Download or read book Toxic Charity written by Robert D. Lupton and published by HarperOne. This book was released on 2011-10-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public service is a way of life for Americans; giving is a part of our national character. But compassionate instincts and generous spirits aren’t enough, says veteran urban activist Robert D. Lupton. In this groundbreaking guide, he reveals the disturbing truth about charity: all too much of it has become toxic, devastating to the very people it’s meant to help. In his four decades of urban ministry, Lupton has experienced firsthand how our good intentions can have unintended, dire consequences. Our free food and clothing distribution encourages ever-growing handout lines, diminishing the dignity of the poor while increasing their dependency. We converge on inner-city neighborhoods to plant flowers and pick up trash, battering the pride of residents who have the capacity (and responsibility) to beautify their own environment. We fly off on mission trips to poverty-stricken villages, hearts full of pity and suitcases bulging with giveaways—trips that one Nicaraguan leader describes as effective only in “turning my people into beggars.” In Toxic Charity, Lupton urges individuals, churches, and organizations to step away from these spontaneous, often destructive acts of compassion toward thoughtful paths to community development. He delivers proven strategies for moving from toxic charity to transformative charity. Proposing a powerful “Oath for Compassionate Service” and spotlighting real-life examples of people serving not just with their hearts but with proven strategies and tested tactics, Lupton offers all the tools and inspiration we need to develop healthy, community-driven programs that produce deep, measurable, and lasting change. Everyone who volunteers or donates to charity needs to wrestle with this book.

Download or read book Charity Detox written by Robert D. Lupton and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2015-07-07 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The veteran urban activist and author of the revolutionary Toxic Charity returns with a headline-making book that offers proven, results-oriented ideas for transforming our system of giving. In Toxic Charity, Robert D. Lupton revealed the truth about modern charity programs meant to help the poor and disenfranchised. While charity makes donors feel better, he argued, it often hurts those it seeks to help. At the forefront of this burgeoning yet ineffective compassion industry are American churches, which spend billions on dependency-producing programs, including food pantries. But what would charity look like if we, instead, measured it by its ability to alleviate poverty and needs? That is the question at the heart of Charity Detox. Drawing on his many decades of experience, Lupton outlines how to structure programs that actually improve the quality of life of the poor and disenfranchised. He introduces many strategies that are revolutionizing what we do with our charity dollars, and offers numerous examples of organizations that have successfully adopted these groundbreaking new models. Only by redirecting our strategies and becoming committed to results, he argues, can charity enterprises truly become as transformative as our ideals.

Download or read book When Helping Hurts written by Steve Corbett and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2014-01-24 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With more than 450,000 copies in print, When Helping Hurts is a paradigm-forming contemporary classic on the subject of poverty alleviation. Poverty is much more than simply a lack of material resources, and it takes much more than donations and handouts to solve it. When Helping Hurts shows how some alleviation efforts, failing to consider the complexities of poverty, have actually (and unintentionally) done more harm than good. But it looks ahead. It encourages us to see the dignity in everyone, to empower the materially poor, and to know that we are all uniquely needy—and that God in the gospel is reconciling all things to himself. Focusing on both North American and Majority World contexts, When Helping Hurts provides proven strategies for effective poverty alleviation, catalyzing the idea that sustainable change comes not from the outside in, but from the inside out.

Download or read book Toxic Charity written by Robert D. Lupton and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-10-11 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Veteran urban activist Robert Lupton reveals the shockingly toxic effects that modern charity has upon the very people meant to benefit from it. Toxic Charity provides proven new models for charitable groups who want to help—not sabotage—those whom they desire to serve. Lupton, the founder of FCS Urban Ministries (Focused Community Strategies) in Atlanta, the voice of the Urban Perspectives newsletter, and the author of Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life, has been at the forefront of urban ministry activism for forty years. Now, in the vein of Jeffrey Sachs’s The End of Poverty, Richard Stearns’s The Hole in Our Gospel, and Gregory Boyle’s Tattoos on the Heart, his groundbreaking Toxic Charity shows us how to start serving needy and impoverished members of our communities in a way that will lead to lasting, real-world change.

Download or read book The Tragedy of American Compassion written by Marvin Olasky and published by Regnery Publishing. This book was released on 1994-02-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a book of hope at a time when just about everyone but Marvin Olasky has lost hope. The topic is poverty and the underclass. The profound truth that Marvin Olasky forces us to confront is that the problems of the underclass are not caused by poverty. Some of them are exacerbated by poverty, but we know that they need not be caused by poverty, for poverty has been the condition of the vast majority of human communities since the dawn of history, and they have for the most part been communities of stable families, nurtured children, and low crime. It is wrong to think that writing checks will end the problems of the underclass, or even reduce them. - Preface.

Download or read book Sweet Charity written by Janet Poppendieck and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1999-08-01 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this era of eroding commitment to government sponsored welfare programs, voluntarism and private charity have become the popular, optimistic solutions to poverty and hunger. The resurgence of charity has to be a good thing, doesn't it? No, says sociologist Janet Poppendieck, not when stopgap charitable efforts replace consistent public policy, and poverty continues to grow.In Sweet Charity?, Poppendieck travels the country to work in soup kitchens and "gleaning" centers, reporting from the frontlines of America's hunger relief programs to assess the effectiveness of these homegrown efforts. We hear from the "clients" who receive meals too small to feed their families; from the enthusiastic volunteers; and from the directors, who wonder if their "successful" programs are in some way perpetuating the problem they are struggling to solve. Hailed as the most significant book on hunger to appear in decades, Sweet Charity? shows how the drive to end poverty has taken a wrong turn with thousands of well-meaning volunteers on board.

Download or read book The Life You Can Save written by Peter Singer and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2010 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that for the first time in history we're in a position to end extreme poverty throughout the world, both because of our unprecedented wealth and advances in technology, therefore we can no longer consider ourselves good people unless we give more to the poor. Reprint.

Download or read book Blood Rites written by Barbara Ehrenreich and published by Twelve. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable BookAn ALA Notable Book "Original and illuminating." --The Washington Post What draws our species to war? What makes us see violence as a kind of sacred duty, or a ritual that boys must undergo to "become" men? Newly reissued in paperback, Blood Rites takes readers on an original journey from the elaborate human sacrifices of the ancient world to the carnage and holocaust of twentieth-century "total war." Ehrenreich sifts deftly through the fragile records of prehistory and discovers the wellspring of war in an unexpected place -- not in a "killer instinct" unique to the males of our species, but in the blood rites early humans performed to reenact their terrifying experiences of predation by stronger carnivores. Brilliant in conception and rich in scope, Blood Rites is a monumental work that continues to transform our understanding of the greatest single threat to human life.

Download or read book The Poor Will Be Glad written by Peter Greer and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2011-03-31 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling call to carry God's mercy and compassion to the hurting people of this world This eminently practical book by two leading experts in the field of poverty reduction offers a clear plan to help ordinary Christians translate their compassion into thoughtful action. Authors Peter Greer and Phil Smith draw on their personal experiences t...

Download or read book Seeking Shalom written by Shawn Duncan and published by . This book was released on 2017-10-18 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seeking Shalom: Leader's GuideThe Seeking Shalom Leader's Guide provides group facilitators with notes for leading six highly interactive sessions that reimagine our response to poverty in ways that will transform lives and restore communities. Each session is shaped by the videos on the Seeking Shalom: DVD. The Leader's Guide offers notes for teaching, instructions for creative learning exercises, and guidance to set up small group interactions. Class interactions, as well as weekly reflection and application exercises, is guided by the Seeking Shalom: Participant's Guide.

Download or read book Dead Aid written by Dambisa Moyo and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Debunking the current model of international aid promoted by both Hollywood celebrities and policy makers, Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing development of the world's poorest countries.

Download or read book The Art of Doing Good written by Joanna Handlin Smith and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2009-03-11 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In her study of the rise of charities amidst the late-Ming crises, Joanna Handlin Smith has marshaled so many interesting and rare sources that she is able as few before to give life and especially depth to a large and diverse group of remarkable people. This landmark book on one of the most exciting periods in Chinese history makes you all the more sorry that the Ming dynasty collapsed despite so much devotion and talent."—Pierre-Étienne Will, Collège de France "In her absorbing accounts of both big events and small, Joanna Handlin Smith has anchored her narrative in original research, producing a work of admirable scholarly care and ingenuity. This fine study, attentive as much to the complex of moral ideals underlying them as to the detailed practices of early modern famine relief and benevolent societies, will make a lasting contribution to our understanding of charity as performed in Chinese contexts."—Vivienne Shue, Oxford University

Download or read book Toxic Inequality written by Thomas M. Shapiro and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a leading authority on race and public policy, a deeply researched account of how families rise and fall today Since the Great Recession, most Americans' standard of living has stagnated or declined. Economic inequality is at historic highs. But inequality's impact differs by race; African Americans' net wealth is just a tenth that of white Americans, and over recent decades, white families have accumulated wealth at three times the rate of black families. In our increasingly diverse nation, sociologist Thomas M. Shapiro argues, wealth disparities must be understood in tandem with racial inequities -- a dangerous combination he terms "toxic inequality." In Toxic Inequality, Shapiro reveals how these forces combine to trap families in place. Following nearly two hundred families of different races and income levels over a period of twelve years, Shapiro's research vividly documents the recession's toll on parents and children, the ways families use assets to manage crises and create opportunities, and the real reasons some families build wealth while others struggle in poverty. The structure of our neighborhoods, workplaces, and tax code-much more than individual choices-push some forward and hold others back. A lack of assets, far more common in families of color, can often ruin parents' careful plans for themselves and their children. Toxic inequality may seem inexorable, but it is not inevitable. America's growing wealth gap and its yawning racial divide have been forged by history and preserved by policy, and only bold, race-conscious reforms can move us toward a more just society. "Everyone concerned about the toxic effects of inequality must read this book." -- Robert B. Reich "This is one of the most thought-provoking books I have read on economic inequality in the US." -- William Julius Wilson

Download or read book Helping Without Hurting in Short Term Missions written by Steve Corbett and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Helping Hurts is a paradigm-forming contemporary classic on the subject of poverty alleviation with over 300,000 copies in print. This stand-alone resource applies the principles of that book specifically to short-term missions. Helping Without Hurting in Short-Term Missions: Participant’s Guide aims to train and debrief team members, preparing them to do short-term missions as effectively as possible. To do this, it provides practical examples and guidelines for team members, and it creates interaction and reflection opportunities through questions and journaling. With eight units, six of which are built around free online video content, this book equips teams to avoid harming materially poor communities and to translate their experience into lasting and mutual engagement with missions and poverty alleviation. In conjunction with the separately available Leader’s Guide, it is an ideal resource for churches, Christian colleges, mission agencies, and missionaries.

Download or read book Go Toxic Free written by Anna Turns and published by Michael O'Mara Books. This book was released on 2022-01-20 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taking you on an in-depth tour of your everyday household products, Anna Turns reveals the harmful chemicals that lurk inside your home, the damage they can cause and helpful swaps and tips to avoid them wherever you can.

Download or read book Who Really Cares written by Arthur C. Brooks and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2007-12-04 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We all know we should give to charity, but who really does? In his controversial study of America's giving habits, Arthur C. Brooks shatters stereotypes about charity in America-including the myth that the political Left is more compassionate than the Right. Brooks, a preeminent public policy expert, spent years researching giving trends in America, and even he was surprised by what he found. In Who Really Cares, he identifies the forces behind American charity: strong families, church attendance, earning one's own income (as opposed to receiving welfare), and the belief that individuals-not government-offer the best solution to social ills. But beyond just showing us who the givers and non-givers in America really are today, Brooks shows that giving is crucial to our economic prosperity, as well as to our happiness, health, and our ability to govern ourselves as a free people.

Download or read book Beautifully Toxic written by Charity Parkerson and published by . This book was released on 2020-05-25 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A famous drummer. A homeless teen. It's hard to tell which one is the savior.When Jessie Thunder, a famous drummer, learns a homeless person had been sneaking into his home, Jessie decides to help him out. The eighteen-year-old "boy" is too old to go in the system and Jessie can't stand the thought of anyone going hungry. He also hopes rescuing Theo will ease his soul. Otherwise, there's nothing redeeming left of him. Even though Theo doesn't trust Jessie's help, he doesn't have anywhere else to go. At first, Jessie's attention feels like heaven. He's never had anyone care about him, especially someone as amazing as Jessie. Everything seems perfect. That is until Theo realizes Jessie's beauty is only a mask. Inside, Jessie is poison and Theo has to get out before he finds himself in worse shape than when he lived on the street. With Theo gone and no one to save him, Jessie has to make a choice. He can either rescue himself or drown in the toxic waste his life has become. Only one of those roads leads back to Theo. Beautifully Toxic is the first book in bestselling author Charity Parkerson's series, Candied Crush where the men are like candy-rich, irresistible, and bad for your health.