I Want to Make a Difference, Can We Stop Crime in our Communities?

There have been a flood of found missing children who were locked away and abused for years.  These stories horrify us and demand our attention, yet we do nothing because we feel powerless to do anything to stop it.   We believe someone else will do something, that is someone else's problem, or it makes a good headline but beyond that we really don't care because we are not directly effected. 

We see homeless people on the street and believe that somehow they deserve to be there.  They are criminals, drug addicts, or choose to be there.  We throw them a bit of change and feel we've done our part.  They make us uncomfortable so we avoid them, look away, and do our best to avoid them.  We tell ourselves that their are government programs to help them and that its not our problem.

We don't feel safe in our neighbourhoods, our kids are corralled in our yards, we have alarms and more locks then when we were kids.  We fear home break ins and know that thefts are common place.  We want the police to get crime under control but we don't want to get involved.  Even worse we buy stuff at discounted prices from sites like Craigslist or ebay and pat ourselves on the back for saving money, not acknowledging that we are perpetrating the reward of crime. 

What can we do to help make this world a better place?

Clean up our neighbourhood graffiti
Clean up litter and our yards
Write letters to our political leaders asking for tougher laws
Buy fair trade products
Watch social documentaries to educate yourself
Check out non profit websites, send them an email to ask what you can do to help
Buy a homeless person lunch
Smile more
Volunteer
Help a neighbour
Recycle

Here are some sites to get started on learning more about what you can do to help change the world for the better.

Not For Sale - Abolish Child Slavery
Crime prevention
Human Trafficking
Against Crime & Drugs

Do you know of some non profit organizations that are committed to making the world a better place.  What things do you do to help make the world a better place?