Pete Nebhut

 

By Ed Nicholson

We're coming up on a great American holiday, where those of us in the U.S. celebrate the freedoms we've been so amply given.

Lots of us have popped off lots of fireworks in those celebrations.

Here's an idea:  This year, save some (or all!) of the money your family might spend on fireworks, send it to your local food bank or hunger relief organization, and take your family on an outing to the local "spectacular" fireworks display in your community (every community seems to have one), instead. 

You'll have fun and some hungry kid will have a meal instead of your money going up in smoke.

Thanks to my lovely wife Ginger for this idea.  (and for putting up with me)

 Image: besighyawn: Creative Commons

by Ed Nicholson

As I post this on Friday afternoon, tens of thousands of kids at risk of hunger around the country are being sent home from school with backpacks full of food thanks to innovative programs such as the one Janet Kniffin, Chief Development Officer for the Connecticut Foodbank, describes in the video above.  Were it not for these programs, many would go hungry over the weekend, since school lunches are their primary source of nutrition.

Soon school will be out for the summer.  What happens then?  Many communities have solutions.  Many don't. 

Do your local schools have backpack programs?  If so, what happens during the summer?

7 year-old Cody Mitchell, from the Phoenix area decided he'd have a book sale and food drive.  He raised $878 and 716 pounds of food for St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance.  
Elizabeth Wunsch created a video about Cody and entered it in the Tyson Foods/ Tongal.com "Make a Movie, Feed Your Community" contest.  Because it was a winning video, a truckload of Tyson products were donated today to St. Mary's Food Bank.