Save the Children is one of those remarkable agencies operating without government help to alleviate suffering wherever they find it. Sometimes they’re the first on the scene after disaster strikes - assessing the damage and gauging what otherwise needs to be done in order to live up to their own name and calling.This international aid organization, with over 100 branches globally, says it aims at improving the quality of life for children and young people any place in the world where there is trouble. Whether it's dealing with famine, children being used as soldiers in a conflict, child labour, or whole families in need after a calamity, you'll find Save the Children on the spot.

From their head office in London, England they run worldwide campaigns to raise funds for a specific area in need. Responding in times of people's greatest helplessness, they are the one agency that has contributed the most time and effort in helping people restore the infrastructure and programming required for children in the world's hot spots. Without a doubt, they make a difference.

From New Orleans after Katrina, to Pakistan after the earthquake and of course Tsunami devastated countries, we’re all aware that victims are in desperate need of assistance. So while the latest Save the Children project is not surprising for people whose eyes are open, it may come as a big shock to some, and a nasty reality check for others.

Save The Children International has just finished a two-week assessment on the quality of life in Native Canadian reservations in Northern Ontario preparatory to setting up a relief program/fundraising campaign in an effort to help the children of those communities. Webequie and Mishkeegogamang First Nation reserves aren't names that immediately come to mind, but in fact they are two reserves among many facing familiar problems.

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, teenage pregnancy, solvent abuse, sexual abuse, suicide, abject poverty, lack of housing, lack of affordable healthy food, and no fresh water or plumbing are always reported - but nothing has ever been done about it. Until now.

Three agencies that have been working with young people and children in Ontario - the provinces official child advocate Judy Finlay; Tikinagan (a native run children's aid society in Northern Ontario); and The Friends of Tikinagan formed by one of its former senior management people five years ago - together founded the project. They started meeting with other humanitarian, aid groups, and charitable foundations to see what they could come up with to help the natives of Northern Ontario dig out from years of neglect by governments of all stripes.