If you have ever experienced a tragedy – the kind that leaves you without a home, food, a car, etc., then you know what it’s like to be hungry and desperate. However, so many Americans take food for granted.
You can help feed those children and families who go hungry everyday. It’s estimated that 1 in 6 Americans rely on a Food Bank to get their food everyday.
September is Hunger Action Month – Donate to Your Local Food Bank
the following is an excerpt from The Greenest Dollar about what you can do to end hunger in America.
How to Help
I know it’s easy to feel helpless about this. But combating hunger is something we can do easily, and it can literally save lives right in our own community.
There are several things we can do to help.
1. Find Your Local Food Pantry
If you want to find your local food pantry, click here, where you can see a complete listing by state.
2. Donate
Food pantries always welcome food donations. But you will make a much bigger impact if you donate money.
The reason is because thanks to their buying power, most food pantries can stretch a dollar much, much further than we can.
For instance, my local food pantry, Gleaners, can provide 3 meals with every $1 they get. Feeding America provides an incredible 7 meals for every $1 you give.
Donating just $50 to Feeding America will provide an incredible 350 meals to families all over the country. Plus if you donate to Feeding America during the month of September, Ameriprise Financial will match your donation 2 to 1. So the organization gets a much larger donation if you take action this month.
You can donate to Feeding America here.
3. Switch Your Priorities
If your own finances are tight right now, take a look at your current bills. If you’re paying for cable TV, why not cancel it and give that money to your local food bank instead?
I did this when I cancelled my own cable and home phone line 2 years ago. The money I was spending on those monthly bills I simply send to Gleaners every month, as an automatic payment. I can honestly tell you that I don’t miss that TV or phone one bit, and now that money is helping feed people in my community.
Take a look at your monthly expenditures. Try to find something you can cancel or cut back on so you can send that money to a local food bank.
4. Join Huddle to Fight Hunger
If you join the Huddle to Fight Hunger group, Kraft will donate a meal to someone in need in your community. This is an easy way to make a difference. It literally takes 30 seconds or less.
5. Make a Difference in Your Neighborhood
Chances are, someone in your neighborhood is in desperate need of food assistance. Do you have an idea of who might need help?
If so, why not make them dinner and bring it over one night? Why not bring them extra food you have on hand? Since 1 in 6 people in this country need food assistance, chances are we ALL live close to someone, or know someone, who needs help.
6. Take a Close Look at Your Own Food
The average person on food stamps gets $133 per month.
Think about that for a moment. They get $133 per month for food.
I spent that yesterday, in one trip, at the grocery store.
Even with food stamps it’s hard for families to get by. This is why food pantries and soup kitchens are so vital to the survival of many people. They bridge the gap between going to bed hungry, and going to bed with a full belly.
7. Volunteer
You can make a difference by offering your time. Food pantries and soup kitchens are always looking for volunteers. Volunteering is an amazing experience, and could help you just as much as you’re helping others.
8. Clean Out Your Pantry
There are tons of events and fund raising going on all over the country this month to help raise awareness. Food drives are everywhere, and most of the time food drops are in local, easy to get to places like banks and grocery stores.
For instance, my local food pantry Gleaners has 7 events going on in my area this month. And if you live in the Metro Detroit area, you can drop off non-perishable food all this month at Walgreens; the food will go to Forgotten Harvest food pantries.
Search your local paper or Google for local food drives in your area. Clean out your pantry, and donate some of the food you’re not using.
9. Scour Your Garden
Do you have a ton of food growing in your garden right now?
Tons of charities nationwide need fresh produce. For instance, my local charity is Forgotten Harvest. If you grow your own food in the Metro Detroit area, you can drop it off in several locations around the area, to be donated to people in need.
Have you been canning? Donate your canned goods to a local food bank, or to a local family you know is in need.
All of us can do something to help.
