The Power of Half and Hunger

There’s been a book in our bookshelf at home that I’ve been meaning to read titled “The Power of Half”.  It’s got a funky looking cover and a catchy subtitle that reads “One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back”.  Intrigued by the cool looking cover and provoking title, I picked up the book a few days ago and began reading.  Little did I know that only a few chapters in that it would inspire me to craft my own commitment, which I’ve unimaginatively titled The Power of Half and Hunger.

The book is written by Kevin Salwen and Hannah Salwen, the father and daughter who comprise half of the Salwen family.  The family was inspired to effect changes in the disparities prevalent in today’s society.  Jarred to action by several experiences, the family decided to sell their mansion, buy a house half its size, and give half the sale price to a worthy charity.  You can check it out more for yourself by visiting the book’s website.

As I wrote earlier, I’ve only read the first few chapters, only up unto the point where the family is prepping to move out of their mansion.  Despite not having completed the book yet I’ve already been inspired to integrate the prevailing concept of the book – giving half of what we have to those who have less – into my own personal life.  The great thing about the concept is that it can be molded to fit our own lives in an appropriate manner, and thus my commitment took shape out of a previous experience.

I was previously a member of AmeriCorps, serving at Miami Dade College in a program designed to connect low-income people to government benefits to help them augment their finances while they complete their degree.  Through this experience I became gripped by hunger and its effects on society, I haven’t viewed many things the same.  It is here that the origin to my commitment is grounded.

I’ve committed to giving half of what I grocery shop for to local organizations that seek to end hunger.  What this means is that if my total grocery bill comes to $20, then half of that will be given to ending hunger.  I’ve yet to figure out which food bank or food pantry will receive my donation, but I know whichever gets selected will put food to excellent use.

I believe that my commitment is reasonable and measurable.  It’s basic and sound.  It’s also not enough.  I know that my commitment will only be sufficient to feed a few when what is needed is enough to feed all.  This is why I’m putting my commitment out there, to see if you will do what you can.  Just start by checking out the book and see where it takes you.  If you’re like me, then you know the journey is more important than the destination.

Related articles

• The Science Of Giving: Why Giving Feels So Good (huffingtonpost.com)

Summer Food on the Move

When the kids are out of school the heat on parents turns up.  I referred to this yearly event in a previous blog as the Parental Heat (PH) Index, an unscientific measurement of stress and concern parents experience when thinking about what to do with their children over the summer.  One concern, among the many, that go through a parents’ mind is what to feed their child.  Now that is an obvious, every day, consideration that parents have but it is multiplied two times over when summer arrives.

Consider this – During the school year a parent can get their child dressed (sometimes a challenge within itself), out the door, and onto the school bus without having to feed them.  That parent can do that because of the National School Breakfast Program (NSBP).  Additionally, that parent doesn’t have to worry about feeding their child at lunch because of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).  Parents can feel secure that their child will get two meals at school.

Indeed, this was the purpose when the National School Lunch Act was created in 1946, as it was purposed to provide “a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children…” (P.L. 79-396).  For the parents of 22.3 million children that security evaporates during the heat of summer.  For these parents, the free and reduced meals that their child was getting during the school year are gone now that school is out.

Just like sunblock, a solution was devised to ease the summer heat families feel.  The Summer Food Service Program was authorized by congress in 1975 to get food into the stomachs of hungry children when school is not in session.  However, in 2011, only 3 million children received a meal.  Why?

Challenges to getting kids to sites that serve summer meals include:

• Children’s lack of interest in leaving home, or needing to stay home to care for a younger sibling
• Lack of awareness of the program
• Lack of activities to keep kids engaged
• For rural areas:
  • Transportation
  • Limited concentration of children
  • Limited ability by local organizations to prepare meals locally
  • Dislike with accounting and paperwork required
  • High cost of the program overall

I live in a rural county in southwestern Florida, where the challenges facing the summer food program are evident.  In a nearby town, the only grocery store recently closed.  Now people who relied on that grocery story have to travel 20 minutes to reach the nearest grocery store.

Yesterday I asked the following question to the folks who blog over at The Hunger Forum: What can be done to get summer meals to kids in my area, especially considering the added challenge of living in a rural area?  They’ve already posed the question to their readers and received some great feedback.  An idea with great potential came from CitySquare in Dallas, TX.  CitySquare has collaborated with several other organizations to run “Food on the Move”, a mobile summer food service program.

I can’t wait to see what other replies The Hunger Forum receives, but I also figure why wait.  I pose the question to you readers, what creative ideas do you have to solve the rural challenge?

Related articles

• A Successful Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) (hungerfreechildhood.org)

The Parental Heat Index – What’s your level?

I know it’s still December but that doesn’t mean it’s not too early to start planning for the summer, especially if you’ve got kids.  As a child summer was a great time, a break from waking up early in the morning and a chance to have more free time.  However, when you’re a kid you can’t understand what summer means to your parents, at least not until you become a parent yourself.  I’m a parent now and I see the other side of summer, the side that as a kid I was blind to.

Summer can be a stressful time for a parent, especially those that work full time.  The kids, who would usually be at school most of the day, are now at home with nothing to do and it’s the parents’ responsibility to fill that empty time with something constructive.  That responsibility is made even more challenging to fulfill because you still have to go to work, bills still have to be paid and food still has to be put on the table.  Parents of kids all ages face this dilemma, which I’m referring to this as the Parental Heat index – PH for short.  PH levels rise to a 10 when parents are most concerned about their children, such as when a kid get their driver’s license, and lowers to a 1 when a parent is least concerned, such as when a child is sleeping.

PH levels rise considerably during the summer for all parents, but especially for those that are low-income earning.  The activities which kids can get into may not be an option to low-income parents because there is a fee.  There’s no more school breakfast or lunch, so the kids of low-income parents are now eating more from home.  If the child is young, 5 or 6 years old, then there’s no way a parent can leave them on their own.  If the child is older, 15 or 16 years old, then a parent may spend their day concerned with thoughts of what their adolescent teen is doing.

I have great memories of my summers growing up, but also memories of parents going to work and gone for the workday.  I managed to stay out of trouble and never once came close to burning the house down, although my little sister sure tried once.  That’s right!  She once microwaved a bag of potato chips, fried the whole microwave, and had the entire house smelling of burnt electrical wiring.  This fact, having multiple children not microwaving potato chips, can cause the PH levels to go through the roof because now there is a concern of what to do with all the kids.

The challenges and stresses of low-income parents don’t go without solutions.  Great programs exist to help low-income parents.  The USDA’s Summer Food Service Program is one of them, and it’s a program that I’m currently exploring to address hunger in my area.  In the county that I live 77% of school age children would qualify for the program.  77%, that’s a percentage that blew me away when I discovered it!

I implore you to see what’s going on in your local area, especially during the summer when PH levels of so many adults go on the rise.  Let’s work towards keeping the PH levels reasonable.  To me the Summer Food Service Program is a solid place to begin.

Family Food Drive

In my current role as an AmeriCorps VISTA member I have had my eyes opened to the impact poverty and hunger has upon people in this country.  Working at the Single Stop program within Miami Dade College, I have had the realization that education can and does positively impact people who are experiencing poverty and hunger.  Putting my eye opening experience together with the realization that education does reduce poverty, I am not blind to the real life challenges that people face when attempting to better their lives.

I’ve met people, both young and old, who are at MDC to educate themselves, but can’t complete their degree because life off campus has prevented them from finishing.  When I see men and women getting on and off the bus every day to go to class, I am thankful to have a car.  When I hear people’s stories of family tragedy and personal pain, all distractions that took their focus off education and prolonged their matriculation through MDC, I am filled with empathy.  When I see the eyes of students go bleak and fill with despair as they talk about their problems, my heart aches for them.

When I speak to students in classrooms I always make sure to ask the question “Have you eaten breakfast?” or “Have you had lunch yet?” or “Who’s hungry right now?”  Hands rise to these questions all the time, people who no doubt are hearing the grumble of their stomachs.  I know from experience that when my stomach was empty my focus in wasn’t on what my professor was teaching, but rather on what I could be eating.

The difference between my stomach emptiness and that of many students at MDC is that I was blessed to not have to worry about where I was going to get my next meal.  Students, not just at MDC but all over the US, that lose focus because of hunger have a significantly high chance of not retaining information and knowledge.  The value of a good nutritional meal does wonders for the ability of people to progress educationally.

In recognition of the value of a good meal for not just overall health but especially in education retention, my family and I have decided to start a food drive.  The donations that we collect for this food drive are going to a local food pantry.  This is my first attempt to take the Feed The Fire paradigm and make it into something concrete and real.  Our family food drive has a goal of collecting 100 lbs. of food items for donation, it’s a challenge but one that I believe we can meet.

I challenge you to start up a food drive as well.  Click here to find where you can to donate to in your area.  I have my reasons to donate; maybe they’ll inspire you to as well.  I encourage you to find your own reason, your own purpose, to give back in your community.

Related articles

• Rising Food Prices Drives Citizens To Local Food Banks (rcsfoodbank.wordpress.com)
• Hunger in America: How to Help (abcnews.go.com)
• Schools Serve – Uniting Schools Against Hunger (prweb.com)
• Hunger Across The Globe (jarridsmith.com)