Skip Something

I was at a conference not too long ago, and one of the speakers talked about an initiative she had started to encourage folks to support children through Compassion International. For those of you who haven’t heard of Compassion, it’s a non-profit organization that helps children around the world by providing them with food, water, medical care, and education. You are matched with a child from another country, and your monthly support helps provide for the child’s basic needs.

The initiative is called Skip Something.

We Are Rich

The basic idea behind Skip Something is that most of us are rich by the world’s standards. Even if we don’t make a lot of money here in the United States, we are better off than the vast majority of the world’s population. Because of that, we are able to consume many luxuries each month. For example, the other night, I went out for sushi. I paid 60 bucks to have someone else prepare and serve a meal for my wife and me. I didn’t think twice about it, because I’m rich by the world’s standards.

When my wife goes to Starbucks, she orders a grande extra-hot Cinnamon Dulce Latte. It costs 5 dollars, just for a drink. Again, she doesn’t think twice about it, because she’s rich by the world’s standards.

Could I Skip Something?

We each have various luxuries that we consume each month. The idea of the Skip Something campaign is to think about whether you would be willing to give up something small each month, so that a child in a third-world country can have their basic needs met. Am I willing to give up something extra, so a child can have a chance in this world?

For many of us, we have enough money and can pretty much do whatever we want. Some of us even struggle with our excess—maybe we are overweight because we eat too much, or our habit of drinking too much gets us in trouble. What would it look like to skip something this month to help someone less fortunate than you?