The world as a whole is not fair. Life isn't fair. We in the U.S. are blessed with much that others on this planet have never known. As tough as the times may currently be here in this country, we must find it within our hearts and within our means to help the less fortunate. Caryn West, Evergreen artist and author of The Trouble with the Alphabet: Through the Eyes of Innocence, shares that the data actually shows that when the economy declines the "giving" market goes up. She attributes this to the possibility that when everything else seems chaotic and out of control there is a human tendency to grasp at something that makes sense...some sort of goodness to weigh against the bad. She believes that ultimately when it comes to spending, regardless of what the economic forecast is, we will continue to put money into what is important to us to the point we can afford it. With that said, she believes it's incredibly important to also realize that helping does not begin and end with money...we have hearts, we have hands and we have minds.

Caryn doesn't just talk the talk, she walks the walk. She and her husband suffered a series of financial and personal setbacks over the past decade that would have pushed a lesser person to wallow in self-pity. Instead, she set out to bring attention to the plight of children throughout the world by creating a book that focuses on youth living in different countries whose names start with a different letter of the alphabet. Her beautiful illustrations, poems and stories identify the trouble faced by children within each country and spotlights the various non profit organizations that exist to lessen and eradicate these troubles like Friendship Bridge, Project C.U.R.E., Action Against Hunger and others.

Caryn hopes her big, colorful coffee table book will enlighten readers and move them from apathy to activism. All too often individuals ask themselves how they can make a difference, especially on significant life & death issues such as war, child rape, forced prostitution, hunger, homelessness, disease, etc.. She believes that by doing nothing, by not trying, we can be assured we won't make any difference at all. Her conviction is founded on a belief that we each have a responsibility to try. "It's all any of us can do and when you look at it that way, there are no excuses." She doesn't pretend or even suggest that The Trouble with the Alphabet has those answers but hopes that perhaps her book and her ability to tell a story will inspire someone who does have the answers...or even ideas. In so doing, Caryn West is the quintessential example of how one person can indeed make a difference! Visit www.TTWTA.com to learn more about the book, her cause and the non-profit organizations she promotes.