Hello! I’m glad to par ticipate in this really nice campaign. I hope that many people care deeply about Lou Gehrig’s disease through this campaign called the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’. I’ll pour ice water on myself and also donate some money to the Korea ALS Association. I nominate my best friend, my sister and my mother next. Now, let’s start!
What Is Donation?
There are many people in the world. Each person has his/her own individual situation: Some people are so rich that they can eat delicious food, wear expensive clothes, and sleep very well. On the other hand, others are too poor to eat food, wear clothing, or sleep well. So, the rich need to help the poor. In this situation, rich people need to help them through financial support.
When you think of charity, what comes to mind? In the old days when we thought of charity, financial support came to our mind, and it is thought that only rich people can make donations. However, nowadays there are many kinds of donations, including financial support. Many people think that anybody can make donations. In other words, the range of donation has been extended
in terms of form and supporter. Among many forms of charity, there are three well-known forms of donation.
We Can Make Donations by Buying Items at the Same Time
First, we can make donations by buying items. When we buy items such as bracelet, tumbler, T-shirt, and so on from charitable organizations, a donation can be achieved through buying these items. Many organizations sell these items at charity stores, and many people buy these items nowadays to give back.
They often buy a fashion item like bracelets, because there are various kinds of bracelets at charity stores and they can buy these items easily. These bracelets have been sold for many reasons. For example, they are sold to raise money to help poor nations’ students, support poor kids, clear muddy water, help crisis victims, and so on. These days, many celebrities wearing these items appear on TV shows. Although they don’t explain what these items are, people are interested in those items, and then they can learn how those items are made and where they can buy those items.
There are also other many items for charity apart from bracelets. Many charitable organizations have made various items that we can use easily in daily life such as tumbler, bag, diary, umbrella, and so on. By buying these items, we can make donations more easily than in the old days that donations was thought to be achieved through only giving money to a charity.
We Can Give Back by Teaching Someone
Second, another form of giving can be achieved through education. Many universities are participating in education volunteering. They match their students with children who need help in school. The college students teach mandatory subjects to the students, and their time that they spent for educating children is considered as volunteer time. In addition to academic subjects, college students consult students or children who are anxious about their future. Many corporations or organizations take the lead in education volunteer work. They select college students as mentors very carefully. They select candidates by examining their career papers and by interview. If the college students act as a mentor for these corporations, they can get a good career for their future. Thus, many college students do voluntary work not only for great experience but also for their future career. Are you not a college student? Don’t worry! You can do talent volunteering. At first, this can be done only in a field of art, so a musician, art expert, and voice actor can take part in donation. However, as time goes by, the areas of donation are open to many people. For example, a hotel provides old women who run restaurants alone with various food recipes and interior designs. In addition, a local organization repairs the house through volunteer work. The ways that we achieve charity with education or talent become various. We Can Give Back through Participation in Campaigns not spending Money
Third, we can give back by participating in campaigns. A recent donation campaign was the ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’. By pouring water with ice over our heads we can feel the same pain that patients feel. If you don’t want to pour water with ice for yourself, instead you can donate ten dollars to the organization. However, except for this renowned donation project, there are other many meaningful projects. The international aid agency ‘SAVE THE CHILDREN’ started ‘hat knitting’ campaign. Poor babies in Africa can keep the warm with hats; so many people in the world took part in this campaign. In Korea, many entertainers promoted and participated in this campaign, so this activity became popular. Also a rock festival was conducted for a blood donation campaign. The slogan of this festival was about health, so the festival leads the campaign, which asks participants to collect blood donor cards. These above campaigns are ‘participation campaigns’, and it is not about sending money. People spend more time, effort, and money on these activities, so its meaning is better than to only send money.
We Should Preserve the Essence of Charity!
As you read the above contents, you know that there are many forms of charity, which are being achieved throughout the world. In this situation, however, there are problems with this system. Some people have been forced to contribute the talent for free, and contributions have been wrongly used. Or someone has pocketed the contribution that other people made. Some people forget essence of donation such as participating in campaign playfully. The wider the range of the issue is, the more problems with charity come up.
Nevertheless, it is clear that many people receive help from many organizations or individuals through charity, and we can make donations more easily. If the problems with charities are resolved and we preserve the essence of giving, much more people can receive and help somebody, and this world will be better than before and this world that we live in will be a much happier place!
Kim Min-chae | By CP Reporter,
Heo Moon-hee | By CP Reporter
