Relief

A faith-based trade organization believes that consumers can save the developing world with their spending habits this Christmas season.

Nathan George, the co-founder and CEO of Trade as One, said that he's always seen a fine line between Christian belief and international business. His organization now oversees a worldwide mission to place impoverished people in long-term, productive jobs making products valued by first world buyers.

"We set this up to be a tool for the church in America to engage their spending power on behalf of the global poor," said George, who founded the company in 2006 with his wife, Catherine. "Charity does not fix poverty. The only thing that does is sustainable, dignified jobs, and those are created by enterprise." more >>

Current front-runner in the Republican presidential race Newt Gingrich advocated a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants at Tuesday's debate. Other topics at the CNN debate in Washington, D.C., included foreign aid, the Patriot Act and Syria.

Former Speaker of the House Gingrich advocated a review board to decide if immigrants who currently reside in the United States without proper documentation should be allowed a path to citizenship. Gingrich also explained that he supported the “Red Card Solution” by the Kriebel Foundation.

“If you've come here recently, you've got no ties to this country, you ought to go home. Period. If you've been here 25 years and you got three kids, two grandkids, you've been paying taxes, obeying the law, you belong to a local church. I don't think we're going to separate you from your family, uproot you forcefully and kick you out,” Gingrich said. more >>

At least 32 homes in Reno, Nevada have been destroyed by a wildfire on Friday, and a fire expert has told The Christian Post what homeowners in the region can do to minimize the risks to their homes.

The out-of-season blaze was spread through an upscale community in the Sierra foothills southwest of Reno after being spread by gale force winds early Friday morning. Several injuries were reported and emergency personnel officials described battling the flames as being very difficult. Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said fire crews had a tough time “getting ahead of” the blaze which covered 400-acres.

Many homes have been lost to wildfires across the U.S. this year. In August, hundreds of people in northern Texas, California, and Oklahoma were forced from their homes as over two dozen buildings were lost to fire in August. more >>

A visit to Philadelphia by actor Bradley Cooper is helping the city's homeless population stay warm this winter.

The National Enquirer reported Tuesday that the Hollywood star recently returned to his hometown to film "The Silver Linings Playbook," a movie about a former teacher coping with life after mental hospitalization. While there, Cooper noticed the city's cold and thus went on a shopping spree for its homeless people.

"While filming in Philly, Bradley noticed a lot of homeless people shivering on the streets," a nameless source told the Enquirer. "He knew the weather was only going to get worse with early snowfall and blistering temperatures predicted, so he sent his assistants to several discount stores to buy thousands of dollars' worth of clothing. Then Bradley returned to the area and began to hand out clothing himself." more >>

A nationwide pizza chain and a local church in Detroit are partnering together this winter to give away 4,000 free brand-new winter coats for low-income youth.

Since 2009, Happy’s Pizza and Greater Grace Temple have joined forces to assist struggling families who have been hit hard by the economy.

“It is always a great feeling to assist people with some basic needs in life and we are excited to provide thousands of kids this winter with a brand new coat,” Greater Grace’s Senior pastor Bishop Charles H. Ellis III said in a statement. more >>

Hundreds of volunteers from across the country descended on New York City Friday in an effort to pack more than 5,000 shoe boxes with small Christmas gifts to send to some of the worlds neediest children.

The project, dubbed Operation Christmas Child, is an effort to place more than 8 million gift boxes in children’s hands worldwide this holiday season, organizers said.

“This is an opportunity to tell them that they haven’t been forgotten,” said Randy Riddle, the U.S. director for operations for the project. more >>