I had the opportunity to participate in the Food For Thought Stand-In in downtown Salem tonight. This was sponsored by Women Ending Hunger and the Marion Polk Food share. The goal was to get 3,700 people standing along a street in downtown Salem to represent the 37,000 children in Marion and Polk counties that are eligible for free or reduced price lunches at school because their families are living in poverty. Sometimes this is their only meal of the day. This is such an important topic. I stood in line with two of my children holding our plates. A small gesture to represent a huge problem. The goal of the Stand-In was to raise awareness of this issue. I hope it made people think as they drove home and prepared dinner for their families.
As a family, we recently did a small gesture to help the Marion Polk Food Share. We threw a party to celebrate the 1st birthday of our son. We asked the guests to each bring a can of food instead of a gift for our son. This small request resulted in over 100 pounds of food being donated. With almost no energy we did something positive for somebody else. This donation is the gift that we will remember from his birthday, not some toy that will be forgotten about in a few months.
Imagine the possibilities if more people created their own food drive!
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