Hi, I just wanted to log in quickly today and give you an update on my progress with World Vision. As you may remember, last month i decided to sponsor children with World Vision Childrens charity.

World Vision is a great organization and I’ve had a wonderful time working with them. For those of you who didn’t read my earlier post, I should explain that World Vision is a faith-based international charity that helps children in poverty lead better lives. Most of these children are victims of war, famine or refugee status. World Vision provides them with food, medicine, shelter and rock-solid values.

With World Vision, you are able to sponsor individual children so you can really see the good work that World Vision is doing with your money. I was so impressed by World Vision when I researched their organization that I initially sponsored 100 children from all four corners of the world. Then, I became inspired and decided to sponsor an additional child every day.

It’s been more than a month now, and I am still excited by World Vision. In fact, as of September 16 I’ve sponsored a total of 135 children through World Vision – and am glad to have done it. This puts me on track to sponsoring more than 200 children through World Vision by the end of the year – a milestone I intend to meet.

You can learn more about World Vision by visiting their website here.

If you’d like to sponsor a child, all you have to do is go to this page.

I highly recommend supporting World Vision. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – children are our future, and we owe it to them to help them live the best lives they possibly can.

I have to say, watching the successful efforts to free the victims of the Chilean mine collapse shows just how generous humanity can be when disaster strikes. This is an example of exactly what we can accomplish when we all work together for the common good. The fact the rescue effort was a success is truly awesome; the fact that so many people and companies donated their time and resources to make it happen is inspiring.

As most of you know, on Aug. 5, 2010, part of the San José copper-gold mine in Copiapó, Chile collapsed, trapping 33 miners in its depths. On October 13, after being underground for nearly 70 days, all of the miners were rescued and are reported to be in good health.

More than one billion people around the world watched the rescue on television, making it the third-most watched event in history. We couldn’t look away, because we were in awe of what seemed to be a man-made miracle. I believe it truly brought the world together. What is interesting is the only two events that had more viewers were Michael Jackson’s funeral with 4.6 billion viewers, and Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration with 3.8 billion viewers.

However, what got less coverage was how many people and companies came together to make this seemingly impossible task a reality. From simple things – such as many of the world’s soft drink companies providing beverages to the rescue workers – to larger donations of time and money. It simply was a humbling experience to watch.

As you know, I’m constantly encouraging companies to do what they can to help the global community. That’s why I’d like to show my appreciation for a few of the companies that helped make the rescue possible.

• Center Rock, a mining firm in Pennsylvania, donated the drill bit that eventually dug the 2,000-foot hole that the miners were lifted out through.
• Schramm, another Pennsylvania company, built and donated the drill rig that the giant drill bit needed in order to operate.
• Layne Christensen, a Kansas drill operating company, donated the manpower that ran the giant rig and drill bit.
• United Parcel Service, the Atlanta-based shipping firm, shipped all of the supplies for free that were needed to rescue the miners.
• Zephyr Technology of Maryland built the chest harnesses that lifted the miners up through the hole. These harnesses were specially designed to monitor their vital signs along the way.
• Cupron, a Virginia textile company, created and donated special copper-lined socks that kept their feet warm and helped prevent infection while they were stuck in the mine.
• Oakley, the California-based sunglasses manufacturer, donated sunglasses to the miners that they needed to wear when they got to the surface, since they hadn’t seen natural sunlight in over two months.

These companies deserve our thanks and our respect. They truly helped make the world a better place. The Chilean miners rescue was really a show of humanity and cooperation.