I am talking about help for hungry children and hungry adults.
Last year, I was deeply impacted by a commercial done by the Utah Food Bank. Click here to watch it. It moved to tears but also to action. We ended up in a U-Haul in the Harmons parking lot for three days. And oh what a three days it was. It was humbling to see so many give so freely, even when they too were struggling to get by.
I am a firm believer in the motto, "Think global, act local." Yes there is need all over this world. But we must start in our 'own backyards', if you will. Start with the community in which you live. And then extend that helping hand to our neighbors.
And so I have decided to embark upon a mission to help the hungry. It is my goal to collect as many backpacks, as much food, and as much money as possible, to donate to two organizations. Everything that is collected will be divided evenly between the Utah Food Bank and The Backpack Mission.
The Food Bank is pretty obvious as to what it does. The other helps the children in the Appalachian Mountains, in Kentucky. It is an absolutely incredible organization called the Backpack Mission Ministry. It was started by a woman named Diane Durham. I have only spoken to her on the phone, but I will just state that her goodness was almost tangible, even in a phone conversation. She began her amazing work in 2006. It came to her awareness that there were children in this area that would leave school on Friday and not eat again until they returned to school on Monday morning for the school breakfast program. The poverty that plagues this area is heartbreaking. And so this saintly woman restarted the backpack program. They give backpacks to these children and fill them with food for the weekend.
When she began this program, they were helping 68 children. At the end of last year that number had grown to a staggering 700 children that they were providing food to each weekend. She told me that with the phone calls she has received this Summer, that number has already greatly increased for this upcoming school year.
And so, I have felt prompted and directed to help. I know I can't do it alone. And so I am asking you as my friends, family, and readers of this blog for you assistance. If you want to join this cause, message me here on the blog, on FaceBook, by email, however. Together we can and will make a difference. As Diane told me yesterday, "it is amazing what we can do when we all hold hands."
The first endeavor is to collect new backpacks. I figure it is a perfect time, as it is 'back to school' time. So lets get out there and collect as many as we can. Tell your friends, family, neighbors, Churches, whoever will listen! We just need to get the word out...
