Neat program by ConAgra

Found this on Facebook and it sounded like a great program!

Child Hunger Ends Here

Buy Our Brands. Share the Stories. Make a Difference.

Nearly 1 in 4 kids in America doesn't know where their next meal is coming from, and with your help ConAgra Foods is providing millions of meals to Feeding America member food banks.

Through August 31, you can activate the code on specially marked ConAgra Foods products at ChildHungerEndsHere.com and a monetary donation will be made to secure one of up to 2.5 million meals by Feeding America on behalf of local food banks.**

Here you can see the stories of those who benefit from your generosity in the fight against child hunger. And every time you share these stories on your Facebook page, we'll help Feeding America secure an additional meal, up to 100,000.

All you have to do is enter the product code on that web site and they will donate money to local food banks.  When you next go grocery shopping, be sure to look for the specially marked packages of ConAgra brands:

How to help the people in Japan

For the last couple of days, I have been watching what's happening in Japan with a lot of sadness and offering up a lot of prayers as I'm sure many have.  But what can more can we do?  I just came across this article that lists many of the charitable organizations helping out with the relief effort in Japan.  Be sure to check and see if the company you work for will match - double your contribution!

The newest member of our family

Today, I had the great pleasure of writing to the newest member of our family - our sponsor-child Eloy.  It took a while to finally choose a child because we had some family dissent on whether we wanted to sponsor a child through Compassion Int'l (where 80% of funds go to the child) or donate directly to Food For The Poor (where 97% of the funds go to the people, but not a specific child).  Our children really wanted to sponsor a child and wanted the ability to communicate directly with the recipient of our donations.  Steve and I thought that this would be a great learning opportunity for our kids and went with Compassion Int'l.  The next obstacle of course is choosing the child - which gender, what age, what geographical area, etc.  The girls found Eloy's picture on the website and were immediately sure he was the right child, and so our family increased by one.  Eloy is 5 years old and lives in Bolivia.  His family, like our own, has 6 members.  I think its the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

If you decide to sponsor a child, remember to check into gift matching by your employer.  Kraft will match our monthly sponsorship dollar for dollar, so our gift is doubled!

Check out all the kids who would love to join your family at the Compassion International website.

Operation Rice Bowl

Each season of Lent for the last 35 years, Catholic Relief Services has run a special collection program called Operation Rice Bowl.  If you are Catholic, many parishes have the little boxes that you can take home and make daily or weekly donations during Lent "to help fund development programs designed to increase food security around the world".  As you participate in fasting, you can donate the money you would have spent to CRS.  If your church does not have them, you can donate on-line.

"Each year, Operation Rice Bowl invites us to pray with our families and faith communities; fast in solidarity with those who hunger; learn more about our global community and the challenges of poverty overseas; and give sacrificial contributions to those in need."

Lent begins this Wednesday March 9th.

And look what else I found on their website:  recipes!  My food-blogger past comes back!  We'll definitely be trying this one out:

Senegal

Senegalese stew

• ¼ cup oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 Tbsp tomato paste
• 4 cups water
• 1 vegetable bouillon cube
• ½ cup black eyed peas (pre-soaked)
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 sweet potato, chopped
• ¼ tsp hot pepper
• 1 ½  cups rice (uncooked)

Fry garlic and onions in oil until tender. Add tomato paste and mix thoroughly. Add 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Add bouillon cube, black-eyed peas, carrots, sweet potato, and hot pepper. Boil until peas are tender. Add rice and boil 10 minutes covered, then 10 minutes uncovered. Do not stir until the very end.
Makes 4-5 servings.

Soaring Food, Fuel Prices Pose Double Threat to Poor

"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
03/02/11

	A young boy enjoys a handful of rice distributed at a FFP feeding center.

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (March 2, 2011) –Workers from Food For The Poor often find families in developing countries who have not eaten for three or four days. Either there is no food available at all, or they have no money with which to buy even a small bag of rice. Now, because of soaring food and fuel costs, their food sources will be further threatened."

Read the whole article here.

11 year old girl raises $162k for Haiti!

Don't think there's anything that one person can do to help the poor?  Watch this video about 11 year old Rachel Wheeler who has raised $162,000 in her community for Haiti:













She accomplished this by asking for donations from ordinary people and businesses.  Incredible and inspiring!  You can read more about Rachel and her project here.

Here's a related article on Haiti from the Times-Herald.com: With anniversary of quake passed, needs still great