My son, Derrick was one of thousands of Canadian youth who went without food for 30 hours this past weekend, as part of World Vision's 30 Hour Famine. In school hallways and church basements from Toronto to Medicine Hat, kids banded together to put up posters, plan activities, and talk about what hunger feels like.

Muna recalls the day that changed her life forever. "There was a sound like a plane, and then the house shook," she says. Realizing that her Syrian village was under rocket attack, Muna rushed her five children into the stairwell to get them down from the roof where they'd been.

It's not often that you think of children in Ethiopia as "privileged." Yet on the eve of World Health Day this Sunday, girls and boys in Ethiopia are among the developing world's most fortunate. Here's what World Vision is urging the Canadian government to do.

Each week, I give my two children a small allowance. Since I'm trying to teach them about managing money responsibly, their coins are automatically divided among three different jam jars: Spending, saving, charity. This week, Canada's federal government announced the amalgamation of CIDA and DFAIT. What will happen when the two jars become one?

In Canada, most teenage girls are busy going to school, making friends, dreaming of the future. In the world's poorest countries, one in every nine girls is married by the age of 15. A new World Vision report explores the devastation this can cause in a young girl's life.

Canadians clearly love chocolate. Each of us consumes an average of 5.5 kg of chocolate per year. This February, I'm asking Canadians to join me in purchasing chocolate that's free from child labour. An estimated 2-million children work in the cocoa industry. But Canadian chocolate lovers do have several ethical options.

World Vision's child sponsorship program invites each Canadian to do something powerful: partnering with an overseas community to change the lives of its children. Yet despite the powerful impact of sponsorship, it's also a very personal experience, as Saskatchewan resident Angela Zoerb discovered.

I clicked on the National Geographic photographs of children holding soccer balls crafted from old shopping bags, bits of twine and torn-up strips of old clothing. I marvelled at the variety, each ball as unique as its designer. On my desk here at World Vision, I have a soccer ball just like those.

There's something families can do together to start 2013 on the right foot. It's a New Year's "tithe." The concept of tithing, the setting aside of one-tenth of our earnings for a purpose other than our own use, is thousands of years old. This January, instead of a list of resolutions that you may not keep, why not consider a New Year's legacy?

This Christmas was to have been extra special for us with the birth of our first grandchild last April. He/she would have been eight months old. I was with my son and his wife when the baby was lost to us all. But we got the news last week that our World Vision foster child who's name is Ankita. And so this Christmas, we have been given the gift of a child.

The little girl from Iran was ready to meet Santa. She had heard all about the jolly man in a red suit, but never actually seen him in person. Anahita Azita emerged from the Christie Refugee Welcome Centre in Toronto, dressed in a princess costume someone had donated. Her face was a picture of joyous anticipation.

About five years ago, I really did start saying 'NO' to knick-knacks -- not only getting them, but giving them as well. That was the Christmas I discovered World Vision Gifts. They loved the goats, clothing and medical supplies which were donated on their behalf to needy families overseas. I won't be giving things for Christmas -- I'll be giving hope.

In the Christmas story, three wise men journeyed over great distances to bring gifts to a child. Meet three caring Canadian celebrities -- Colin Mochrie, Rick Campanelli and Tyler Medeiros -- who have dropped everything to travel overseas with World Vision Canada, using their fame to bring hope to millions of children around the world.

A poll for World Vision Canada indicates that 63 per cent of Canadians plan on giving to charity this holiday season. But many also want to buy gifts for loved ones. Learn how you can do both at the same time -- even with limited funds. This tough global economy is one of the reasons why so many children around the world need help this holiday season.

World Pneumonia Day is Monday, November 12. World Vision takes a look at the illness that claims the lives of more young children each year than any other -- and shares what you can do help. Pneumonia belongs to a notorious group of killers responsible for the deaths of 4.4-million children under the age of five each year.

I must admit it bothers me when I look at the cost of a ticket to attend an NHL game (or almost any other pro sports event) as I wonder how this money could be used all around the world and here at home to help children and their families who are facing poverty and despair. Luckily, three NHL stars have joined forces to help World Vision Canada to help thousands of children facing hunger in West Africa.

As a city-dwelling lifestyle journalist, I tend to write about high-end spa treatments and the like. So when my editor at Chatelaine asked if I knew anyone who would travel to Mali in West Africa to write about the food crisis there, I was as surprised as she was to hear the words "I'll go." My time there changed the way I think about charitable giving. Mali is plagued with misfortune and desperately needs our help.