While this is a blog aimed at anyone in any developed country, frankly, most of the people I know reading this are American--which means "November" is synonymous with "Thanksgiving," which further translates to "duh. Focus on a food-based organization this month." Fine. I'll be cliche and focus on food.
Food is under appreciated anyway. I say this not in the good old guilty way we're used to hearing (that we have an abundance of it here and starving children halfway across the world would love to take our obesity problem off our waists) but that it's one of the most constant needs in our lives. We will always need it, and we're constrained by our need for it multiple times a day. We can go without proper shelter or bathing or clothing, but those lacks won't typical pain us as fast as a lack of food will.
Nevertheless, it's one of the most enjoyable needs we have! It's immediately satisfying, it comes in almost limitless variety, and it brings people together. If you want to take the wonder of food a bit further, let's consider for a moment how the earth's ecosystems are so perfectly designed so that one creature's digestive system actually supports other creatures on the same food chain (and tangent food chains). It's so complex but works so well! (And on that note, I've always pondered how indebted we are to plants, because this whole system would fall apart if it weren't for photosynthesis).
I love food. If I had enough disposable income, I would be a dedicated foodie (or just hire a private chef, and someone to wash the dishes).
I also love Japan, and cultural exchange, and focused organizations that work to help the underprivileged around the world help themselves. Extra points if said organization is environmentally responsible. These are all things that make the Asian Rural Institute (ARI) cool.
In a nutshell, they bring leaders (50/50 gender ratio) from rural communities around Asia (and Africa and the Pacific!) to the farm in northern Japan for a nine-month training program to prepare them to bring sustainable farming methods back to their respective communities. It is an accredited school, so they do plenty of research in addition to their daily chores to tend the farm, which includes crops and animals. The community lives on the food that they produce together.
Of course, they were affected by the earthquake last March, and perhaps more so affected by the radiation from the Fukushima plant (they're located in Nishinasuno, Tochigi, between Tokyo and Fukushima). While the radiation levels in their soil are higher than normal (still safe, though) and their facilities had some damage, they were still able to welcome this year's participants as planned. Kudos, ARI.
Something else cool about ARI: You can join them for a while! Their volunteering program is fairly flexible and can put people with a variety of talents to work. (Hint hint: this is a good way to go study Japanese, but you don't need to know any Japanese to participate.) You can read more on the Volunteer page.
Hopefully this was a little more surprising than just another giant "feed the children" organization. While I think there will always been some need for handouts--be it in villages in Africa or in our local soup kitchens--there are really too many of those organizations to pick just one. My suggestion is that if you do choose to give to one, make sure that what they're handing out is nutritional (like enriched peanut butter) instead of just a tummy-filler.
Payment Procedures
To give from America and have your gift be tax deductible, visit the partner site and give here. You can scroll down and see what kinds of specific needs the money goes towards.
They do have a $25 minimum donation requirement, as do many other organizations. Frankly, it is more effective to pick a single cause or two and give more to them instead of giving a little to several different organizations, but this blog project is for sampling purposes and only challenges everyone to $10 a month. If $25 is really going to make you uncomfortable, then you can fulfill the challenge by supporting your local soup kitchen. Granted, this is a cliche month to do that and they could use help all year round, but the local underprivileged need and can enjoy food just as much as everyone else.
