#NoKidHungry – How Can You Help?

How many times have you looked in the fridge or in the cupboards and lamented that there is nothing to eat? There might be the random box of pasta or some bread to make a sandwich, but it just doesn’t quite ring your bell. “I’m starving,” you say. Then you and the fam might head out to a favorite restaurant, or you might go to the grocery store to get some fixings (always a bad idea when you’re hungry, of course).

But people really are starving. Yes, here.

It’s really hard to believe, but it’s true. No Kid Hungry reports that 1 in 5 children in the United States can’t depend on having the next meal. A lot of poverty-stricken neighborhoods host many children who are particularly hungry towards the end of the month, before the next month’s welfare payments come in. There are parents who are going without food in an effort to give everything possible to their kids. That’s right. Here.

It’s unacceptable.

Prioritizing Compassion

I’ve been traveling in the UK for the last couple of weeks, and here the dominant news is the refugee situation. In London, a man who was gathering goods for the refugees was asked why he was worried about the refugees when so many are homeless and starving in London. He said, “Yes, we should totally be doing something about that. It’s a given. But these people have absolutely nothing right now.”

In the United States, I think there is a lot of confusion right now about who we should help the most. There is a lot of pressure to try to “fix” everything. We want to help the homeless domestically. We want to help the refugees. We want to do something about the genocide in Syria. The list goes on. How can you know where to even start in the face of so much confusion and pain? Perhaps more to the point, will anything that we do even make a dent in what the world is dealing with right now?

Eating Out and Doing Good

Here is some good news. No Kid Hungry is running a campaign that essentially requires you to go out to eat. You can ponder what else you want to do while sitting in a participating restaurant. Before you leave, make a donation. That’s about as hard as it gets. A donation of $1 can help a starving child get access to ten meals. Ten!

If you are worried about whether your money will really go where it should go, there is no cause for concern. Charity Navigator gives No Kid Hungry excellent ratings for accountability, transparency, and financial management.

We have the luxury of worrying and the duty to help

Feeling the weight of the troubles in the world is, in a way, a luxury that not everyone can afford. There are people in our own country who are not sure how they are going to stay sheltered from rain and the cold. There are people who are thinking primarily about how to feed their children. Those of us who are beyond fortunate in life, who have a steady income, a roof over our heads, and food in our bellies, have the duty, I firmly believe, to do our best to try to lift others up. Everything that we do matters, no matter how big or how small. No Kid Hungry is offering us an opportunity to incorporate charity into our every-day lives. Don’t pass it up. This September, dine out for No Kid Hungry. Read this post to learn more about how to participate.