Chickens, Beehives, and Christlike Love: Inside the Light the World Giving Machines

0:00 The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are solely those of the hosts and their guests and not those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services, or products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing W FOURCY Radio. Welcome to to Ask Good Questions Podcasts, broadcasting live every Wednesday, six pm Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at W four cy dot com. This week and every week, we will reach for a higher purpose in money and life, as well as a focus on health and wellment. Now, let's join your host, Anita bell Anderson, as together we start with Asking Good Questions.

1:01 Hello, and thank you for joining us today at the Ask Good Questions podcast. My name is Benita bell Anderson. I am your host, and today's going to be a little bit different because today we are doing something specific to Christmas. And this has to do actually with something called the Giving Machines, which are in areas all over the world. I'm going to be explaining that. Also, I need to explain to you that I tried to do this segment a week ago. We had some massive technological issues and it didn't happen. So, because I feel this is super important, because I want to make sure that you see this, I'm training again this week. So we're going to have a couple of segments that were recorded last week that we were able to salvage from that attempt.

1:58 And so with that, I'm going to introduce the Giving Machines with a video that is from Givingmachines dot org. And so we will roll that video right now. This is a wonderful, wonderful, meaningful opportunity for people to share. It's that time of year when the hustle and bustle makes it easy to forget. The reason for the season. That one, but there's an unlikely place, a big red vending machine that promises to brighten your day with the true meaning of Christmas.

2:48 You gotta look at you look at the pictures, A pick one. That's right. You can find all sorts of gifts, from a sleeping bag to socks and winter boots. There's even a chicken. Oh, that's very cool. Heregusies in And here's the twist. These are giving machines, meaning every purchase is a donation for someone to need. It's amazing, but there's so much more. There are so much more. Each year these gifts bring light to the world by helping others through various charitable organizations from Mexico to Africa.

3:39 In western Tanzania and your Casulu, a group of mothers is celebrating. They each started with three baby chicks like the ones offered at the giving machines. In just three years, the chicks have grown to become seven thousand chickens. The mothers use the eggs to feed their children and they sell the chickens at the market. Church World Service, a global nonprofit, is teaching them how to care for their animals and grow their small business. Naikulosa nasikasi. In metuto a parabapo tripo four in a manach nasa a toto. They offer the opportunity for a family to get animals that will bring nutrition but also income for their families, and they bring something else. They bring hope.

4:33 It's that same hope that radiates from a nearby community where Salmon. Shabani has raised thirty pigs from just two piglets since twenty twenty. Salmon, who was once shunned because she is unable to have children, has found a place with the women of her community. It's not just about the pig, not just about the two peoples that we bill have, but it's about her dignity in the society. It's about having a person in this community that is it. And neighboring Kenya is Tanner River Delta. It's a new day. Three communities of shepherds, farmers and hunter gatherers, once it odds with each other over scarce resources, are finding ways to peacefully coexist through beekeeping.

5:24 Like you can see, I'm looking like a modern woman because of this product. Carolyn Cody is involved in her village's beekeeping project. With the women groups, we are producing or when we produce, we sell, and we have money of our own, so I personally don't have to go to the husband and ask for money. Is to buy salt, buy mail, buy little things. With the beehives donated through the Giving Machines Church World Services, teaching villagers how to work together to increase their production, the bees and their honey hold the promise of a sweeter future.

6:04 I didn't think if it had been possible, we do. I lost my husband when I was getting desperate. This thing came by and it has met a difference. In my life. In Ukraine, volunteers are shedding light on the needs of refugees and providing meals for many, including the elderly. Working from donated warehouse base and Leviv. There are assembling food boxes that started off as a listing at a giving machine. And there's also a shelter. The converted space is a refuge for mothers and children.

6:44 Here the displaced. Women have access to groceries and they offer a warm, cooked meal to anyone hungry. The efforts are coordinated through Lifting Hands International. They team up with local nonprofits to provide this critical service. We realize that one time distributions of aid are a short term solution, so we use that as as a means to help people with their immediate needs, and then once we build that relationship, we can work on helping them with their longer term needs. On the Yucatan Peninsula is the little town of Sege. Here are these women's Hands. We've in and out forming an intricate design that will unfold to reveal a hammock.

7:27 The women are neighbors. And together with funding from the Giving Machines through Mentors International, they formed a small co op. Elizabeth ka Wich Pouch has opened her doors for the neighbors to gather. She says making hammocks offers them the flexibility to work from home and connect with their roots. Plus, a well made hammock is in big demand. Jes Frescas in the afternoons, you can spot Florencia Carrillo Chan. She's making her way to meet with the women, where she'll teach them this intricate art form.

8:12 She says, their co op has become so much. More A mego senla porque aquinos selamos nos dibertimos combersando yes untas yes parameo esta a kin san. We're here to give, and we hope that you can join us. The magic behind the Giving Machines is in making donating a personalized experience. I think one of the feelings that many people have is that they want to help and they want to do something and they don't know how. And this gives just us a small little way to be able to help in a simple fashion.

8:55 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints sponsors the Giving Machines and cover the overhead costs as part of its Light the World campaign to share the love of Jesus Christ. This gives you an opportunity to love your neighbor. Every single penny that you guys put into these machines goes straight to the charities. This Christmas, the Giving Machines will be unveiled in sixty one cities across seven countries and online at givingmachine dot org. It just gives you a good feeling to be able to give to people because enabled me to grow better than what I was and because of you I had because of your donations.

9:47 So that was just a little bit of an intro to show you a little bit about what this is about. I'm always struck by how ordinary people with simple gifts can create extraordinary change. So this is a global reach. There are five hundred plus local and local and global nonprofits that are involved. And actually the thing that's interesting is since that video was created this year, it's in one hundred and twenty six cities, twenty one countries and six continents. So this idea of giving in this way just keeps growing and growing and growing. So the range of items can be food, it can be water, it can be hygiene kits, it can be education, It can be livestock like chickens or goats. One example is something that I've been involved in has been something called Days for Girls. This is a nonprofit organization of mostly women who get together to sew and these kids are hygiene kits that go to girls in Africa, Nepal, different areas around the world where they do not have hygiene supplies, let's say it for their monthly periods. And so these are extraordinary little kids that can be washed and re

11:20 used for these girls every month. That is something that I've personally helped with. Also another idea is Nicaragraa and that is through something called Mentors International. If you can just think about how chickens can go and lead into a family business, which leads into food plus income, which means much more long term stability. So the key takeaway is these aren't just one time gifts. There are seeds of self reliance and hope. And so with that, I'd like to now introduce the segment that I did with with one of the volunteer coordinators here in Hawaii. Her name is Alin Cow and she was with me last week when we tried to do this segment. We were able to salvage a little bit, and I wanted to play that segment for you because she does give some really great information about just this whole thing and the whole idea of the giving machine. So let's roll that clip. Aloha, So let's chat about this. We are blessed to have.

12:37 How many machine are we? We have three locations? Is that right on the on this island, on on a Wahu? There are three locations at the Polynesian Cultural Center, Ala Juana Center and pro Ridge Center. Right, So, my husband and I were volunteering at the Alamana Shopping Center, which is pretty close to Waikiki and downtown Honolulu. Yes, so Lin, tell me a little bit about you being the volunteer coordinator for this project here in Hawaii. Sure. So, I'm actually one of three coordinators for Alamana. So there's one in Honolulu that goes all the way east to Hawaii Kai, and then my area is Honolulu West, and then there's another coordinator in Milanani. So there's three of us working to staff the machines as the same hours that the shopping center is open, and from let's see November. It was November twenty second that we kicked off and it'll run through January first. So it's it's quite a lengthy period of time and many volunteer shifts to fill, but there's three of us that are coordinating.

14:00 Awesome. And what I want to say too is if we can bring up I want to tell you where you can go find a giving machine in your town. There there is I'm hoping to have on the scrolling thing that's not the bottom of the screen. To find a giving machine near you, go to Givingmachines dot org, or if you can just remember that givingmachines dot org, then you can go find one, hopefully in your city where you are. So, what stands out to you every time you you know, I believe you've seen you know this video or videos like it. What stands out to you about this? What? What what speaks to your heart about this type of doing, this type of thing.

14:49 Well, any any type of service. There's so many ways that we can help those in need. But what stands out to me about the light the world giving machines is I think it was even mentioned in the video was the aspect of reaching out to the one. And so if you make a donation to charity, that's wonderful and it's actually gonna do the same as what you do see with the giving machine. But I think you know, standing in front of the giving machine and choosing what way am I going to help? There's actually another video if you go to givingmachine dot org. It's called one Drop at a Time, and as it highlights a tile in the machine, the video then goes to a clip of a person utilizing what was in the machine, so saying it's a soccer ball, and then it will go to a child playing on the dirt with the soccer ball.

15:48 If it's a meal, it'll go to somebody eating that meal. And so you know, sometimes if we write a check or if we give cash, we're not thinking exactly about the individual. And I like that aspect of the giving machine that any way that we help somebody in need is wonderful. Let's talk about what are some of the items that are in the giving machines that you are overseeing in the Alamaana shopping center. What are some of the things there? Sure, so we have we have five local charities, so an organization called Halekipa that helps homeless youth or foster youth or youth that have been in various difficult circumstances.

16:39 And we have Hawaii Food Bank and Armed Services YMCA that helps the military families, Access Surf Hawaii that helps people with disabilities get into the water. And Ronald McDonald House Hawaii. And that's many people are familiar with Ronald McDonald House from throughout the county tree in their work. So items that they'll see in for Holeykipa is a bus pass so that the youth can get to where they need to find a job. They'll find meals for the food bank, they'll find Philip Pantry, they'll find childcare.

17:22 Services for the for the y m c A. And they'll find a night's day for the Ronald McDonald House. So for access surf, they'll find a day at the beach or meals to help with the people while they are enjoying the day at the beach. So how okay, let me ask you this, How does the donation that's made at the giving machine, how does that get transferred to the nonprofit? Sure it's recorded in Salt Lake, and so they can see the different items, how many which charity it goes to.

18:04 Each tile corresponds to a charity and an item, and then once the giving machine ends in January, they just run the report and then send the check to the nonprofit organizations. The nonprofit organizations need to report back on how everything was used. And that was how much we got from last week. So I wanted to thank Ellen again for her help with explaining how this happens. Again, I just want to emphasize this looks like a normal vending machine. There are cards in all the different slots, and those are cards for blankets, for chickens, for beehives, for clean water, for training, for medical care. You basically have like a credit card swipe thing and when you pick what you're going to do, then it draws. Then that card that's in the machine drops down to bottom and it's basically a symbolic gift.

19:10 And so I want to emphasize the integrity behind this as well. The Church of Jesus Christ the Latter day Saints covers all the operating across of this. One hundred percent of the donations go to nonprofits. And then that. Like she was saying, there's a list that goes to each one of the nonprofits, and there can be different nonprofits and different machines all over the world. Remember, there's one hundred and twenty six what did I say, one hundred and twenty six cities, So that's going to vary by the local nonprofits that are involved in each one of those machines. If you're near, here's an idea for you.

19:52 If you're near a giving machine, make it a field trip. Bring your kids, bring your grandkids, bring your friends. If you're not near one, you can visit light the World slash Giving Machines Info online to make a donation, and you can give in similar ways through trusted charities. So one thing that I've seen people do is adopt a yearly giving machine night as part of their Christmas season and kind of their family tradition. So let me bring up some of I've got a few slides to answer some questions around this. Let's bring those slides up now.

20:37 So again, you can go to Givingmachines dot org. She had also mentioned that there was some other videos. There's actually a whole bunch of stories about different people and how this has helped different people in different areas of the world. All right, so this is just a slide that shows you just a little bit. You know. Obviously, the United States has a lot of giving machines all the country. You can go and put your you go to Givingmachines dot org and you can put your ZIP code in and it'll tell you where which one is the closest giving machine to you. But you can see there's video, there's in South America, there's giving machines, there's giving machines around Europe, there's around the Far East, Australia, even in Africa. So this is you know that one hundred and twenty six cities keeps getting there's twenty one countries again, keeps getting bigger and bigger every year. So common questions where does my donation go? Again? The church covers all operational costs for the Light the World Giving Machines initiative. That means that a hundred pcent of your donation goes to the participating nonprofit. Occasionally, the nonprofit may need to make an items substitution and to me, you know, they may have some unexpected needs. So when that occurs, replacement products or services stay in the same category as

22:09 the original donation. All right, So what methods of payment are accepted? Typically it's going to be a credit card or a debit card. That's those giving machine chios, except all credit cards and debit cards and mobile payment services. In a few countries there's also cash, but don't expect to you know, find cash. It's going to be probably going to be some kind of credit card. What so when this is another question that's been asked a lot. What items or charities need the most donations? So every participating charity represents a cause that really has pressing, pressing needs.

22:55 And whether you're most passionate about health care or education and or feeding the hungry or helping families be self sustaining and self reliant, well you're We're confident that you'll find an item that resonates with you and your gift I can just tell you is going to bless lives in countless ways. It really does. So. Also, another thing that's that's asked is I'm really feeling inspired about this, and you know you might even say, well, how can I help light the world? Well?

23:35 Light the world is the initiative that the church has been doing for several years now trying to help express what is the most important things that we can do to be kind, be reaching out to people, be taking care of others. So with that, there are another there's other ways. If you don't financially have the means to make a donation, you can go to just serve dot org. I can tell you that here in Hawaii while we're on our mission, we have been doing a lot of just served dot org opportunities with different nonprofits. Most specifically has been the Hawaii Food Bank, a lot of different food distribution events around the island. And so that's another way.

24:29 If you don't financially have a way to help, you can go out to just serve dot org. And you can also again you put your zip code in and it'll tell you a whole list of different things that you can do to just go out and give up your time to those that are in need. So with that, I'm going to say thank you so much for joining us on the Ask Good Questions podcast a little bit shorter today, so that you can go to Giving Machines dot org and check it out, find out where your local machine is and go there and make a donation if you can. If that's not possible, go to just serve dot org and see how you might be able to help out in some way with some organization that is in your community. All right, So with that, I just want to we can pull the slides down now.

25:35 So just a quick recap. One one idea turned into these vending machines that are now all over the world. And it's really another way of thinking about it is these are vending machines that are have been turned into vehicles of christ like love. Who would have thought so? And that you know, you can have Nepaul or Nicaragua or Denver, Colorado or any place in the United States, so you can say how would you you know, speaking you know in your prayers, be saying how could I help?

26:16 So with that, I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas. This is meant to be aired during Christmas time and I wanted it. I wanted to make the effort to make sure that this was happening. And so that's why I want you to get out there. This is going to be out there until New Year's Day. And so with that, thank you so much for joining me today and thanks for joining They Ask Good Questions Podcast. Today's episode is over, but we did ask good questions again, didn't We don't miss out as we broadcast live every Wednesday, sixth Eastern Time on W four CY Radio at w fourcy dot com. Joined Benina Bellmerson next week for more conversations with experts on finances, retirement, behavioral finance issues, health and wellness, and more. Until then, remember to ask good questions