If you spend a few minutes with Melissa Joan Hart, you’ll quickly learn of her passion to serve others. “I love all kinds of community outreach on a local level and on a wider level,” she says. “With World Vision, it’s really both because it is domestic and international outreach. I also am the community outreach committee member for my kid’s football team. I think it’s important to serve our community and to give back because we have been so blessed. It’s important to share those blessings.”
As a World Vision Celebrity Ambassador, Melissa is all-in for ending extreme poverty. “I first came to World Vision because I wanted to find an organization to make a difference with, and to feel a part of. And I love the idea of knowing where money goes, knowing where efforts are going, and seeing the change being made. I have seen the very complex systems that World Vision has put into place that are sustainable and are life-changing.”
From organizing volunteer opportunities to promoting handcrafted gifts in the World Vision Gift Catalog, Melissa enjoys finding creative and meaningful ways to bless others, especially around the holidays. “My favorite thing about Christmas is the Gift Catalog,” she says. “As soon as I get it, I start circling things. What do I want to get and give to people? I love giving teacher gifts from the Gift Catalog.”
World Vision recently connected with Melissa to talk more about what it means to be a change maker and how she encourages others to give back.
(© 2023 World Vision/photo by Laura Reinhardt)
Q&A: Melissa Joan Hart, actor and World Vision Celebrity Ambassador
Where does your desire to serve others come from?
I’ve met a lot of different people and learned different ways of life, and it’s all fascinating to me. I feel it’s our job to take care of our neighbors. Everyone deserves clean water. Everyone deserves food. Everyone deserves safety, sanitation, and education. These are things that World Vision is working towards. I love being a part of that, and bringing in as many people as I can to help.
How is your faith and your relationship with World Vision connected?
[My family’s] faith is a big part of what we do and why we want to help. As Christians, we’re called to mission work — to helping our neighbors and our fellow man. Finding an organization you can get excited about, like World Vision, is a big part of that. Where you can see the work they’re doing and you believe in it, and you want to come back and spread the word.
What does lasting change mean to you?
The idea of lasting change is the ultimate prayer for peace and for ending poverty. No child being hungry, no one having to die of terrible diseases because they can’t get clean water. Putting an end to all of that.
How have you experienced world change in your partnership with World Vision?
We have seen families develop. When we first visited Zambia, I met a family who was not part of the sponsorship program yet and you could see the poverty. You could see the malnutrition in the children. You could see them struggling. You could see the lack of hope in their faces. Our sponsored child’s family struggled with poverty too. But now, four years later, they are thriving. They’re healthier. The smiles on their faces told us everything. They were going to school because they had bikes, they had a roof over their heads, they had chickens, and they were getting goats. They had a thriving farm and water nearby. They couldn’t stop thanking us for helping them get on their feet. And it just reconfirmed my love for World Vision because I get to see the changes being made.
What changes have you seen in your sponsored family in Zambia since you started with World Vision?
My family and I have been to Zambia twice, and we’ve just seen such a difference between four years ago and now with the families that have been helped [from] sponsors. The girls that we sponsor are now going to school, they have clean clothes, they have a house, and a bed and clean water really close by so they can go get water when they want to cook or clean.
It’s just amazing. The family’s whole demeanor has changed, and they just are so proud now of what they’ve accomplished. They are farming and taking of goats, and they have a massive garden.
What lessons are you trying to teach your own children about the importance of serving others?
I think this is so important for our boys to see the work that World Vision is doing and to see that there are parts of the world that are struggling. I want them to know we can do so much good — with our time, our energy, our money — to be able to help people in need that live far away. It’s crucial to show our kids good charitable works.
I believe we’re called in to it, and [my husband and I] want them to learn what gifts they have that they can share. As they grow, they can be a shining light to others and that it’s so important.
What is one way you’d encourage others to get involved with World Vision?
One of the programs I love is the sponsorships. I believe sponsorship truly changes lives. We are lucky enough to sponsor three children. I consider them family — they’re our sponsor sisters. I think child sponsorship is the number one way people can help all year because it not only changes life for that child, but also changes their family and their village. So, if you sponsor a child, like we do in Zambia, you can help. Your money might go towards supporting access to clean water or improved education, or chickens so a family can have fresh eggs. If you want to help with the family’s particular needs, like putting a roof on their house for the next rainy season, you can give a Special Gift .You can even send them a birthday present, and that is huge.
Why are you excited to share your handcrafted gift and the Gift Catalog with others this year?
The World Vision Gift Catalog offers all kinds of handcrafted gifts, from bracelets to bowls to scarves, so you can find anything for that person in your life. The money you donate to each gift goes towards World Vision and their projects; it helps in so many ways. You can give something very meaningful. Or if the person doesn’t need anything, I can send gifts to World Vision’s programs in honor of them. I love to give goats, chickens, medical supplies, or school supplies. I know I can always get my friends and family something from World Vision’s Gift Catalog and they’ll know it’s going to help someone else.
What are you looking forward to in the next year?
There are so many things on the horizon that I’m excited about, from work to family. We’re getting to a new phase with our kids. We now have two new drivers in the family. I have a son who graduated high school. My middle child is playing football. I had a new movie come out this year called The Bad Guardian on Lifetime. I’m excited about all of that.
