What do we do?
Mir Pace introduces teen volunteers to poverty and its tragic effects on populations worldwide and strives to help them discover the profound and positive impact they can make in service to others. Our proudest achievement has been to ignite a spirit of volunteerism that is now being carried on into their adult lives.
We target populations throughout the world who have been forgotten and left behind by international, state, and local agencies, and who are incapable of improving their life situation without external assistance.
Since its establishment in 2003, Mir Pace has assisted the people of the Bolivar Peninsula (TX), Bosnia and Herzegovina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, and Tanzania, E. Africa.
Why?
It's important to first understand "poverty." Poverty is hunger, lack of shelter, being sick and unable to see a doctor, losing a child to treatable illnesses or unclean water. Poverty is not having access to education, not knowing how to read, not having a job, not knowing how you will survive from one day to the next.
Nearly half the world's population lives in poverty -- that's 2.8 billion people living on less than two dollars a day.
Some facts to keep in mind:
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Each year over 8 million people die because they are simply too poor to stay alive.
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More than 800 million people go hungry every day.
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6 million children die every year before reaching their fifth birthday as a result of malnutrition.
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The gross domestic product of the poorest 48 nations is less than the wealth of the world's three richest people.
Mir Pace is a call to action -- for the young, the old, the poor and the wealthy alike -- a call to change the world so that many more people may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health care, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their lives and in their communities.
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“The advancement of the poor constitutes a great opportunity for the moral,
cultural and even economic growth of all humanity. Let us look at the poor
not as a problem, but as people who can become the principal builders
of a new and more human future for everyone.”
~Pope John Paul II~
