My brother's charity

I like life in general, but I do especially love the end of the year. I really feel that for the most part people are friendlier and more kind. I love the holidays that give us extra opportunities to be grateful and to give.

There are lots of different options to serve this time of year—church service projects, charitable donations, acts of love for family members, soup kitchens, food pantries, nursing homes, and many more. I know that I have benefited from the kindness of many this holiday season.

My brother Peter feels very lucky to live in the United States, to have a roof over his head, food in his refrigerator, relative safety for his family, and a job to go to every day, and he has felt the need to help those whose lives are not as privileged as his.

Through Andy Jones, of the Africa Heartwood Project, Peter has learned about the plight of Liberians stranded in a refugee camp in Ghana, called Buduburam. Peter has helped some already, but his desire to help is greater than his personal ability to do so, and he is reaching out to his friends and acquaintances, hoping that together more people can be helped.

He has started a fundraiser to enable others to donate money to this cause. On his fundraiser page, he has listed each of the people he has come to know and whom he would like to help. You can read about their life situations, families, hopes for the future, and how much money they need to achieve those dreams.

Peter is keeping none of your money, so excepting the PayPal fee and the Western Union transfer fee, everything you donate will go to the actual people in Buduburam who need help, which is a really high percentage for a charity. (When you donate, the website will ask if you want to donate anything to them and it will suggest an amount. You have the option of making that zero if you don't wish to donate to the hosting site.) 

If this cause sounds like something you would like to be a part of, then please visit the fundraising page where you can learn a lot more information about the plight of these refugees and how my brother intends to help them.

It costs less than a family dinner in a nice restaurant or a pair of designer jeans or a new electronic gadget to end suffering for a stranger in Africa. Even if you can't donate the full amount for an entire family, any little bit helps.

Please don't feel guilty if you can't help, as my friends, I know you are all doing many wonderful things for loved ones and strangers throughout the year. :) Stay awesome, my friends!

And even if you can't donate monetarily, if you feel so inclined, it would be helpful if you could share the fundraising link through social media.

This is a photo of Anthony. He has a wife and two daughters. My brother has already helped him leave Buduburam and return to Liberia. When they arrived, they discovered their house had been damaged and no longer had a roof or doors. He is currently training to become a police officer again, and your assistance would allow him to have the funds to put a roof over his family's head.