International Day of Charity is celebrated on September 5 every year. As per UN's website "charity can alleviate the worst effects of humanitarian crises, supplement public services in health care, education, housing and child protection. It assists the advancement of culture, science, sports, and the protection of cultural and natural heritage."
And now, amid times of crisis, one needs to understand how even a small good deed can change someones life.
Significance
The International Day of Charity was established with the objective of sensitizing and mobilizing people, NGOs, and stakeholders all around the world to to help others through volunteer and philanthropic activities, as per the UN's website.
History
In recognition of the role of charity in alleviating humanitarian crises and human suffering within and among nations, as well as of the efforts of charitable organizations and individuals, including the work of Mother Teresa, the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution designated the 5th of September.
The date was chosen in order to commemorate the death anniversary of Mother Teresa .
About Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa, the celebrated nun whose work with the poor of Kolkata made her an instantly recognisable global figure, won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Teresa, who worked for the destitute in Kolkata and became a global icon of Christian charity, was declared a saint by Pope Francis in 2016.
Mother Teresa spent all her adult life in India, first teaching, then tending to the dying poor. It was in the latter role, at the head of her now worldwide order that Teresa became one of the most famous women on the planet. Born to Kosovan Albanian parents in Skopje – then part of the Ottoman empire, now the capital of Macedonia – she was revered around the world as a beacon for the Christian values of self-sacrifice and charity. She passed away in 1997, in Kolkata, the Indian city where she spent nearly four decades tending to the poor.
