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I just wanted to write a quick message to let everyone know the blog may be quiet, but the project is not dead! I just have a lot going on in my personal and professional life that requires my immediate attention. For now, check out some of the older entries, leave a comment, and check out our links. Also, follow us on Twitter!
Filed under: Introduction | Tags: consumption, creativity, donate, experiences, feed, food, food for life, food pantry, goals, hunger, Lent, participate, project, questions, rules
In this evening’s blog, I’m going to do my best to explain the project.
Broadly speaking, this is an interactive project designed to tackle hunger across the globe while we become more aware of our own overconsumption.
Our Goals:
1. Feed 75 people per participant.
2. Raise $1,000 for Food for Life.
3. Raise 50 lbs of food per participant to be donated to that participants local food supplier of choice.
Here’s how it works:
1. The project begins Wednesday, February 25, and concludes Easter Sunday, April 12, the duration of Lent. You can join in any time, though.
2. Every time you eat, you must feed another. Food.
3. You cannot feed the same way twice in one week, and you cannot feed the same way more than three times total. Be creative.
4. You must complete each feed within 3 days of your consumption.
For those who cannot participate directly, we will be raising funds for Food for Life. Details on how to donate will be available shortly. (If you can help set this up, let us know!)
We will also be collecting non-perishable food items for area food pantries if you are able to contribute in this way.
Finally, we will be blogging about our experiences here. There will be times, when we may not be able to eat because we don’t have the time or resources to feed someone else. This is bound to open minds and make us dig deep within ourselves. See the comments below on how you can participate.
This was brief, I know. Please post your questions below, and we will address them.
Around the second week of February, when everyone starts thinking about which bars they’re going to hit for Mardi Gras, my boyfriend confronted me with something I generally push out of my mind: What was I going to do for Lent?
Well… usually nothing.
When someone calls you out like that, though, it’s really hard to do nothing. And in reality, I did want to do something. But what?
Mitch suggested a few simple things. I could commit to taking my dog for a walk every day (and spend some of that mostly quiet time talking to Jesus of course).
I started thinking about it more as the week passed. I considered taking the radio out of my car. Giving up Facebook and MySpace. Then I remembered something I came across late last year:
A couple decided to spend 30 days eating no more than $1 worth of food each day. They did this in an effort to remind people, and themselves, of the of the majority of the world’s population that live on such a budget. They also raised money for the charity of their choice.
I was intrigued, but I couldn’t just copy their idea.
Then I came across another group that seemed to have the same feeling as I did. They did the One Dollar A Day Challenge, but now they’ve moved on to Freegan February. For the month of February, they’re trying to live as cheaply as possible by dumpster diving, getting things from CraigsList, FreeCycle, and so forth.
I had to come up with something. I had to do something.
So, being the original, free-thinker I am, I asked my friends. I didn’t get a lot of ideas, but I got a good amount of support. Finally I challenged Mitch. I reminded him that he was the one that planted this bug, and if he wanted to look smart, he should come up with an idea before anyone else.
He did. (I knew he would).
What if every time I ate a meal, I had to find a way to feed someone else?
Then my mind exploded.
There are so many ways you can accomplish this! So much room for creativity! So many people you can touch!
So that’s how we got to this point. There wasn’t a ton of time to do in-depth planning. There are sure to be bugs in the plan, but we’ll work them out.
Stay tuned (hopefully later today) to find out the basic outline of the project and how you can get involved.
