A U.S. couple is donating $6,000 to an Ulaanbaatur soup kitchen and a Mongolian education center. 

Steve and Tina Swift of Waterville, Maine, operate a wholesale jewelry manufacturer and distribute to some 1,000 jewelry stores. After recently reading about hunger in Mongolia, the couple decided to send a check the Lotus Centre, an educational center, and the Dolma Living Community Centre. Both are located in Ulaanbaatur.

"We don't live alone and we're not supposed to," Tina Swift recently told the Kennebeck Journal. "We're human beings and human beings need each other."

"There's no safety net there, but for children in America, there is," Tina Swift said. "We felt that, as global citizens, we all have to be aware and we all have to look out for each other."

Steve Swift said his donation will purchase food for as many as 2,500 children a month at the soup kitchen. Each meal costs only about 20 cents.

"When I figured that out, I said, 'How could you not do it?'" he said. 

The donation was made by Swift to an American Bhuddhist organization which runs charitable projects in Mongolia.

"We're a Buddhist organization, so obviously we collect a lot of donations from the Buddhist community in general, but the way the Swifts found us was through a collection of writings by George Crane," Chuck Latimer, the organization's development director said. "So, we're also in a position of looking to reach out into more secular areas because many of our projects provide services to the general population of Mongolia. It's always wonderful when somebody comes in from outside the Buddhist community because it's like brand-new blood into an organization. I really appreciate all (the Swifts) are doing. It's really amazing."

Additionally, the Swifts now include information cards about helping in Mongolia inside all jewelry they ship.

"Hopefully, our giving will be the impetus for someone else to do the same," Tina Swift said.

www.mongolia-web.com

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