100 Friends wants to raise $1 million

100 Friends in Kham from 100 Friends on Vimeo.

Gandhi said, "Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is important that you do it," and Marc Gold took this lesson to heart in 1989 when he started the 100 Friends project. "The idea is very simple," he says. "Every year many people contribute to the project and I take the money to Third World Countries and look for the neediest people I can find. I then put the money to work in the most compassionate, appropriate, culturally compatible, constructive and practical manner possible. You put the donation into my hands and I put the funds directly into the hands of the needy individual or family, or a small trusted grassroots organization helping them."

The project began in India when Gold discovered a Tibetan woman with terrible chronic ear infections. A $1 antibiotic saved her life and a $30 hearing aid restored her hearing. Gold realized that a huge difference could be made in the life of someone for a small amount of money. "Since then, the project and its supporters have expanded dramatically," Gold says. "This year I will be carrying out the project's 20th humanitarian mission."

The goal of the project currently is to raise $1 million to provide practical and direct assistance to a diverse range of people in need in Third World countries. Gold says the primary group of people he tries to help are those who are the most vulnerable in society including children, the sick and elderly. He provides them medical assistance and education to improve their quality of life.

Gold believes that one person really can make a difference. He says it can take little money, knowledge or resources to accomplish. Gold often speaks to children to try to inspire them to be philanthropists and to do good in the world.

More info: 100friends.org