This is my first time participating in Blog Action Day and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.

Blog Action Day is a day where bloggers from around the world join together to discuss one issue in the hopes of reaching a lot of people and creating a lot of awareness.  The issue this year is poverty.

I’ll admit, three years ago I would have found it difficult to engage in a conversation about poverty.  The reason - I hadn’t experienced it first hand.

That has dramatically changed for me.

Here’s a personal example of what happened…

After joining my wife on a couple of her charity trips to El Salvador and Ghana, I can tell you that poverty around the world is VERY real and heartbreaking.

Earlier this year Amy and I went to Ghana to visit some of the communities that we are working with.  Our focus with Amy’s World Teacher Aid charity is to help bring education to third world communities that simply can’t afford to have a school, teachers or and type of education for their children.

When we first got to Ghana, both Amy and I realized that for most of the kids in the village we were helping, education was a secondary need.  Food was the first.

Through conversations with a couple of the teachers, we found out that the kids really love school and want to be there but unfortunately they were falling a sleep and couldn’t stay awake.  It wasn’t because they weren’t getting enough rest, it was because they were going days without food.

It was at that moment that Amy and I started exploring the idea of implementing a feeding program right within the school.

Here’s The Good News…

Feeding children in third world countries does not take a lot of money.  In fact, while we were there we made a point of going to the local markets to price and purchase the food supplies needed to sustain an ongoing feeding program.

It worked out to be roughly $0.15/day to feed 1 student.

That’s less than $5 a month!

At that point we made an arrangement with the village that we would continue to fund the feeding program for the kids so that they could at least get 3 meals a week.

Here’s the AMAZING part to this story…

The moment we implemented the feeding program, school attendance shot up.  Kids were there everyday, had energy to learn and were excited to be in school.

Not only that, but the number of kids enrolled in the school went up as well… dramatically.

When we first arrived, the number of kids in the school was roughly 230-250.  As soon as we implemented the feeding program, school enrollment quickly shot up to 600.  In fact, they had to cut off new admissions because they didn’t have the capacity to handle the influx of kids.

That was a BIG “Aha” moment for us.

By putting food in the bellies of these kids we actually accomplished two important initiatives.  We helped provide the nutritional needs of the children and by doing so we gave them another reason to stay in school and get an education.

I share this story because so often we sit back in our offices or our homes and say “How can I really help?”.

I’m telling you that you can.

Our organization (World Teacher Aid) is just one of many that are trying to help people meet their daily needs.

FOOD IS ONE OF THOSE DAILY NEEDS!

It doesn’t take much to help these people who are suffering from a lack of food but every little bit you do help goes a long, long way.

I share this with you because three years ago I had no idea that my contributions could make such an impact all the way across the world.  But they can.  And they do.

Personally, going to Africa and seeing the joy in the faces of those kids, who are now able to attend school and not have to worry about food, instantly sold me on the fact that I wanted to do this again.

I remember sitting on the plane, turning to my wife and saying “I get it”.  She just smiled and replied, “I knew you would”.

It’s hard to describe the feeling you get in your heart when a mother or father comes to you with tears of gratitude because you were able to help feed their children when they couldn’t.  In fact, I can feel myself getting emotional now just thinking about it again.

I will tell you this…

I came back from that trip more determined as an entrepreneur to make as much money as I could because I finally understood that making money IS absolutely critical and essential.  Because at the end of the day, it’s not about having the money, it’s about what you do with the money that matters most.

That’s why I look up to other entrepreneurs before me who have paved the way and given me something to strive for.  That’s why I believe in great business ideas.

The Africa experience has also opened my eyes to the more fulfilling aspect of being an entrepreneur.  It’s about being able to create for someone without any expectation that it would ever be returned.

As entrepreneurs, we are able to create for ourselves, our family and others.

That’s why over the last year I’ve refined the focus of my business to include these things.  Now, everything we do is centered around 6 words.

Make More.  Give More.  Live More.

When you make more, you can give more.  When you give more, you live more.

Poverty is a real issue.

You can help.

I encourage you to participate in Blog Action Day so that we can get the message to as many people as possible.  There are many ways you can get involved and you can find out more details on the BlogActionDay.org or just watch the video below.

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo