Good news, DED friends: we received a message from Joel Griffith of the Hands and Feet Project in our Gmail inbox! Read all about it at the blog!

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According to handsandfeetproject.org, Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. In this country, 120 out of 1000 children die before they reach the age of five. One in five children dies of a preventable illness; diarrhea is the leading cause of death.

The poverty in Haiti is so severe that meals for many people in this country consist of cookies made out of dirt.

Don't Eat Dirt is a group of regular people--the guy in line ahead of you at Starbucks, the girl who eats lunch at your favourite deli, or one of your classmates--who have decided they can do something about this. We're partnering with the Hands and Feet Project, a children's village in Haiti, founded by the band Audio Adrenaline, that cares for orphans and others in our hemisphere's most destitute nation.

We believe that one person can make a big difference if they will commit to small changes in their life. By skipping out on a latte, eating out less often, or even picking up change off the pavement, we can gather the seemingly small resources of lots of people to make a huge contribution toward change.

It's been said that it's not easy to change the world, and it's true that we can't all go to Haiti to raise orphans. But we all can give a dollar or two a day toward supporting the work being done there, helping to fill the stomachs of its people with something more than dirt. Together, it's easy to change the world.

Links:
Hands and Feet Project official site
DED donation page on Firstgivings
Donate by Paypal/Check/Money Order
Don't Eat Dirt blog
DED on MySpace