The Gift of Giving
Last-minute online donation ideas

In all the rush to buy holiday gifts, people are overwhelmed with having to buy that perfect scarf or cellphone their loved ones would like. Sometimes, the best gifts come from having given to those in need. Here are a few organizations that can give real meaning to the term "holiday spirit" all year round:

Heifer International does holiday gift-giving better than anyone else. Through the organization's online gift catalog you can give your loved one a water buffalo or dozens of other livestock and resource options. Actually, the animals and other resources go to families in need around the world, but you can print out your loved one a neat certificate telling them what you've done on their behalf. Heifer animals (and training in their care) offer hungry families around the world a way to feed themselves and become self-reliant. Children receive nutritious milk or eggs; families earn income for school, health care and better housing; communities go beyond meeting immediate needs to fulfilling dreams. Farmers learn sustainable, environmentally sound agricultural techniques.

Doctors Without Borders isn't as cuddly an idea as Heifer, but your donation to this organization will still wow a loved one. This holiday season, you could give the gift of emergency medical care: $35 gives two high-energy meals a day to 200 children and $50 buys vaccinations for 50 people against meningitis, measles, polio or other deadly epidemics.

Action Against Hunger makes for smart giving as well. This organization is on the ground in the forefront of the war against hunger and poverty. A gift to AAH can mean providing a hand pump for drinking water in Cambodia or enough medicine to treat children suffering from malaria in Angola or
providing 30 days of high-energy milk & porridge for a malnourished child in a feeding center.

Of course, you can always give to WHY. Our organization is pursuing the long-term solutions to hunger and poverty. WHY advances long-term solutions to hunger and poverty by supporting community-based organizations that empower individuals and build self-reliance, i.e., offering job training, education and after school programs; increasing access to housing and healthcare; providing microcredit and entrepreneurial opportunities; teaching people to grow their own food; and assisting small farmers. WHY connects these organizations to funders, media and legislators.

Wiping Hunger Off the Map
FAO pinpoints hunger hotspots around the globe

FAO has just released its latest hunger maps, showing the distribution of chronic undernutrition using stunting in growth among children under five years of age as an indicator.

Prior hunger maps showed country-level estimates of the percentage of undernourished people, based on the availability of food and the demographic profile of the population.

According to the FAO, chronic undernutrition impairs the mental and physical development of children, keeps people from leading healthy, productive lives and hinders the economic development of countries.

Key quote:

"Child undernutrition, because it involves a host of factors -- families' access to food, safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and health care -- is a better indicator of poverty than looking only at food availability or per capita income," says Prakash Shetty, Chief of FAO's Nutrition, Planning, Assessment and Evaluation Service.

Get the full story here