The Turimiquire Foundation Addresses Sustainability

It’s that time of the year when we all start thinking about holiday gift-giving.  I had a Jewish roommate in college, a funny but ornery character, who summarized Christmas as “crass commercialism.”  Though I was raised a Presbyterian, he didn’t offend me in the slightest; I couldn’t help but agree.   Huge marketing budgets are focused on getting us to spend big on gifts for people who really don’t need them.   

I’m not trying to moralize on this subject, though I will suggest this.  A dollar donated to The Turimiquire Foundation will, with God as my witness, result in $0.93 spent on actual, on-the-ground services delivered to the poorest of the poor in rural Venezuela.  What services, you ask?  Primarily: education, sustainable agriculture, and family planning.  Services that have profoundly changed the lives of over 70,000 people since the organization’s inception a few decades ago.  Services that not only make a huge difference in the quality of these people’s lives, but on their environmental impact.

Each year at this time, I write three (paltry by most standards, but extremely consistent) checks.  I send two to the schools my parents so generously put me through.  The last goes to Turimiquire.  Perhaps you’ll check out their website and see if you agree with me: they deserve your consideration too.