How you can help

Many organizations inspire your help by inspiring your pity. Shine-a-light has seen how street kids -- especially teenagers -- resent this sort of pitying charity. They would prefer to be admired for the fortitude that enables them to survive the cruelist conditions the world can throw at them.

In spite of this caveat, homeless children do need your help. The organizations that help them get off the street -- or even feed them so they can live another day -- suffer from constant financial strain. Unlike the United States or Europe, where local, state, and federal governments fund social service agencies, these programs recieve little or no government support. Foundations have never played an important role in Latin America, and few corporations have developed a philanthropic tradition. The Catholic Church, historically the center of charity for the poorest of the poor, finds itself overwhelmed by the inconcievable scope of youth homelessness.

If you will be in Latin America, we encourage you to volunteer with an organization that helps street kids. Our resource pages for volunteers can direct you to a program by its location or its needs for volunteers.

Finally, we encourage you to write the governments and international organizations who could do more to fight children's homelessness. You may cut and paste these letters to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and Latin American governments.

We promise that 100% of all donations will go to programs serving homeless children in Latin America. You can donate on-line by clicking below, or feel free to write as at info@shinealight.org.