Tyson Foods Hunger Relief

Food banks--Putting your agencies on the map

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:18:25 GMT

View Tyson Foods Hunger Relief Donations in a larger map

Here's a Google map I created on Friday of the truckload donations Tyson has done in the past year. Notice all of the icons are clickable for more information. You can zoom in to the street address (with apologies to those recipients whose addresses I didn't nail precisely--I did this all in one day). We plan on keeping it updated, so it will be an archive of what we're doing (just wish it had been around ten years ago).

Creating it got me thinking: Food banks could use this free tool to plot all of their agencies, along with their relevant information. Notice above that Goodgle supplies you with some embeddable code, so you can put it on your blog or website. You can set it with any number of collaborators (including a wide-open wiki style), so conceivably agencies could enter and edit their own information.

Getting started is easy, and begins with setting up a Google account.

Imagine if all of the food banks did this, then the maps were aggregated; if the world could see all 63,000 agencies in one view, then zoom into the ones working in their state, community and neighborhood. That might be kinda cool.

Good news

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:06:00 GMT

By Elise Mitchell

As Ed mentioned in his post earlier this week, the donation last Saturday to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank received a lot of positive media coverage and helped bring to light the hard work of many volunteers. We’ve posted some of those stories here from our local TV stations KFSM, KHOG and KNWA and appreciate their coverage of the event.

While sometimes it can be tough to get media attention for good news, we’ve actually found media to be very receptive to our outreach for Tyson’s donations to food banks around the country. Our guess is that increasingly, hunger is newsworthy, which is both good and bad, of course. Good because so many people are actively trying to help those in need; bad because the need continues to grow as a result of the economic stress people are enduring.

Yes, we’ve been fortunate to earn our share of coverage, but our ultimate goal in doing this is to continue to shine the spotlight on the cause itself. Hopefully, from greater awareness will come greater resources. With all of us working together as well as greater attention brought to the fight against hunger, we can continue to make a difference.

Elise Mitchell is the President and CEO of Mitchell Communications.

Hunger Twitterers

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:22:59 GMT

We started this Twitter list over a year ago with names of peope who have been active (online or offline) in the discussion of hunger. Since then it's grown as more and more people find Twitter a valid way to bring the community online. From time to time, I'll re-tweet the URL to this post. If you'd like your name added to this list, comment here with your Twittername, send Twitter reply to @TysonFoods, or email me at ed.nicholson@Tyson dot com I probably won't add you unless you ask me, so if you want to be added (some folks would prefer their names not be on the list), just ask!

There's also a comprehensive hunger twitterers list at http://twitter.com/TysonFoods/hunger-communityh to which you can subscribe with one click.

Now. You all go follow each other and talk amongst yourselves.

http://twitter.com/sharestrength SOS primary account, run by Jeff Weidner and Eric Herboso
http://twitter.com/FeedingAmerica Feeding America
http://twitter.com/billshore Billy Shore, founder of Share Our Strength
http://twitter.com/EricHerboso   Web and social media stuff for Share Our Strength
http://twitter.com/ozksfoodharvest Ozarks Food Harvest food bank in Springfield, MO
http://twitter.com/dpmichel Dan Michel--social media for Feeding America
http://twitter.com/ellendamaschino Ellen Damaschino SOS OFL Hall of Fame Chef and blogger
http://twitter.com/hungeractions Take Action on Hunger
http://twitter.com/rockforhunger Rock for Hunger
http://twitter.com/FTWM Feed Them With Music
http://twitter.com/AndreaSherwood Andrea Sherwood--Tyson Foods Hunger Relief Team
http://twitter.com/ Ddavenport David Davenport, President & CEO, Capital Area Food Bank of Texas (CAFB)
http://twitter.com/kerri_qunell Kerri Qunell, VP, Communications, CAFB
http://twitter.com/lisa_goddard Lisa Goddard, Advocacy and Online Marketing Director, CAFB
http://twitter.com/Karlacantu Karla Cantu, Agency Relations Director, CAFB
http://twitter.com/jcdwyer JC Dwyer, TFBN Statewide Advocacy Director, CAFB
http://twitter.com/kimberwillis Kim Willis, Communications Coordinator, CAFB
http://twitter.com/molls2009 Molly Robbins, Community Events Coordinator, CAFB
http://twitter.com/kirrasue Kirra Hamman, Volunteer Resources Coordinator, CAFB
http://twitter.com/pastelmagickEmily Babb, Community Relations Assistant, CAFB
http://twitter.com/jelyon John Lyon, Faith-Based Capacity Building-VISTA, CAFB
http://twitter.com/tjordanova Tania Jordanova, Food Resources-VISTA, CAFB
http://twitter.com/clarknwark Michael Clark, Mitchell Communications
http://elisemitch Elise Mitchell, Mitchell Communications
http://twitter.com/EricaBenavides San Antonio Food Bank Community Relations Manager
http://twitter.com/EndChildHunger Michael Farver
http://twitter.com/susanapics Susan Adcock Photoblogger
http://twitter.com/ederdn Ed Nicholson, personal account
http://twitter.com/azganjar   A. Zganjar, Share Our Strength
http://twitter.com/SuzyTwohig Suzy Twohig, Share Our Strength
http://twitter.com/TSARedKettle The Salvation Army Red Kettle Campaign
http://twitter.com/ntfb   North Texas Food Bank (Dallas)
http://twitter.com/teamlivefeed Tom Robinson, Live Feed (Music for hunger relief, St. Louis)
http://twitter.com/FriendsofWFP Friends of the World Food Program
http://twitter.com/cookingwithamy Cooking With Amy-- Hunger Challenge Blogger
http://twitter.com/egratto Genie Gratto-- Hunger Challenge Blogger
http://twitter.com/marianiles Maria Niles--Hunger Challenge Blogger
http://twitter.com/SFFoodBank Gayle Keck --San Francisco Food Bank
http://twitter.com/TexansVsHunger Texas Food Bank Network
http://twitter.com/whatscooking Michelle Stern
http://twitter.com/FoodBank4NYC Food Bank for New York City
http://twitter.com/foodbankccs Food Bank of ContraCosta and Solano Counties
http://twitter.com/pdxmission Portland Rescue Mission, Portland, Oregon
http://twitter.com/FoodBankofDE Food Bank of Delaware
http://twitter.com/ftmyerssoupktch Judy--Ft. Myers Soup Kitchen
http://twitter.com/brfoodbank   Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank
http://twitter.com/aafb Association of Arizona Food Banks
http://twitter.com/Gleaners Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan
http://twitter.com/HoustonFoodBank Houston Food Bank
http://twitter.com/new_community New Community Mobile Food Pantry, Naperville, IL
http://twitter.com/markarnoldy Mark Arnoldy-focuses on international malnutrition
http://twitter.com/SchoolLunch Healthful meals & nutrition education for children
http://twitter.com/suzannenlee Suzanne Lee, Dir. of Communications & Mktg.   Care & Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado
http://twitter.com/CareandShareFB Care and Share Food Bank for Southern Colorado
http://twitter.com/Deca_Dietician DeCA Dietician Ft. Lee, VA
http://twitter.com/homewatchnwa Homewatch Northwest Arkansas
http://twitter.com/CWS_Crop    Church World Service
http://twitter.com/FoodLinkNY Foodlink Food Bank, Rochester, NY
http://twitter.com/2Harvest Second Harvest Heartland
http://twitter.com/missingmeals Second Harvest Heartland
http://twitter.com/GPCAH Greater Philadephia Coalition Against Hunger
http://twitter.com/SecondHelpings Second Helpings, Indianapolis
http://twitter.com/miriamskitchen Miriam's Kitchen--serving homeless in DC
http://twitter.com/2harvestCFL 2nd Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida
http://twitter.com/2ndharvest 2nd Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties
http://twitter.com/BreadfortheCity Bread for the City, Washington, DC
http://twitter.com/commfoodbanknj Community Food Bank of New Jersey
http://twitter.com/rfbo Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma (OKC)
http://twitter.com/CityHarvest City Harvest   New York,NY
http://twitter.com/WeldFoodBank Weld Food Bank,   Greeley, Colorado
http://twitter.com/enklings Tim Blair, hunger activist
http://twitter.com/poppypembroke Poppy Pembroke Communications Mgr.,Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties
http://twitter.com/CleveFoodbank Cleveland Food Bank
http://twitter.com/heifer Heifer International
http://twitter.com/heiferportland Heifer Portland
http://twitter.com/FoodBankCENC Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina
http://twitter.com/UnitedFoodBank    United Food Bank. Mesa, Arizona
http://twitter.com/kidsfoodbasket Kids Food Basket. Grand Rapids, Michigan
http://twitter.com/StMarysFoodBank St. Mary's Food Bank. Phoenix
http://twitter.com/BreadHolly Holly Hight--Bread for the World
http://twitter.com/hungerthon WHY whyhunger.org
http://twitter.com/fighthunger World Food Programme
http://twitter.com/WorldFoodPrize World Food Prize
http://twitter.com/StopHunger MAZON--hunger relief organization
http://twitter.comEndChildHunger End Child Hunger, Michael Farver
http://twitter.com/firstthebasics First the Basics (helping people find hot meals)
http://twitter.com/URMission Union Rescue Mission, Little Rock
http://twitter.com/Mid_OHFoodbank Mid-Ohio Food Bank
http://twitter.com/walkforhunger Kristin--Project Bread--The Walk for Hunger
http://twitter.com/phxmission Phoenix Rescue Mission
http://twitter.com/FreestoreFB Freestore Food Bank Cincinnati, OH
http://twitter.com/creativelyme Sarah Hall
http://twitter.com/FeedINsHungry Emily Bryant
http://twitter.com/WalkandKnock Mary Chant Walk and Knock-annual food drive
http://twitter.com/safoodbank San Antonio Food Bank
http://twitter.com/swong7 Stacy Wong , Greater Boston Food Bank
http://twitter.com/Gr8BosFoodBank: Greater Boston Food Bank
http://twitter.com/VermontFoodbank Vermont Food Bank
http://twitter.com/CleveFoodbank   Cleveland Foodbank
http://twitter.com/arfoodbank Arkansas Foodbank Network
http://twitter.com/RIFoodBank Rhode Island Food Bank
http://twitter.com/HandsOnHartford    Hands on Hartford
http://twitter.com/ChicagoShares Chicago Shares
http://twitter.com/localfooddude Timothy Cipriano, New Haven School Systems and Local Food Dude
http://twitter.com/MOWFeedMore Meals on Wheels Serving Central Virginia
http://twitter.com/CVFBFeedMore Central Virginia Food Bank
http://twitter.com/AJoyFULLHoliday A Joyfull Holiday
http://twitter.com/dipaolamomma Lara DiPaola
http://twitter.com/1millionmeals Jeffrey Strain, Penny Experiment
http://twitter.com/SecondHarvestOH Second Harvest Ohio
http://twitter.com/GleanersFBIndy Gleaners Food Bank, Indianapolis
http://twitter.com/FoodDepository Chicago Food Depository
http://twitter.com/foodhunger The Volunteer Way
http://twitter.com/semofoodbank Southeast Missouri Food Bank
http://twitter.com/Harvest4Hunger Harvest for Hunger
http://twitter.com/pghfoodbank Pittsburgh Food Bank
http://twitter.com/breadjennifer Jennifer Stapleton, Bread for the World
http://twitter.com/bread4theworld Bread for the World
http://twitter.com/secondharvestoh Second Harvest Ohio

Twitter Lists--Hunger Relief (one click following)
http://twitter.com/sharestrength/lists Share Our Strength (@ShareStrength) is doing a wonderful job of categorizing and listing its stakeholders involved in hunger relief on the Twitter List tool.
http://twitter.com/TysonFoods/hunger-communityh

Hunger Organizations with Facebook Presence

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:02:17 GMT

Facebook is the social media channel of choice for a huge and growing segment of our population. Communications-savvy hunger relief organizations are getting on board, opening the channel to their stakeholders.

I did a quick scan across the interwebs and found a few hunger orgs with Facebook presence. URLs are posted below in what I hope to be a continually updated list, sort of like the Twitter list we started a while back.

Please let us know if you want to be added. When you're added, I'll send out a tweet letting the world know about your addition.

Of course, if you want to add, Tyson Foods, we'd LOVE to be your friend
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Tyson-Foods-Hunger-Relief/200228386775

Making some great plays off the field

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:37:15 GMT

UofA student athletes help distribute more than 40k lbs. of food to NW AR hunger relief agencies

By Ed Nicholson

When athletes make the news, it's usually for one of two reasons: Either they're excelling on the field or messing up in public. What a lot of people don't realize--and what doesn't get reported often enough--is that most university athletic programs have student life involvement programs that regularly engage kids in worthy activities in their communities.
This past Saturday, on a cold, damp morning, perfect for sleeping in, more than 130 University of Arkansas athletes came out to assist in the delivery of 40,000 pounds of donated food to the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank.
It was the fourth year in a row Tyson Foods and the UofA had worked with national organization Lift Up America on the event, which works to engage student athletes in community service, donates food to the food bank, and creates awareness for hunger in our home community. More than 50 of the food bank's agencies came out to receive food.
All three of the local broadcast affiliates showed up, as well as two newspapers. Lots of folks got fed and the athletes got some well-deserved positive attention for their off-the-field good works.
I'll be posting more stuff from Saturday's event in the next few days.

Plaque Attack

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:16:16 GMT

By Ed Nicholson

We get lots of plaques at Tyson Foods for being a donor. Plaques, trophies, plexiglass awards. Nice gestures from organizations who do tremendous work in their communities. But managing them can become an issue. There’s not enough room to display them, and they’re eventually discarded. So really, folks, save the money. It’s not that we don’t appreciate the gratitude, but…

Here’s an idea for an alternative (and thanks to my colleague, the indefatigable Sue Brockway, for this suggestion): If you sincerely appreciate a company’s work on your behalf, send a letter to their CEO or one of their board members. Tell them about hunger in your community. Tell them about the positive impact of the company’s donation. Thank them for their role in making it happen. If you happen to have a board member, who's one of their customers, get them to sign the letter. There’s a very good chance the letter will get circulated among some senior leaders. And when it comes time for review and approval of the continued work on behalf of your issue, what you’ve done will have had a far more positive affect than that plaque they’ll never see.

A Souper Reason to Get Involved in Hunger--Feeding Folks in Austin

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:41:39 GMT

By Ed Nicholson

In August of 2008, we did our first social media engagement donation with the Capital Area Food Bank in Austin. There weren't many such efforts going on at that time (a lot since). It's been cited as a case study several times, and since then, we've considered CAFB a great partner. As I've said many times, they are definitely among the best food banks at using social networking channels in reaching their stakeholders with the crystal-clear message, "HUNGER IS UNNACEPTABLE."

Today we're announcing a new effort!

For the next couple of weeks CAFB will be holding their Souper Bowl of Caring drive, in conjunction with the largest youth-led food and fund raising effort in the country. In support of this event, for every comment you make to this blog post telling us you think hunger is unacceptable (if you want to add why, that would be even better), we'll donate 100 pounds of food. We'll do the same if you post it to your own blog or if you send a Tweet with the hashtag #SBOCAustin. We'll keep donating up to a 35,000 pound truckload.

So come on. Support the fabulous work of the Capital Area Food Bank. Tell the world HUNGER IS UNACCEPTABLE.

The Power of Giving

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:31:18 GMT

Students from the '09 Las Vegas Student Food Drive

By Susan Brockway

At Tyson Foods, we recently wrapped up our third year of sponsorship of the Student Food Drive. For food banks and families at risk, it is now time to evaluate if this was a success or a program that did not meet expectations. My job is to assemble the numbers, look at the investment, measure the outcomes and see if in fact this was a good investment of resources over the past three years.
I would be the person grant writers hate.
As I took calculator in one hand and pen in the other, my unbiased evaluation was tempered by one memorable experience: A sixteen year old young woman came and talked to me in Las Vegas and told me a story about a family's kids who had only one certain meal a day, and that was at school. Often, the family split up at friends' homes for dinner. Most of the time everyone got something to hold them over until the next day. The family was hers.Yet this young woman brought in one case of canned fruit and said her contribution would help another family. My heart hurt for her, not out of sympathy but out of pride. Never underestimate the power of our children. In the end, they understand more than their years.
It was an honor to meet the hundreds of young people who will change how we look at hunger. Support them on their journey.

The Advance of the Great Recession

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:00:08 GMT

Lest anyone think our friends in the hunger relief community exaggerate when they talk about how tough things are in the current economy: Latoya Egwuekwe has produced a multimedia map, showing the advance of unemployment, county-by-county, since Janurary, 2007.

Above is what's posted on YouTube, but for a better view of the map, go directly to the web version.

Where's the best online discussion of hunger

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:21:34 GMT

By Ed Nicholson

Shortly after we started this blog in 2007, I posed the question, "Where's the Online Discussion of Hunger?" At the time, there simply wasn't much of a discussion occurring.

Pretty much the same when I asked the question again in May of 2009.

I still hold firmly to the belief that among the greatest potential benefits of social networking tools are their capabilities to build community and host online discourse. And I'm now hopeful that is occurring.

More and more hunger organizations, some of which are listed below, are using online channels to engage new stakeholders in the issue. While some still cling tightly to the "broadcast the message" mentality, many are out there opening up two-way communications, stimulating, hosting and participating in discussions about how the problem of hunger is going to be solved. These discussions occur offline. Why can't they be just as vibrant online?

Below are some places you'll see thought-provoking content, with comment features enabled. Where are some more? Please comment. I'll be glad to add them to the "Helpful Links" on the righthand side of the page here.

Share Our Strength Blog--In my opinion, Share Our Strength does absolutely the best job of all the national hunger relief organizations in using social networking tools--almost of of them--to engage stakeholders, not simply broadcast messages

Capital Area Food Bank Blog--Early to the game, and still one of the best social media communications programs of all the food banks.

Other food banks with good blogs

North Texas Food Bank

Food Bank For New York City

Texas Food Bank Network

Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida

Here's an interesting Facebook group, with some discussion starting to happen: Food ThINC--Think About Feeding 9 Billion People

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hunger-Solutions/141466027063?ref=ts A Statewide partnershp fighting Hunger in Minnesota--Facebook group.

Next time: What's a happening on Twitter.

Addded--from a comment from Jon:

http://nyccoalitionagainsthunger.wordpress.com/ - Joel Berg and the folks at NYCCAH are worth reading and discussing

http://breadforthecity.blogspot.com/ - the folks from Bread for the City in DC run a great blog

FRAC also has a newish blog focused on the pledge to end childhood hunger by 2015: http://frac.org/blog/

Hunger isn't their target issue but as we can all testify hunger is an issue with a lot of streams flowing into it so I always recommend Parke Wilde and the folks from Tufts's food policy blog: http://usfoodpolicy.blogspot.com/

Along those same lines, but even broader and more diverse, I'd also recommend following Change.Org's Poverty in America blog: http://uspoverty.change.org/

It's #ThankAFarmer Week

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:08:59 GMT

By Ed Nicholson

It's Thanksgiving week here in the U.S. Actually every week should be Thanksgiving week.
Though there are way, way too many hungry people in our country, there are a lot of us who are fed quite well all year long.
And that simply would not be the case without millions of hardworking farmers.
One doesn't go into farming because it's a glamorous business, spiked with opportunities for abundant wealth.
It's hard work, more so than many of us will ever comprehend. It's fraught with risks, and at times the rewards are slim.
The people who go into farming--and stay with it through their lifetimes--have a love for the land that will never be understood by those who do drive-by movies and books about the current "state of agriculture." If their families haven't already been in agriculture for generations, you can bet they're hopeful it's something they can pass to their children.
Because they do it, you’ll have something for which to be thankful.
So this week, as you raise your thoughts in thanks, send up some gratitude for the farmers and ranchers who helped put the food on the table. Whether it's turkey or tofurkey; from across the country or across the highway, a farmer's market or a megamarket; at your home, a restaurant or in a soup kitchen, someone worked hard so that you can enjoy your meal.

At Tyson Foods, we'd like to send thanks to those farmers and ranchers who keep us in business: the folks we buy corn, beans and other ingredients from. And a special thanks to the 6000 people who grow chickens for us, and the tens of thousands of people who raise the hogs and cattle we buy every day. We’re grateful for you and to you.

If you agree with this post, we encourage you to use your communications resources to promote gratitude to farmers--post a blog entry or Facebook status. Or if you're a Twitter user, use the hashtag #thankafarmer. We're trying to get the effort to trend at 10 a.m. CST today (Wednesday).

Blog posts about the #ThankAFarmer Effort

Love Thanksgiving? Thank a Farmer - Busy Women's Guide to Eating Better http://bit.ly/8lvACg
Giving Thanks - Cut to the Paste http://bit.ly/8w1Bvz
Be Thankful for a Lot of Things, and Don't Forget the Farmers - Texas Agriculture Talks http://bit.ly/7vcClc
America’s Family Farmers – Food for thought from Monsanto http://bit.ly/8HXNux
Farmers make foodie aspirations possible - Farm Bureau Blog http://bit.ly/4svklJ
Don't Be a Turkey This Thanksgiving, Thank a Farmer - Beyond the Rows http://bit.ly/6Y8WgQ
Food a Plenty, Thanks to family farmers - NCGA http://bit.ly/2plNrK
Giving Thanks - Marketing Newbie http://bit.ly/8nhJCs
A place to post your thanks - Beef from Pasture to Plate http://bit.ly/5nuPL9
A Farmer in Northwest Iowa - Faith, Fiction, Friends http://bit.ly/5EdzJl
Thanking a Farmer for Introducing Me to the World of Beef Cattle - Beef from Pasture to Plate http://bit.ly/5DpkxC
Fun Facts about the Food We Eat - Ag Day http://bit.ly/70rAgI
Thank a Farmer - Beef From Pasture to Plate http://bit.ly/8oEQni
#thank a Farmer - JB Chicago http://bit.ly/5rfMzp
Thank a Farmer - Advocates for Ag http://bit.ly/7MHmCo
Reflections on Your Thanksgiving Plate--Michele Payn-Knoper http://bit.ly/7Kz2r0
A New Thanksgiving Tradition in the Making? #Thankafarmer http://jplovescotton.wordpress.com/
#ThankaFarmer - Ray-Lin Dairy http://bit.ly/5OgYgC

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xybermatthew/ / CC BY 2.0

Phyllis Haynes, E.D., Arkansas Foodbank Network

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:29:30 GMT

We try to have the Flip camera available when we visit food banks. This is Phyllis Haynes, executive director of the Arkansas Foodbank Network in Little Rock.

"Weve seen a 23% increase in our service area in the last year, and a lot of the people coming to our food pantries are actually working families that just are not able to make ends meet any more."

A visit from Bishop John

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:08:58 GMT

Jenise Huffman, Bishop John

by Jenise Huffman

Recently I had the opportunity to introduce a dear friend of mine from Rwanda to my friends in Arkansas, where I live. Bishop John Rucyahana is leading the reconciliation efforts in Rwanda to rebuild the tiny country that was torn apart 15 years ago by a genocide that killed a million people in 100 days. Although Bishop John is an ethnic Tutsi, which is the minority group slaughtered by the Hutus, he teaches (and personally practices) forgiveness as the only way to heal and move forward. He says that if we don’t forgive, then “their” sin becomes OUR sin as we become bitter and want revenge and then repeat the violence that hurt us in the first place.

I go to Africa frequently because my company has an amazing program of technical philanthropy in which technical experts from Tyson teach extremely poor people (incomes of less than $1 per day for a family) how to start a poultry business. This technical philanthropy is the “teach a man to fish” principle in action (slightly revised to “teach a woman to grow a chicken”). Although I travel to Africa to teach, I find that I always learn more from Africans than they learn from me.

I met Bishop John on one of my trips to Rwanda, and my perspective on humanity was forever after altered. Africa is my personal passion – my place of meaning and purpose in life. In my search for significance, many of my strong friends in Africa have taught me just how significant we ALL are, every life in every country, regardless of ethnic group, religion, color or wealth. Unfortunately, a person’s significance in America is measured far too often on his wealth, not his wisdom; his fame, not his philanthropy; his power, not his presence. But what I’m learning from Bishop John and many others across his continent is that the poorest orphan child who lives and dies never leaving a small, remote village is a life just as significant as mine. If we all truly saw the significance of each life, genocide wouldn’t be in our vocabulary, and children wouldn’t starve to death every six seconds as they do today because we would care.

Bishop John is an Anglican Bishop. I’m not part of the Anglican Church, but I am part of humanity, and that gives me the same responsibility Bishop John feels called to act upon – the responsibility to care. Today more than any other time in our planet’s history, we have the financial ability, intellectual know-how and technology to end world hunger in a sustainable way; all we’re lacking is the political will. We don’t care. That sounds incredibly harsh, but it’s the truth I see when I visit Africa. If we cared, we would end world hunger. Hunger has a cure – it is food, and thanks to many scientists over several generations we now have the knowledge to grow food in most soil types and climates. There’s no excuse. We just don’t see the significance of “their” lives because they don’t have political importance to us.

Governments of the Western World have been saying for years that we can’t afford to build sustainable solutions to end world hunger (infrastructure to link smallholder farmers and artisans to markets, access to improved inputs such as fertilizer and seeds, education and technical training, etc.) because it would cost an estimated $195 billion USD per year, according to the United Nations. All the Western countries together couldn’t afford that we’ve told ourselves, but yet last year the US found a trillion dollars overnight to bail out companies that made some bad decisions. That’s not to say that it was a wise spending decision, but it proves that when we have the will to act, we CAN find a way to afford it. We cared about the financial meltdown. We defined significance in dollars, not in humanity.

What would it look like to care?—to really care about every human life and end the mass starvation that’s affecting more than one billion people today. It would look a lot like Bishop John. Caring would look like this small, gentle presence who puts aside his ego and reaches across the divide to touch the hand of the people who slaughtered his family and pull them up into a better life. Bishop John is creating “Reconciliation Villages” all across Rwanda with genocide perpetrators building homes for genocide survivors, and they live side-by-side again rebuilding trust and helping each other move forward. That’s what caring for humanity is – getting past ourselves so we can see others’ needs.

What does genocide reconciliation have to do with hunger? Well, a lot, actually, given Rwanda’s high malnutrition rates, but beyond that it’s the essence of the United Nations Convention on Genocide in 1948 that said our world would never again allow genocide to occur, and then less than 50 years later all the member nations of the UN stood by and watched the genocide rage in Rwanda. Whether the topic is genocide or hunger, Bishop John is correct that we must get past our beliefs and words and instead be moved to action to help mankind. We would care and want the world to care if WE were the ones who were hungry. Remember the poem by German intellectual Pastor Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Maybe you’re not hungry right now, but those who are hungry are relying on us to speak out. If your children were hungry, you would care. Someone’s children are hungry right now. I want to be like Bishop John; I want to care and act. I want to let go of my prejudices and excuses and stop blaming people for their misfortune. I want to care. I want to give every life significance and in the process bring dignity to my own existence. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, “To know that one life breathed easier because you have lived; this is to have succeeded.” If only we all measured success by what we give rather than what we accumulate…the world wouldn’t be hungry.

Learning from our children

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:12:55 GMT

By Ed Nicholson

Share Our Strength has received some tremendous support from the Food Network in the past couple of years, not the least of which is their bringing on Aaron McCargo, Jr. (also known as "Big Daddy") as a celebrity supporter of Share Our Strength programs.

The great thing about Aaron McCargo, Jr. is that he's simply not a paid shill for the cause (and there are paid celebrity shills for causes). He 's lived around hungry kids. He has street cred. You can tell his enagagement in hunger relief is authentic, heartfelt and sincere.

In the video above, he tells a story of how his son teaches him about doing the right thing. With apologies for the audio (I was sitting a distance away).

Giving Up Tradition to Survive

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:33:09 GMT

By Susan Brockway.

As the president of the board of directors for a small food bank, I am losing a lot of sleep wondering where the money will come from. Small food banks don't receive proceeds from national cause marketing campaigns for operating funds. Most local donations are down 20% and most services up 35-40%.

What rabbit are we going to pull out of our hats to keep these critical operations up and running?

Is anyone else worrying.......I certainly hope so.