poverty | Eugene Cho

Friday, October 23, 2009 • 12:05 am 3

launch video for one day’s wages

We spent about 40 minutes shooting this video a few Saturdays ago. Shot it in our basement in front of our green wall and wow, I was again blown away by the creative work of Mr. Justin Pae. [He really needs to make a website to show off his professional work]. The music was done Cinecue and Honorary Emmy Award Winning Joshua Myers. Thanks guys!

If you haven’t seen it, here it is below (and also available at vimeo):

One Day’s Wages = 0.4% of our annual salary -> Impact against Extreme Poverty

* $20 can help build a well to provide clean water for one person for 20 years.
* $10 can purchase a bed net to help prevent malaria.
* $45 can pay annual school tuition for one child.

If you can, give us a lift with your support. Here’s 5 things you can do:

1. Visit the website and create an account. Just creating an account is a simple great way to support us.

2. Make a donation. Calculate your day’s wages on the website or make another donation. You can choose to invest in one of the 3 incredible organizations/projects highlighted on the website. 100% of your donations (minus transaction costs) go directly to these projects.

3. Be a FAN on Facebook. Stop by and show some love. There’s a lot of mean people out there!

4. Spread the word. Use the tools on our website (like Twitter), share the video on your FB profile, email this link, or use the SHARE button below.

5. Link this post via your stuff.

Filed under: , extreme global poverty, millenium development goals, One Day's Wages, poverty

Thursday, September 24, 2009 • 12:01 am 11

89 million more reasons to get involved

I get the following question all the time:

“Why do we need another organization?”

Sometimes, I wonder if it’s the same folks that ask, “Why do we need another church?”

I’m sure most folks that ask these questions ask with good intentions and while everyone should check their motivations and vision, I am thankful for the folks that went before us [like the orgs that you really really like...] that chose to move forward even when people asked them the very same question. Had they stopped, they wouldn’t be around and while there are no perfect organizations, they are acting. My only hope is that they’re acting without ever forgetting the same goal of “working ourselves out of a job.”

You understand what I’m saying, right?

But if you need more reasons why we should all get involved and why I feel convicted about One Day’s Wages, I’ll sadly share another 89 million reasons. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: , extreme global poverty, justice, millenium development goals, One Day's Wages, poverty

Monday, August 17, 2009 • 12:02 am 6

1 million people for one day’s wages

Thanks for dreaming with us and our vision with One Day’s Wages – a movement to end extreme global poverty. We hit a pretty cool milestone yesterday (August 16). Our Facebook Group surpassed 1,000,000 people. Pretty amazing. I’ve never been so excited to be $1,000,000 in debt but I really believe that once we get ODW off the ground, we’ll be able to raise those funds and more.

Here’s a quick video update. Please take 2 minutes to check out some recent news:

So, please mark this date. While the website will be made public before, we’ll be officially launching ODW on October 20. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: , non-profit, One Day's Wages, philantrophy, poverty

Thursday, August 13, 2009 • 12:01 am 24

is overpopulation our world’s greatest threat?

* Update: Today (October 31, 2011) is the official day that the world’s population hits 7,000,000,000. Not sure how you feel but as my post points out, there are legitimate concerns that need to be addressed, but I also see this from a different perspective.

I was reading an article from CNN yesterday (and also covered in other news sources) about the growth of the world’s population. It is speculated the the population will hit 7 billion people in 2011 - with the vast majority of the growth happening in developing nations. While the article doesn’t specifically call it out, I read “over-population” between the lines. In fact, the article reminded me of another article I read last year controversially entitled, “Time for them to die…”

In short, the question needs to be asked:

Is overpopulation our world’s greatest threat? And what is the role of the [C]hurch?
Are we for birth controls?
Are we really committed to education?
In light of the fastest population growth taking place in developing nations (aka: the poorest nations), shouldn’t we be more proactive than reactive?
Is there another example of hype rather than substance? Isn’t there enough resources to go around in the world?

I’m sensing that while folks don’t want to openly admit it, more and more folks lean towards the view that OVERPOPULATION is a serious threat and something has to happen. I wonder if it’s a threat to our existence or an inconvience to our way or style of life.

Your thoughts: Is overpopulation our world’s greatest threat?

Here’s the article from CNN: Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: , extreme poverty, global poverty, overpopulation, poverty

Friday, May 15, 2009 • 12:01 am 35

introducing: One Day’s Wages

After years of dreaming and conspiring, we’re very excited to share the name and vision of our poverty organization: One Day’s Wages.

What is our vision?

One Day’s Wages is a grassroots organization and movement by which we hope to inspire millions of people to give their “One Day’s Wages” to fight and end extreme global poverty. 100% of your donations will go directly to fund grants, projects, & organizations that are doing amazing work amongst the poorest of the poor. Our purpose is to promote greater awareness about global extreme poverty, invite simple financial giving, and to provide sustainable relief and empowerment through strategic collaborations. Our vision is to change global issues of injustice affecting millions of people, regardless of race, culture, sex, age, or religion.

Here’s our two minute video intro & vision:

What is our commitment?

We are committing our one year’s salary ($68,000) to launch this movement and invite you to join us by donating one day’s wages. Other donations to help with the initial operations fund are needed and appreciated. Imagine what we can accomplish together! [Here's why we've gone public with our pledge.]

What can you do to join the movement? Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: , AIDS, extreme poverty, humanitarian, NGO, non-profit, One Day's Wages, philanthropy, poverty, social media

Wednesday, May 6, 2009 • 12:01 am 7

ONE sermon challenge

I’m a supporter of the ONE Campaign. I support them and thousands of others – regardless of their age, gender, religion, ethnicity, or organizational background – if they are fighting, singing, writing, advocating, and working towards eradicating extreme global poverty; If they are loving mercy and pursuing justice. This isn’t just a Christian issue, it’s a humanity issue. Everyone needs to be involved and NO ONE gets a free pass. Please read this loud and clear: we have the capacity to eradicate extreme global poverty.

Recently, I spent some time with the ONE Campaign in Washington DC. They interviewed me in this video talking a little bit about the opportunity that we have as pastors and leaders to utilize our voices to speak for the voiceless, poor, and oppressed. Here’s what they wrote on their ONE blog about the ONE Sermon Challenge: Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: , global poverty, ONE, poverty, the one campaign, youtube

Saturday, May 2, 2009 • 12:06 am 11

we need your help to get to 1 million people

Let me begin by saying that generosity and fighting injustices & poverty should not be abdicated to celebrities, millionaires, rockstars, and A-listers. We should all care. We have the capacity to make a difference. Don’t mistake what I’m saying: I appreciate their voices but we can’t hide behind our excuses. I’m no celebrity and no Ashton Kutcher – who recently made more headline news for being the first person on Twitter to amass over 1 million “followers.” The last time I checked, he now has over 1.35 million followers. Well, we’re not that far behind with our viral vision.

It’s not going to make any news but I am very excited that we have 647,888 people (and counting) in our Facebook Group for our Poverty Organization. When we started this group on May 15, 2008, I thought we wouldn’t even come close to gathering 100,000 people which is why the group is entitled, “We will donate $1 for every person that joins this group to fight global poverty.”

As some of you know (and some have strongly criticized), we’ve gone public (for these reasons) with our pledge in hopes of starting this grassroots organization. We are giving up this year’s salary + some additional funds (over the next few years) and donating a total of $100k for this vision.

But with nearly 700,000 people, will we be able to honor donating $1 for each person? Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: , ashton kutcher, bono, facebook, NGO, ONE, one.org, poverty, social media, twitter

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 • 2:04 pm 12

the power and privilege of opportunities

Please read this and watch the video below. It’s about 7 minutes long but this excellent video [from my recent trip to South Africa w/ Peter Ahn] will give you a glimpse of what I’m talking about when I’m speaking of Privilege and Opportunities:

Over the years, I’ve been developing a deeper understanding of ‘privilege.’ God loves us such that He gave us free will and the amazing privilege to make choices and decisions. Hopefully, choices to Love God and Love People.

You and I are privileged because we have the capacity to dream, create, and pursue opportunities. While we have the tendency to wallow on occassions in our lackings, we are truly privileged.

But sadly, there are many without that human dignity – that capacity for decisions and opportunities; Or their circumstances are so dire that they have to choose one human essential for another. An example would be a young child or teenager forsaking the privilege and necessity of education to be able to watch her young siblings because his or her parents have died or because they have to walk hours in order to fetch water for their families.

Our dream for the global poverty initiative is to work with people that are not giving handouts but creating opportunities. Opportunities for jobs, education, health, families, and on and on and on. Hand outs can be dangerous as it creates a cycle of dependency but opportunities creates capacity for dignity, sustainability, and empowerment.

And that leads me to this question I am humbled by:

How are you and I – locally and globally – creating opportunities for others?

One of my friends, Peter Ahn, is one example of a broken misift and visionary who gets it. He understands the power and impact of creating opportunities Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: , justice, NGO, poverty, south africa

Saturday, February 28, 2009 • 5:49 pm 9

charity: water

Hey folks, I’m hanging out here in Southern California speaking and learning at a new “unconference” called The Idea Camp. It’s been referred to as an “unconference” because the event is free and focus placed on the conversations rather than just the speakers. How wonderful is that concept?

Yesterday, I led a chat on ‘Engaging Culture and Conversation’ and tonight, I have the privilege of sharing a little bit of our global poverty initative with everyone here. If you’re interested, you can watch it LIVE online at http://theideacamplive.com.

After my chat, you’ll want to stick around to watch an interview a presentation with Scott Harrison, founder and president of Charity:Water. I’m incredibly excited Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: , charity:water, poverty, scott harrison

Tuesday, February 17, 2009 • 9:20 am 9

reflections on south africa

Couple weeks have passed since my return from South Africa and I’m still processing the gift of the vision and research trip. While our plans on starting our Poverty Organization has hit snags and increasingly difficult in light of the financial recession, I’ve returned with an increasing commitment to the vision. Before things get even busier, I wanted to share some reflections and pictures with you.

Let me begin by thanking Peter A. who hosted myself and several others from around the country on this trip. He also connected me to the anonymous benefactor that allowed me to travel to South Africa for the purposes of learning, connecting, and researching. I also want to thank the staff of Zimele – the non-profit organization we spent most of our time with. Zimele in Zulu means, “to stand on one’s own two feet.”

I spend most of my time in an area called Kwazulu Natal. Here’s some info about the area:

According to the Wikipedia, Kwazulu Natal “has the largest population (about 8.6 million) of any state in South Africa, with resources, such as water, coal, minerals and agriculture, along with timber, beef, dairy products, maize, poultry and fruit. Durban is the largest port in Africa. The province also has the most comprehensive tourist infrastructure in the country.

However, despite the presence of these resources, Kwazulu Natal like much of South Africa faces the growing problem of HIV/AIDS and poverty which disproportionally impacts the blacks in the rural communities due to the lingering effects of the now former Apartheid system. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: travel, NGO, poverty, south africa

Saturday, December 6, 2008 • 2:15 am 16

an update on our global poverty initiative

I hope that while this entry topic might not be as alluring as your top search engine topics like Britney Spears and Barack Obama, you’ll take a few minutes to read up the progress of our global poverty organization. This has been one of the most humbling seasons of our life. When we went public with our vision to give our year’s salary to start this poverty initiative, we had absolutely no idea about what was in store with the financial crisis and meltdown. Our convictions have been tested but each time we think about how “bad” we have it, we’re reminded of the grave situation for the poorest of the poor – those affected by “extreme global poverty.”

Here’s 5 Updates on our Progress:

FACEBOOK. On Friday, December 5, our Facebook Group – which can be accessed at http://fightglobalpoverty.com – surpassed 200,000 members. It’s pretty amazing considering we started the group on May 15, 2008. While there are no guarantees if folks will ultimately support our organization, it confirms our aspiration for our initiative in helping change the world:

Human Relationships + Technology + [Vision] = Movement Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: seattle, technology, compassion, facebook, global poverty, NGO, philantrophy, poverty

Monday, September 22, 2008 • 11:12 pm 10

496 posts, 7204 comments, 33604 spam, and $20,400 raised

I’ve been encouraged by the number of folks that read my blog. I had no idea that people had nothing better to do. According to the blog’s statistics since its inception in 2006, I’ve written 496 posts, received about 517,300+ hits and 7219 comments, and 33,746 pieces of spam. The blog averages about 900 visitors each day although a good handful are from weirdos that google “beautiful depraved Asian cuties.” What a huge disappointment it must be for them to stumble onto a pastor’s blog!

I want to thank you for reading my blog and I do hope that the blog is a source of encouragement to you in some way or another. I have certainly enjoyed the opportunity to share my vomitaceous thoughts Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: religion, technology, blogging, poverty, wordpress

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 • 12:47 am 18

strategically fighting poverty

Please take a few minutes to read this. We can’t save the world but we can make a difference.

It’s in the news all around us: the situation in Darfur; the cyclone catastrophe in Burma/Myanmar; unfathomable hunger in North Korea; the food crisis in numerous places around the world, and the list can and do go on. Over 3 billion people live on less than $2/day; About 1 billion live on less than $1/day; Nearly 1.1 billion people do not have access to clean water; About 27,000-30,000 children die daily due to poverty. Staggering and numbing statistics.

While it’s awkward to make a public appeal and broadcast of our vision, that is the decision that we’ve made – for better or worse. Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: health, religion, food crisis, global poverty, justice, poverty

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 • 2:10 am 60

loudly fighting poverty

Minhee and I are bracing ourselves for the long, hard, exciting and hopefully, fruitful work ahead as we attempt to lay some groundwork for the humanitarian organization we’re envisioning and its work with global poverty. We are awaiting word and documents [any day] from the State of Washington and will then move forward with revealing the name, raising some initial funds, and other steps. We may be stupid idealists but there is something within us that believe we can be catalysts to a global grassroots movement to help raise funds to fight global poverty.

But before we begin sharing and working in the weeks and months ahead, I wanted to take a post to answer the questions I have received from friends, acquaintances, church community folks, blog readers, and strangers that read an earlier post regarding the public announcement of our family’s decison to give up this year’s salary and additional funds to invest in starting this organization.

In some form or another, the question I want to address has been similar in content to this from a thoughtful blog reader:

…Why are you announcing to the world that you’re giving away your salary for the next year? Why not quietly do it Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: religion, extreme global poverty, NGO, One Day's Wages, poverty

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Eugene Cho

launch video for one day’s wages

If you can, give us a lift with your support. Here’s 5 things you can do:

89 million more reasons to get involved

1 million people for one day’s wages

is overpopulation our world’s greatest threat?

ONE sermon challenge

the power and privilege of opportunities

charity: water

reflections on south africa

an update on our global poverty initiative

496 posts, 7204 comments, 33604 spam, and $20,400 raised

strategically fighting poverty

loudly fighting poverty

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