Posts Tagged ‘Feeding America’

The CauseLab, ‘Cause You Should…

One of the most exciting opportunities at South by Southwest this year is Scott Henderson’s CauseLab on Monday, March 15th.

I got hooked on his WeCanEndThis.com campaign for no other reason than Okie loyalty.  Currently, Oklahoma and Vermont are in the lead in this virtual canned food drive to receive truckloads of food for local Feeding America food banks courtesy of Tyson Foods. The drive continues through March 18th, so there’s still time for you other states to catch us if you can.  (The top 10 states will each receive a share of enough protein for 1.5 million meals.)

But there’s a bigger goal.  They’re not just giving people a fish, they’re trying to reinvent the fishing pole all together.

On Monday, whether you’re in Austin or not, you can participate in one of two sessions that will focus on ideas.  Practical and rose-colored; immediate and long term; logical and wildly improbable.  Any and all ideas that might just lead to a solution.  People are hungry, what can we do about it?  They’ll be pondering three central questions.

WhatGives!? Read more »

MjM

Food Banks Never Close…

GroceryBagPumpkinI was perusing the web this morning, searching for more info on folks collecting comestibles for food drives.  Oops. Many of them ended this week.  In part, because once the food is gathered, organizations need time to sort, box, and distribute in time for Thanksgiving.  But, of course, being the pushy broad that I am, I encourage you to force feed the food banks (via Feeding America) in your area.

Just plug in your zip code, find your nearest food bank, and head over there with bags o’ provisions and/or a car filled with willing volunteers.  Then, perhaps even better, mark your calendar now with a few random dates in January and February to drop by with food and free time.  Shocking revelation: people are hungry year-round.

One fun and helpful thing you can do today, November 20th, is stop by your local McDonalds for a snack.  Today is officially McHappy Day.  For the eighth year, McDonalds is donating a buck from the sale of select menu items to Ronald McDonald House Charities.  Or you can donate through their Give A Hand program.  Again, for each hand sold at participating restaurants, $1 will go to support RMHC.

If you’re in St. Louis, check out what will soon be the 300th Ronald McDonald House. They’re breaking ground today on a new House scheduled to open next September.  When a family has had to relocate while a child undergoes medical treatment, these homes-away-from-home can make a difficult time a little easier.

And remember, just because someone is having a little trouble making ends meet doesn’t mean they like that weird canned vegetable “medley” any more than you do…

MjM