

Helping the Poor Through Activism

1. Start or join an organization. Gather like-minded individuals and pick something to do with poverty to work to alleviate. Start up a group to help educate community members on poverty, or create an after-school program for low-income kids.
   • Use your group to have a benefit concert. Put flyers around your town or city and try to get the local paper to cover it. Have the proceeds to towards helping people in your community.
   • Start a petition in your community to help low-income students have more nutritious food, or to make your school system adopt a better sex-education program.
   • Programs like Results and Children's Defense Fund work locally and globally to support legislation and practices that particularly help children to overcome poverty.
2. Take legislative action. Get involved in your local government and in your country's government. Pay attention to laws and bills that are being passed that impact programs to help people who are impoverished.
   • Support a health care system that protects and helps the people who are part of it. Many people, especially in the U.S. are forced into poverty because of a medical situation that they cannot afford.
   • Support better education for your community and your country. Better education means people who have the life skills and the knowledge that help them realize their full potential and to become productive, interested members of their communities.
3. Help create a dialogue about poverty. Simply opening up discussion in your local community, and on a global scale, can help work towards alleviating it. Challenge your friends and family's assumptions about poverty.
   • Write a column for your local newspaper, or a letter to the editor, outlining what needs to be done in your community to help people who are poor.

Tips

• If you can donate the price of one fast food meal per week, that amounts to more than $250 per year.
• Donate items rather than money.
• Connect with them. Since they are poor, not a lot of people want to talk to them.

Warnings

• Don't judge people who are in poverty. There are so many ways to fall into that hole and not be able to escape, encompassing but not limited to health problems, psychological problems, addiction, abuse, and many many more.

Related Articles

• Help Poor Children to Have a Better Future
• Respect Poor People
• Sponsor a Poor Child with Children International
• Understand the Costs of Global Poverty

Sources and Citations

See also

• Start an Employee Donation Matching Program
• Distribute Leaflets Effectively
• Give to Charity when You Have Debt
• Ask Businesses for Donations
• Overcome Poverty
• Raise Money
• Calculate Clothing Donations for Taxes
• Write a Letter Requesting Sponsorship
• Start a Private Foundation
• Plan a Fashion Show to Raise Funds

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