Look into becoming a mentor. There’s a particular need for men to mentor at-risk boys, with long waiting lists of boys who need a solid male role model. Check out organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters or, if you want to help out online, iMentor.
Consider sponsoring a child in the United States through Save the Children, for about $30 a month. We associate child sponsorship programs with needy children in Africa, but Save the Children also has robust programs that help families in poor parts of the United States.
Visit the websites of some of the nonprofits we’ve described in the book: TOPPS helping underprivileged kids and youth in Arkansas (http://www.toppsinc.org/); Provoking Hope for people in Oregon with addictions (http://provokinghope.com/); Women in Recovery helping women with addiction in Oklahoma (https://www.fcsok.org/services/women-in-recovery/). You can contribute or spread the word about them by telling five friends, by following them on social media or by posting on Facebook and Twitter about them.
Try supporting education for at-risk kids, especially in early childhood. It would be transformational if as many people gave to nursery schools for low-income children, like Educare (https://www.educareschools.org/), as to universities and business schools. A $20 donation to Reach Out and Read will cover the cost of bringing a new child into a national program that uses pediatricians to “prescribe” reading and hands out children’s books during visits to the doctor’s office. Reading Partners offers opportunities to volunteer to tutor a child in reading. You can also write to your members of Congress and urge them to fully fund early childhood programs for at-risk children. Tips on letter writing can be found at http://www.nea.org/home/19657.htm.
Become an ambassador for an organization you like or an advocate for these causes. Children are neglected in the United States because they can’t vote, so they need others speaking up on their behalf. One excellent choice is RESULTS, which coaches citizens on how to lobby members of Congress effectively on issues like poverty and early childhood education. It’s at www.results.org.
If you are reading this in a book club, consider harnessing the club for at least this session to tackle one issue. Maybe it’s a call for your state to expand Medicaid, or for your local school district to do more for at-risk children, or for local prosecutors to support more diversion programs for drug offenders rather than just locking them up time and time again. It’s always more fun to tackle problems together, and there are very successful models of “giving circles” like Full Circle Fund or Idaho Women’s Charitable Foundation.
Consider volunteering at a homeless shelter. Information is available at the websites of the National Coalition for the Homeless and VolunteerMatch. Or volunteer at a health fair like those run by Remote Area Medical (they need all kinds of volunteers, not just doctors and nurses). This kind of volunteering may sound like a sacrifice, but it’s also a rewarding adventure.
Break taboos! America tends to be at its worst in dealing with policy issues that are hard to talk about, like mental health, domestic violence or anything having to do with sex. So break the ice, for if we can’t discuss these issues, we can never make progress on them.
Reward companies that have a moral compass, and punish those that don’t. If more Americans supported companies that gave workers health care and reasonable wages and benefits, we could leverage American industry to provide traction for more workers. Likewise, consider investing in the class of socially responsible funds, with major fund companies like Vanguard, iShares and TIAA offering various options.
Start blazing your own path to make a difference. For example, as we were working on this book, our cherry orchard on the Kristof farm in Yamhill needed to be replaced, so after seeing the need for jobs in the area, we decided to plant the land with cider apples and wine grapes. Cider and pinot noir will employ more local people than other uses of the land, and we’ve already hired a couple of local people with troubled histories to clear the land and plant and nurture the apple trees. Our website for the project is www.KristofFarms.com, so visit for updates. It’ll be a risk and an adventure, but we’re also excited to create a pathway that just might help a community that we cherish.