Kent Alexander – former U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of Georgia, former general counsel of Emory University and now general counsel of CARE, Inc. – sent out his first ever mass email today,  telling recipients he is doing so because it is the first ever #GivingTuesday.

#GivingTuesday was created as a non-profit alternative to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But rather than emphasize shopping, it emphasizes giving by creating, as Alexander describes it, “a post Thanksgiving opportunity to reflect and to help those most in need during the holiday season.”

CARE is participating in #GivingTuesday.  Alexander includes not only a contribution link to CARE, www.care.org/GivingTuesdayDonationPage,  but also to his own powerful reflections on a trip to West Africa that he made in March.

In Alexander’s  blog post on CARE’s web page, www.care.org/TheRealHungerGames, he wrote this of a visit to a village in Niger:

Then, at the end of our visit, I saw something that gave me a small but jolting idea of what poverty is like. As we headed to the car for our departure, dozens of young children crowded behind the Toyota and were uncharacteristically pushing and shoving each other. The tail gate was open, and the driver stood beside our cooler containing a few leftover cold drinks from lunch earlier in the day. Philippe Leveque, the National Director of CARE France said, “Kent, this is the face of poverty.” Frankly, I thought he was overreacting a bit and said as much. After all, the day was broiling – over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Of course the kids were elbowing in for a shot at a cold drink.

“Then I took a closer look. The cooler was shut tight, and the driver was not handing out drinks at all. He was handing out a few of our empty cans and plastic bottles. The cans were fodder for tin toy planes and cars to use or sell. The bottles were to be used as receptacles for months down the road when the rains finally come. The throng of children only dispersed after a man swatted at them with a stick.

Our trash was their treasure.

….According to a recent report over 10 million of Niger’s 16 million citizens will run out of food stocks well before the next harvest, expected around October. All families have cut back on their food consumption. Most who I met are down to one meal a day.

Alexander also included in his mass email a link to a Huffington Post blog that he said “gives a moving account of the origin of the ‘care package’ (named for CARE.)”

Alexander’s email concluded:

Whether you donate to CARE or another worthy organization, I hope you take a minute today to consider a favorite charity and make a contribution.  You’ll be doing a good deed and will forever become part of #Giving Tuesday history.

Contributor: R. Robin McDonald in General Counsel | subscribe to rss |   share