As I quickly glanced at the hot lunch menu, the section encouraging families who cannot pay for meals for their children jumped out at me.
I hadn't thought much about that standing section on the menu before. We are fortunate enough that we can afford to purchase hot lunch or send our kids to school with lunches.
But now, especially since I was asked to the a blogging correspondent for ConAgra Foods Child Hunger Ends Here campaign, it struck me in a different way than it had before.
I decided to do a bit of research. If you check out the Child Hunger End's Here site, there is an interactive section where you can look for information on hunger in your state. On there, Minnesota is one of the "better" states. But better is still not great. Here we have 12 percent poverty level with nearly 14 percent "Food Insecurity."
I decided to look into the data for our school district.
I was shocked.
According to the information I could find, sixty-nine percent of families with children in our local district qualify for the free lunch program. 69 percent. Nearly 7 out of 10 families.
And we are in the middle of March. School is out in just over two months. And there is no free lunch program over the summer.
But it doesn't have to be that way. We can all do things, big and small, to make a difference.
One of the things that most impressed me about the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign is that it's simply asking people to look at things they would already do and do more with them. As a blogging correspondent, I was asked to do just that by hosting some kind of a "rally" in my own community.
I thought about it and asked myself: What am I good at? What would make sense for me to do? What is something I would already do?
The answers:
1. I am social and love making connections.
2. I certainly have been cleaning out a lot of stuff.
3. Every year I do a big rummage sale.
So this spring, rather than doing a sale and keeping the money for myself, I am going to host a community-based rummage sale with all of the proceeds going to Feeding America through Child Hunger Ends Here. The sale will be on Saturday, May 22 in St. Paul, Minnesota. I'll post more details as we get closer to the date.
At the end of May, I will also be gathering Minnesotans together for the next Minnesota Bloggers Event, a social event where people can meet, connect and also, if they choose bring donations or food to support the efforts.
To organize this, I started by reaching out to the Minnesota blogging community and asked them if they wanted to join in the effort and, if not in that particular way, encouraged them to consider doing something on their own.
I have been thrilled with their response.
Let me introduce you to the group of people who have stepped forward and offered to help. If you are here in Minnesota and want to be a part of this (and no, you don't have to have a blog), please email me at molly [at] thesnyder5 [dot] com.
1. Me
2. Suzi from Pink Vanilla Cupcakes, @suzi_mn
3. Jen from The Recovering Procrastinator, @jenwestpfahl
4. Jo from MinnesotaJoY, @MinnesotaJoY
5. Carrie from 4 The Love of Family, @4mamabear
6. Laura from Mallory's Mishmash World, @lauraashmore
7. Darcie from Gust Gab, @darciegust
8. Missy from The Marketing Mama, @marketingmamamn
9. Angela from Angela's Kitchen
10. Christie from Mommy Drinks Because You Cry
11. Elizabeth from Random Thoughts from my ADD Brain, @meharty
12. Holly from Making Over Me, @bloggymama
13. Liz from Kitchen Pantry Scientist, @KitchPantrySci
14. Jennifer from Unplanned Cooking, @unplannedcooking
15. Amanda from I Am Mommy, @manda2177
16. Cindy from Meet Cindy Elizabeth, @cindyelizabeth
17. Liz from Random Thoughts of a Lutheran, @lutherliz
18. Angie from Fumbling Toward Family, @angelalindell
19. Andrea from Blah Blah Babycakes, @missandrea
20. Andrea from Living Changerously, @andreaberg
If you are interested in being a part of the rummage sale, are planning on doing something on your own, or would be interested in attending the next Minnesota Bloggers Event (#minnbloggersevent) in honor of Child Hunger Ends Here, please email me or simply comment here to let me know.
(And of course, if I have missed anyone who has already told me they are in, please let me know.)
More to come next week, including details on the official nationwide kickoff for this campaign...
Disclosure: I am excited to be an official blogging correspondent for ConAgra Foods during this campaign. As such, ConAgra has provided me with background, information and a stipend to cover some of the costs I will incur. The words and beliefs are mine.
