Poverty: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Always.

Did you know that three million children around the world die every year from malnutrition? Can you fathom if every child between the ages of 0 and 4 in the states of New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, and D.C. died? That is roughly the three million children described. Malnutrition is a serious issue; and the main link to malnutrition is poverty.

Less than one percent of the United States budget goes to fighting extreme poverty. Let that sink in.

• Impoverished people in developing countries spend 60%-80% of their money on food; while Americans spend only 10% on average.
• 1.2 billion people live off of $1.25 per day.
• More than one-third of Africa has an inferior drinking water supply-leading to malnutrition and dehydration. If they choose to drink it, which is most cases because of thirst, they can and will contract and develop diseases.
• Americans spend more money on Halloween than the entire world spends on Malaria in a year.- Enough said on this one. A piece of candy for your thoughts?
• The Dallas Cowboys' stadium uses more electricity than Liberia.- During peak demand on game days the stadium produces up to 10 megawatts of electricity while Liberia is only able to pump less than a third of that amount into their national grid.
• There are four billion metric tons of food produced in the world- and one-fourth up to one-third of it is lost in transportation or production-or wasted.
• Collectively, Diarrhea and Pneumonia kill more children than Malaria, AIDS, and Tuberculosis combined.- However, Hunger is the number one cause of death in the world, killing more than all of those terrible things listed. No one should have to die from these diseases seeing as they are all preventable and treatable, excluding AIDS.
• Despite having 12.5% of the worlds population, Africa uses less than 3% of it's energy.- The United States uses 19% of the worlds energy with only 4.4% of the world's population; because we can afford it. Possible solution: We need to use our energy wisely and accordingly and maybe we can donate a portion of the money we would save every year to third-world countries-like Africa- that need what we managed to save.

Poverty is caused by insufficient funds in a country leading to poor health care, inadequate supply of drinking water and food, extremely poor sanitation, and incompetent educational systems.

Creating jobs is a great and practical way to fight poverty. "When people have jobs, they create income; and when more people have income, they can more easily get themselves out of poverty." Said Taylor Prinsen of Borgen Magazine. Unemployment and underemployment makes it difficult for families when labor is the only asset available to improve their well-being.

Low literacy rates are all too common in poverty afflicted areas; which encourages the setbacks that are caused by it. Uneducated countries can't be relied upon by their people to advance due to the lack of learning enabled people. An absence of educational development means the citizens of the distressed nation must lean on other nations and organizations that are generous enough to provide proper schooling.

Raising the minimum wages for full-time workers can also improve the health and well-being of people, especially in developing nations today. 80% of the world's population makes less than $10 per day, making it extremely difficult to pull themselves out of poverty.

Poor nutrition from the time of contraception to 24 months postpartum can lead to mental and physical disabilities later in life for that child. If we were to provide pregnant mothers and infants with at least adequate nutrition, that child will be able to fully contribute to the development of their household and community as an adult. Malnutrition prevents people from working to the full extent of their capabilities, making it difficult for them to pull themselves out of poverty.

What if we helped provide access to clean and safe drinking water to underdeveloped countries? Women would be able to spend the time it would take to retrieve water to work and generate a higher outcome of the goods they produce. The "arm and a leg" they would be paying for goods and services would lower greatly, and agricultural production would ascend to exceptional heights. Also, safe drinking water could decline the health care costs of those with diseases linked to unsafe water consumption.

Fighting poverty alone sounds like a big mountain to climb-it's not-and you aren't really alone in doing it! Millions of people around the world have been helping the fight against poverty! Here's how!

• Food drives!- Remember all the cans of soup you brought in to your school's food drive for the hungry? You can do that too! Team up with your local food bank or homeless shelter and host a food drive at your local supermarket!
• Would you rather go through a bigger organization? DoSomething.Org allows you to do just that! You can choose from any cause and host a fundraiser! Supermarket Stakeout allows you to host a food drive outside of your local grocery store for your local food bank!
• Donate to your local homeless shelter- Money always helps so they can make sure they get what they need, but blankets, food, necessities such as toothbrushes, combs, toothpaste, deodorant, etc. always helps too.
• You can host other fundraisers as well by teaming up with your local Food Bank or Homeless Shelter. Get creative. Raise money. Donate!
• You don't have to do all of these big events to fight poverty. You can simply take a few cans of non-perishable food to your food bank after work sometime or give a dollar to a beggar on the street. No, they aren't always homeless but there are levels of emotions and physical appearances that show they are truly homeless or in need and not just actors.