A reminder to help

As schools are letting out all over the country, many children who rely on their school's breakfast and lunch to make it through the day are now left without food options. While for many of us it might seem like nothing has changed (you still have to go into work, sit in your cube, and eat whatever it is that you've either managed to scrounge out of your fridge or buy from a local eatery), but as you can imagine, this change of season can be devastating to little mouths all over the country.

So, in addition to asking you to volunteer your time or money to your local food bank (I'm arranging for my group at work to spend a half day at the Capital Area Food Bank here in Austin), I am also sending out this quick reminder of the "Pledge to End Hunger" campaign.

While of course they will gladly accept monetary donations, what they are asking for is for you to "sign" their campaign. You put in your email address, name, and state, and poof...their partner, Tyson, donates tons and tons of food to food banks in your state. I blogged about this first back a few months ago when there were only 1350 pledges, but I'm surprised to see that the number is only up to 4801. That's a great start, and it's translating into 140,000 lbs of food & 560,000 meals donated. But 5,000 people is not that many; imagine what we could do if twice that many signed up.....

Please "sign" the Pledge to End Hunger campaign and tell your friends. Just by posting your support of this program, people receive food. It's that easy. I signed up and I've maybe received about 2 emails a month at the most, so it's not like you're adding your name to some crazy telemarketing roster. It's just a super easy way to help.

Sign up. Today.

Pledge to End Hunger

I was raised to be creative and find ways to give back. A few times growing up, my mom, sister, and I would spend the day before Christmas working in a local soup kitchen where we wrapped gifts, cooked food, created "to go" dishes of food, etc. for homeless or severely disadvantage people. I loved that tradition. This past year, I emailed one of the nuns that run that soup kitchen, and unfortunately, they already had enough volunteers. Well, it was unfortunate for me, but certainly fortunate for them.

The problem is, that's just during the holidays.

When it's not the "season of giving," not enough people give. And here in Austin, the supposed problem is that we don't give our money, but we give our time. (And to the "I Live Here I Give Here" people, your focus should on PERCENT PARTICIPATION not dollar amounts when you come to speak to a group of young professionals....or most anyone, for that matter. Did we not learn ANYTHING from Obama's fundraising tactics??) People, at least we give back and we're involved. Ugh.

So I figure, why not think of community involvement like the manufacturing concept of continuous improvement. Continuous community involvement? Sounds good. Sounds like a lot of work too, but it doesn't have to be.

No, I haven't hijacked this blog to talk about giving back, per se. There is still a connection with food. And that's exactly my point. Even the most embedded couch potatoes have something that is of interest to them. And the beauty is that you can share that interest with others in a way that gives back to the community.

I have volunteered at the Capital Area Food Bank a couple times, and it was a blast. While washing off cans of peas isn't exactly how I'd like food to be in my life all the time, knowing that I was helping and occasionally coming across an interesting shelf-stable product was a more than sufficient reward. I hope to volunteer with them again.

I leave you with a link to the "Pledge to End Hunger" campaign. While of course they will gladly accept monetary donations, what they are asking for is for you to "sign" their campaign. You put in your email address, name, and state, and poof...their partner, Tyson, donates tons and tons of food to food banks in your state. The problem is, not enough people have heard about it because as of my post, there are only about 1350 pledges. That's a great start, and it's translating into 46,935 lbs of food & 187,740 meals donated. But that's smaller than my college (and I went to a TINY college). We can do better.

Please "sign" the Pledge to End Hunger campaign and tell your friends. Just by posting your support of this program, people receive food. It's that easy.