SEATTLE — The effort started, as these things do, with a great deal of idealism.
Pastor Eugene Cho of Quest Church in Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood had traveled to developing countries, saw people living in poverty, read about the issues.
He wanted to do something. So he thought: Why not start his own global poverty initiative?
A couple of years later, that’s resulted in his donating a year’s salary — about $68,000. It’s also meant that his family of five had to move out of its home for a few weeks to raise last-minute cash, and his family has pledged to donate $100,000 over the next five years.
Recently, Cho, 39, launched his nonprofit — One Day’s Wages — with the donation of his year’s wages.
The organization asks people to donate the equivalent of one day’s wages. The money, Cho said, will then be sent to groups the nonprofit is partnering with, including one that works on providing clean water in Ethiopia and another that works to stop sex trafficking on the border between India and Nepal.
One Day’s Wages will not do the actual on-the-ground work. Rather, it hopes to mobilize people by telling them about the work its partner groups are doing.
Cho said he started with a mix of idealism and realism — knowing it would take hard work to launch such an effort. Still, it surprised him how quickly support grew.
About a year ago, he shared his intent by starting a Facebook group, saying he would donate $1 for every person who joined the group. Within a few months, 100,000 people joined; eventually, a million did.
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