By Carol Tobias
What can one person do? Because of Charlie Simpson, survivors of last year’s earthquake in Haiti received substantial help from UNICEF. Charlie, a seven-year old boy in London, decided he wanted to help the earthquake victims. He wrote on a fundraising website that he was going to ride his bicycle for eight kilometers (five miles) around the local park, and asked people to sponsor his efforts. Hoping he could raise 500 euros, Charlie succeeded in raising more than 200,000 euros, or almost $300,000! The money was used to provide food, water, and sanitation in Haiti.
What can one person do? Ask the widows and children of India who lived because a Baptist missionary decided to make a difference. In his last sermon before leaving England, William Carey stated, “Expect great things from God! Attempt great things for God.”
When Carey arrived in India in 1793, infant sacrifices were common. The culture placed a low value on females—often female babies were smothered at birth, and pressure was put on widows to be burned alive on their husbands’ funeral pyre. Euthanasia was practiced as the sick and elderly were left by the riverside—exposed to extreme temperatures, crocodiles, or insects. Lepers were often burned alive.
William Carey spent 41 years in India campaigning for human rights along with his missionary work. By the time he died in 1834, the British ruling government had outlawed infanticide, as well as widow and leper burning.
What can one person do?
We are all busy with our lives, many taking care of children or grandchildren. We’re involved in church, school, and community activities. Many of you have jobs, some of you are retired, although you feel like you’re busier now than when you were employed. But you, the pro-life volunteer, are the person on the front line who can make a difference.
You don’t have to go halfway around the world or even halfway around the country to make a difference. You can do that in your own home. If you spend just 5–10 minutes a day doing something for the unborn babies, the elderly, and the disabled, you can change the world.
We have uploaded several videos on YouTube with more to come. Some of them address the Obama health care law and how it creates rationing of medical care. Another video is a big THANK YOU to all the wonderful grassroots volunteers who are the heart and soul of the pro-life movement. You can find these videos by going to www.youtube.com/nationalrighttolife. What can you do? Watch the videos yourself so you know the information, and send them on to your friends and relatives, encouraging them to watch the videos as well. And occasionally check back, as we will upload more videos that you can watch and share.
Make sure you contact your senator or member of Congress when important issues are before them. National Right to Life’s Legislative Action Center makes it easy. Go to www.nrlc.org, find the “Legislation” button, and click on “Legislative Action Center.” From there, you will see if some action is needed, and can look up the voting record for your member of Congress.
Did you know that NRLC has a “Hot List”? You can sign up with your e-mail address to receive legislative alerts, current pro-life news, and more. This allows you to get sensitive information in a timely manner. You can then pass the information along to family and friends so they can take action if necessary.
You can also sign up for National Right to Life News Today via e-mail. This list receives a daily e-mail with commentary on the latest pro-life news so you stay up-to-date with the latest happenings.
Signing up for both the Hot List and NRL News Today is easy. Go to our website, www.nrlc.org, click on the ribbon button that says, “Stay Informed,” then click “Hot List.” You can sign up for either or both lists.
For 26 years, NRLC has hosted a daily five-minute radio program called Pro-Life Perspective. Pro-Life Perspective is available to any radio station, free of charge. Most of the radio stations that air the program are Christian based, but many are not. A CD can be mailed to the station if that is their preference, but it’s also available on the website at prolifeperspective.com. Most stations download the program themselves before airing it. What can you do? Call your local radio station and ask them to consider airing the program.
If you have a Twitter or Facebook account, follow and friend NRLC, retweet and repost the NRLC postings so that your friends can also get the news in a fast and brief manner.
Our religious outreach newsletter, Choose Life, is available in both English and Spanish, and includes suggested prayers that can be used in your weekly bulletin or worship folder. You can find those by going to www.nrlc.org/outreach.
These activities can be done from your home. If you want to do more—get involved in your local Right to Life chapter (if you aren’t already). If there isn’t a chapter close to where you live, why not start one? The National Right to Life State Organizational Development department will be happy to get you started and will put you in touch with our affiliate in your state. To start that chapter, call us at 202.626.8809 or e-mail jonathan@nrlc.org and jragan1@aol.com.
What can one person do? Instead of looking to a seven-year-old boy or a missionary, I look to you. YOU can make a difference. As William Carey said, “Expect great things from God! Attempt great things for God!”