I applaud your recent article on the local grass-roots volunteer organization RESULTS, which works toward the elimination of extreme poverty globally. We RESULTS volunteers support microfinance; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; global literacy, etc.

Humanitarian programs help address the root causes of poverty and extremism that continue to threaten our nation. Our military leaders, including Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta, have been adamant that deep cuts to development and diplomacy programs will be detrimental to our national security.

It’s important to note that less than 1 percent of our federal budget goes to international development (foreign aid) — far less than probably most people realize.

More than 50 million primary school-aged kids do not go to school at all, locking them in grinding poverty. Globally, for every year of schooling a boy receives, there’s a 20 percent reduction in the likelihood that he will engage in violent behavior.

People of voting age with a primary education are one and a half times more likely to support democracy than people with no education.

More than one in five U.S. jobs profit from global trade. About 50 percent of our exports are purchased by nations in the developing worlds, and 97 percent of U.S. businesses that benefit from exports are small and medium-sized businesses.

When the developing countries benefit, so do we.

It was the grass-roots efforts of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Freedom Riders which precipitated blacks finally achieving less discrimination. It was Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in l962 which brought about the environmental movement.

We do indeed live in a global village. We can make a difference. www.results.org offers a wealth of information.

Donna Munro

Bremerton