Now that the holiday season is upon us many people are thinking about ways they can help the “less fortunate” in their community. I think it’s wonderful that people volunteer to help out at soup kitchens, and others donate their holiday turkey to a family in need. I also love that some people will adopt an entire family for the holiday season and provide them with a holiday meal and sometimes gifts for the children. These things warm my heart and make me smile.
Sadly many people forget that hunger happens 365 days a year. It’s not sometimes that happens only around the holiday season. In fact the summer time can often be the hardest time for school aged children who receive meals at school. When school is not in session those children are left without anything to eat. Sometimes their school meal is the only meal of the day.
No child should go to bed hungry – ever. The same applies to all family members. In a “land of plenty” such as the United States we shouldn’t have food insecure families. But we do. It’s an ever increasing problem and together we can find ways to remedy this.
There are many things you can do RIGHT NOW to help out food insecure families in your community. I already mentioned a few.
- Donate food to a local food bank.
- Donate the free turkey (or ham) you get from your local grocery store as part of their holiday promotion to a family in need.
- Partner with a local community organization and host a community pot luck in your area.
- Organize a local food drive 0r get together with your school’s PTA/PTO to create a food drive at school (it would be a great way to teach children about issues facing people in their community).
- Adopt a local family and provide them with a holiday meal. Or better yet, invite the family to your house. When it comes to the holidays the more the merrier.
- Instead of buying your children the “latest and greatest must have toys” why not teach them a lesson in charity and donation and use some of the money that would be used towards gifts to buy food for the hungry?
- Volunteer your time at a food bank or food collection center.
- When purchasing grocery items if you strike a “buy one get one free” deal consider donating the free items.
- Host a Virtual Food Drive using the Feeding America Fundraiser tool.
I actually created a Virtual Food Drive in hopes of sharing a meal with people in the community. You can check out my Virtual Food Drive page here – Share A Meal Fundraiser. It’s totally legitimate. I don’t get the funds. The funds raised go directly to Feeding America so they can help provide food to food insecure families.
You can feed a lot of families even with the smallest donation.
- $25.00 provides 225 meals
- $50.00 provides 450 meals
- $100.00 provides 900 meals
- $175 provides 1,575 meals
You can donate as little or as much as you want.
Think about this for a moment. If you tend to stop every morning for a mocha latte (or another specialty coffee drink) you are probably spending $3 to $4 each time. If you could give that up for just one week and donate that money you can help provide 225 meals to families in need in your community. When you think about that what is more worthwhile – $25 worth of coffee that will be gone in about 10 minutes or 225 meals for hungry people (children and adults) in your community? It’s a no brainer if you ask me.
If you are unable to donate food or funds, perhaps you would consider volunteering at a local food bank or food distribution center?
A few years ago I helped out at a food bank in Tampa, Florida. It was a real eye opener.
I was assigned putting orange juice into the boxes for the people who were there to get food. I was shocked when I saw the line of people that came there that day to get food for their families. More people then I could imagine. I was thinking maybe a dozen or so people. We had so many people that I lost count!
These are legitimately hungry people too. They have to take care of the necessary paperwork and such to prove they are in need. That is why I was so shocked to see that many people. It broke my heart but at the same time it made me feel good because I knew I was helping out people in need. Talk about the “warm fuzzies”. It make my heart smile too.
I hope you will take some time to read my posts about my experiences in Tampa – not only about helping out at the food bank but also a behind the scenes look at the Feeding America Tampa Bay ware house.
The face of hunger in your own backyard – Part I
The face of hunger in your own backyard – Part II: Feeding America Tampa Bay visit
Some people assume they can recognize people in their community who are facing hunger issues. Perhaps they can, but there are also plenty of people and families out there that look like they have it all together, but behind closed doors their family struggles for find their next meal. Even the most “well off” looking family could be dealing with financial issues that compromise their ability to put food on the table night after night.
Take my family for example. My husband has a decent job. I work part time out of the home. I also make some money from time to time with my blog. From outward appearances we seem like a typical middle class family. What people don’t see are the medical bills, car repair bills, and other things that can quickly deplete a checking and savings account. That is what has happened to us. There are plenty of times we don’t have two dimes to rub together let along money to go food shopping.
Admittedly when our youngest was a baby we had to visit the food bank a few times. Our son was a preemie and required a high caloric formula that was so very expensive. We had a choice – go food shopping or buy the formula that he needed. We had no choice. We had to visit the food bank for a few months otherwise we would have had nothing to put on the table. At that time our other child was a toddler.
We are fortunate that we won’t go hungry. My family would NEVER let that happen. But there are more times then I care to think about where we didn’t have money to buy eggs, milk or bread. We keep a lot o pasta and Ramen Noodles in our pantry, not because we enjoy them but because sometimes that is all we can afford.
This week is one of those weeks where we can’t go food shopping. My car cost us over $800, about $400 more then we had hoped for. My husband doesn’t get paid for another week, my paycheck went towards the car and we have nothing else in checking. So this is one of those weeks where we have to get creative with our meals, even if it means waffles for dinner one night.
No one would ever suspect that we struggle at times. We do not come across as a food insecure family. We’re not. We can usually find something to eat even if it’s cereal, waffles or eggs. But there are people just like us who can’t do that. They literally have nothing and no family and friends the can lean on.
Adults can find way to deal with things. The ones that suffer the most is the children. No child should ever go to bed hungry.
Feeding America serves about 12 million children each year. That is a staggering amount of children. Can you believe there are that many hungry children in this country?
Unilever has a special initiative they call Project Sunlight which is doing their part to stamp out child hunger here in America. They encourage people to help create a brighter future for children.
Unilever has teamed up with award-winning filmmaker and Unilever Bright Future Award recipient, Patrick Creadon to create this heart-wrenching and inspiring look at how Americans are grappling with child hunger in a four-minute documentary, “Going to Bed Hungry: The Changing Face of Child Hunger.”
Check out the video.
Oh! It makes me feel so sad. These are real people too.
Hopefully this documentary has inspired you to help. There is a way you can share a meal this holiday season. Simply visit ProjectSunlight.us. There you can download the informative Unilever Share A Meal Toolkit to learn more about the power of a shared meal.
For more information about Feeding America you can find them on the various social media sites.
You can also follow Unilever Project Sunlight on social media too.
PLEASE share the documentary on social media so that your friends and family know about this important campaign. The URL for the video is http://ulever.us/ShareAMeal and the official hashtag is #ShareaMeal.
Do you know a food insecure family? Have you personally experienced food insecurity?
Feel free to share your thoughts.
I’m sorry for such a long post. Child Hunger is something I care about and I am more than happy to lend my voice for wonderful charities that are helping to put an end to this problem.
Please consider donating to my virtual food drive through Feeding America. Thank you! 🙂
Kimberly
*I have partnered with Unilever Sunlight Project to bring you this information. Although compensated the opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.
cindy jones says
Years ago I found myself in need as a single mom with two small kids. My local food bank became a lifesaver. Ever since then I have given back and donated.