Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World
Review first published in World Vision News, July 2008
Oseola McCarty spent 75 years eking out a humble living by doing washing and ironing. Then she gave away her life savings of US$150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi to endow a scholarship fund for young African Americans.
This is just one of many inspiring true stories of people who are making a difference through their generosity. Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by former US President Bill Clinton, is not just a book, it's a call to action.
Clinton recounts the extraordinary efforts made by individuals, companies and organisations to find solutions and save lives "down the street and around the world". Then he turns the attention on the readers, urging us to seek out what each of us, "regardless of income, available time, age and skills," can do to help those in need.
The heart of Giving is the many profiles of individual kind souls, ranging from billionaire Bill Gates to six-year-old McKenzie Steiner, who organised a beach clean-up because she was worried that animals might be killed by litter.
Clinton outlines what we can do as individuals, how much we should consider giving, and why it is important for us to give.
"We all have the capacity to do great things," Clinton says. "My hope is that the people and stories in this book will lift spirits, touch hearts, and demonstrate that citizen activism and service can be a powerful agent of change in the world."
Giving will be a useful guide and inspiration to anyone who is taking the step forward as volunteers of time, money and skills to worthy causes. An unspecified portion of the proceeds of Giving will also go to the causes mentioned in the book.
More information
- Read an excerpt of Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World
- Find out where to buy Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World
- Visit the World Vision website
- Sign up to recieve World Vision News
Book reviwe courtesy of World Vision News email newsletter, July 2008
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