Outside the Box

I believe creativity is needed to solve poverty-related issues.  And fortunately, many individuals and businesses today are employing non-traditional strategies to bring shoes, clean water, and healthcare to the world's poor.  As I've allowed my mind to marinate in the issues and statistics being raised by this series, I had an idea.

Doing a little research I found it is estimated that $5-$8 billion dollars (yes, that's with a "b") were left on unused gift cards each year over the past few years.  If that isn't an indication of how rich our country is, I don't know what it!  But, I digress...anyway, here's the idea.  What if we found a way, working with consumers and retailers, to recapture some of that unused money for poverty?  Even if we were only able to gather 10%, we could redirect $500-$800 million toward wiping our poverty EACH YEAR!

Some of the best ideas emerge when you toss around some crazy one.  What crazy idea do you have to for wiping out poverty?