Blog

By Rick Steves

To add meaning to the holiday season, every Christmas I help raise funds for Bread for the World with the help of my traveling friends at Rick Steves’ Europe. In these tumultuous times, the needs of those experiencing hunger and poverty are particularly great—but that means the rewards of helping are great too!

I’d love to match your gift 2-to-1 and send you a special Christmas package as thanks for a $100 gift to bolster Bread’s work.

I believe people struggling with hunger need a strong and compassionate advocate like Bread for the World—especially when the need in our world is so great. Some in Congress and the administration continue to push for unprecedented cuts to anti-hunger programs. And recent data released by the United Nations found that for the third year in a row, hunger has increased globally, mainly because of climate change and increased conflict. One in nine of the world’s people—821 million people—are now living in hunger.

The need is so clear, the momentum is so good, and Bread for the World is so effective. That’s why I’m inspired to offer you this challenge: give a gift today, and I’ll match your donation 2-to-1, up to $700,000 to Bread for the World Institute. Together we can empower Bread for the World’s work with triple the impact of your donation, and make a difference for millions of people experiencing hunger both at home and abroad this Christmas.

I see Bread for the World not as a charity, but as a service. If we care about hunger, in my opinion, there is no more effective way to put our dollars to work to fight it. Bread takes my concern about hunger and transforms it into effective action by smartly—and doggedly – going into the halls of our government and speaking up for people living with hunger in our country and around the world. While the challenges are immense, so are the rewards, and we have reason for hope.

So here's my challenge to you: Help Bread for the World with your donation of $100 or more. As a thank you, I'll match your donation 2-to-1 and send you three gifts from my Rick Steves' European Christmas collection:

• "Rick Steves' European Christmas" DVD (our public television special celebrating a traditional, non-commercial, and sacred Christmas in seven different countries)
• “Rick Steves' European Christmas” coffee table book (the fun insights and best photos I gathered while producing the special)
• "Rick Steves' European Christmas" music CD (produced while filming, featuring our 20 favorite European carols—this is my personal favorite for fresh new Christmas-time music)

I’ll happily pay for the cost of these three gifts, as well as the shipping, so that Bread for the World can put 100 percent of your donation to work giving a voice to people experiencing hunger. Make your gift by Dec. 10 —and you'll get everything, along with our latest travel newsletter, in time for Christmas. Consider sharing these gifts with family and friends.

These gifts will add a wonderful new dimension to your family celebrations for years to come, while also empowering you to play a role in ending hunger and poverty here in the U.S. and around the world.

Rick Steves is the host of public television's most-watched, longest-running travel series, "Rick Steves' Europe," and the author of more than 50 travel guidebooks.