The Power of Half - Family Downsizes Their Home to Help Fund Anti-Hunger Campaign in Ghana
Last updated 2/23/2010 12:25:49 PM
The Power of Half Family Downsizes Their Home to Help Fund Anti Hunger Campaign in Ghana
Now There’s a Book About How You Can Do It Too!
In 2007, the Salwen family from Atlanta, Georgia sold their $2 million home and moved into a property half the size and with half the status, donating the difference to anti-hunger efforts in Ghana. It started with a comment that daughter Hannah, who was 14 at the time, made when she saw a homeless man begging on the street beside a Mercedes. . “Dad, if that man”—she pointed to the Mercedes—“had a less nice car, that man there”—she pointed to the homeless man—“could have a meal.” Kevin, the quintessential modern dad, recognized a teachable moment: “But you know if we had a less nice car, he could have a meal.”
With that, they started to make the changes. They said goodbye to the elegant dining room, the gilded bedroom, the enormous garden where they hosted fundraising parties for nonprofits. ‘The trick is to be introspective, see what you have a surplus of, then get together with your family or community and decide how you can put that newfound resource to work’ said Kevin Salwen.
The Salwens turned social consciousness into a family affair, asking themselves ‘What does our family stand for?’
Now Kevin and Hannah Salwen have written ‘The Power of Half, One Family’s Decision to Stop Talking and Start Giving Back’, a book with a big concept – if you can’t give up half your home, what about half your wardrobe, half your car? What can you live without? In an age of recession following an era of conspicuous consumption, it’s a novel and timely idea.
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