By Rachel Kalina
They discovered that $50 could provide meals for almost 170 people through the United Nations World Food Program, and decided to contribute to the cause. Now that the holiday season is here, they said they will be asking their communities to think of those less fortunate and pledge in increments of $50 if possible - so that by the end of December they will have raised $10,000.
Norma and Max are even giving donations in the names of their family and friends as holiday presents, and they have full faith in the caring nature of the Baldwin and Freeport communities when it comes to charity, they said.
"Our towns are extremely generous," Norma, an attorney, said. "The people who live here care. We knew folks would want to get involved, and the fact is that many of us spend $50 on a video game or $4 to $5 on a cup of coffee without even thinking about it. When I heard that $50 could buy meals for 167 people, I said 'You know what? This holiday I'm giving $50 to the U.N. World Food Program.' It'll make me feel a whole lot better knowing that money went such a long way."
Max, a writing consultant, explained that the Central African Republic is bordered by the Sudan and Chad - both areas that are experiencing destabilization, wars and overall instability, she said. As a result, rebels from these places are infiltrating the republic and forcing the people who live there to flee. The United Nations, the largest provider of food to people throughout the world, Max said, is one of the few organizations working there because of its precarious situation.
"They're already in really dire straits," Max said. "They're just completely displaced."
She cited from her research that 160,000 have been displaced so far in the republic, and the levels of mal-nourishment in the area are comparable to a famine.
"They're just in dire need of funds," she said. "We just feel so strongly that we're blessed in this country and have so many resources available. We're just hoping folks in the communities and businesses will see how great the need is."
For Norma and Max, the situation in the Central African Republic immediately hit them, even though there are many people in need at any given time, and especially during the holidays. After reading about the poverty levels there and taking a trip to the mall to do some seasonal shopping, they were stricken with the great disparity before them. "We could not help but be moved," Norma said.
Max and Norma are calling their efforts a "Humanity Tax" because it's all about being a human concerned for another fellow human, they said.
"We know that all of us are busy with work, bills, and our own families," Norma said, "So it's not that people don't care - it's just that we're overwhelmed and sometimes we don't know how badly people are suffering. And when we do hear about countries suffering it can be overwhelming as though nothing we can do can help. But the great thing about this is that we can help and it's really easy and relatively inexpensive."
With the United Nations program, $10 can feed and educate a young girl for three months, while $34 can a feed child for one year. The food program has been around for many years, Max said, and $9 of out every $10 donated goes directly to the poor and hungry. That means only 10 percent of their funds go to administration and the rest is used for aid.
Last year, 96.7 million people in 82 countries were given assistance through the program.
Although the sisters just started raising money last week, they already have $1,000 pledged from friends and family members.
"We generally try to do little things in our lives to give back," Max said. "It's just so incredibly important in term of enriching your lives as a human beings. The bottom line is, it takes so little to make such a big difference in these families' lives. How can we not help?"
If you are interested in contributing the U.N.'s World Food Program along with Norma and Max, you can make a check payable to the U.S. Friends of the World Food Program and send it to the care of Max Smith at 3517 Milburn Ave., Baldwin, New York, 11510. Make a notation on the check that it is specifically for the Central African Republic. Max and Norma plan to send a collective check and would like to keep track of donations, Max said. All donations are tax deductible. For more information on the U.N.'s World Food Program, visit www.wfp.org.
