My mother used to talk a lot about the accident of birth.

Maybe you get lucky and get a family that’s functional in a society/culture where all dreams dreamed by all have a shot at thriving. Or maybe your luck derives from the serendipity of your own personal drives where, come hell or high water or the worst of circumstances, you take the next step up.

Then again, through an accident of birth or gender, maybe you don’t.

The focus of this year’s Blog Action Day is all about poverty. Bloggers like me get a chance to take a little piece of this deeply complex and enormous global challenge and make it deeply personal with posting and a call to action.

Empower the Women. Strengthen the Family. Raise up a Nation.

“When women are afforded equality of opportunity that is their basic right, the results for the economic advancement of society as a whole are striking,” stated Joanne Sandler, acting UNIFEM Executive Director. “The Economist estimates that over the past decade women’s work worldwide has done even more to fuel the global economy than has the stunning growth of China. We know what is possible when women are recognized as agents of change.”

When I opened MGP Direct, Inc. I wanted to make my own opportunities and create a job or two, as well. I believed then as I do now, that success lies in what you do for yourself and what you, in turn, do for others.

Today, I’m asking you to consider the vital work of The Women’s Funding Network, a consortium of 132 organizations that fund women’s solutions across the globe providing women money and tools to transform  ideas into lasting change — from combating poverty through achieving advances in healthcare, education and human rights.

“Remember the ladies, John.”

Abigail Adams wrote this now famous exhortation to her husband as he and other leaders wrestled with creating a nation from a fistful of colonies. When government not only protects but supports and encourages the imagination, talent and hard work of all its citizenry, we all benefit.

Today, in advance of World Poverty Day, October 17, I ask that you, too, remember the ladies with a donation that will fund our global ability to rise up with strength, heart and clarity of purpose.