Can blogging fight poverty?

Words are powerful.

Enough of them can create a chorus loud enough to distract us from the noise of our everyday lives and to instead focus attention on issues that truly deserve our most creative thoughts and compassionate efforts.

That's why pnn.com is participating in Global Blog Action Day, and our community members, along with tens of thousands of other bloggers worldwide, are writing about the subject of poverty.

Right now, when we're all feeling economically pinched, may be a perfect time to consider what has truly become a global epidemic.

I've noticed poverty's effects in the lines outside the church food pantry I drive by every morning; they grow longer every time I pass.

They remind me of the lines outside the medical clinic in Haiti -- the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere -- where I have the privilege to volunteer.

Thousands of people are always waiting there, having traveled on foot for days over mountains and other rugged terrain for the only medical care available. Many are carrying family members too sick to walk.

They camp outside the clinic, sleeping on wooden benches or just the ground, hoping for a chance to see doctors, nurses and other medical providers.

It's a humbling sight. It's even more humbling to get to know and care for the people: They're families who have so little; maybe a small shack, barely any food. The latest hurricanes and tropical storms have worsened the hunger problem in a place where people already have had to resort to surviving on "mud cakes" -- dirt and water formed into patties and dried in the sun.

The good news is that the clinic continues its work, serving thousands of patients with life-saving care. (In addition to severe injuries suffered in the storm, many would otherwise die of easily curable infections and other chronic illnesses that would have gone untreated.)

It's rewarding to see many leave the clinic, operated by non-profit Friends of the Children of Haiti (www.fotcoh.org) with body and spirit renewed. 

Those of us who work there also leave with hope, and a fresh sense of purpose, understanding that those who view the world as one human family can make a difference -- if we dare to try. 

We also leave with sadness, for we've seen how much more must be done. But we know we're helping to improve lives; to restore people to health, giving them a chance for self-sufficiency and the strength to help change a country so much in need.

We also leave enriched and profoundly changed by the experience -- we get back so much more than we give...

Today, I hope you'll think about ways you might fight poverty close to home, or far away, and support organizations dedicated to making this global scourge history.

You may be worried about your dwindling savings and your rising healthcare costs. I don't blame you. These are things consuming us all now, for good reason.

I hope, though, that you'll be thankful you have shelter and that your dinner tonight isn't a mud cake. 

Oh, and the answer to the question in the headline? Yes, I absolutely believe that it -- and we -- can.