New Conversations
Posted by Ellen Miller on Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Over the past two weeks my husband and I dined at Lucia (twice) – one of Dallas’ hottest new restaurants and The Screen Door; while in South Beach we ate The Setai and The Blue Door. Our in-home dining main courses consisted of grilled salmon one night and steak on the other. We never miss a meal and rarely miss making it a gastronomical event. Needless to say, food is a frequent topic of discussion at our house.
But after a recent Hinges of Hope tour in Dallas, our food conversations have moved to an all-new level. At the beginning of March, we attended the tour in Dallas, to see the work that Share Our Strength is funding in our hometown.
Involved with various programs and ministries that serve our poor, we aren’t novices on the topic of hunger. We’ve volunteered in soup kitchens, provided boxes of food to food banks, and financially supported numerous non-profits that provide assistance to our neighbors in need. But in my heart of hearts, I admit that I had silently surrendered to the challenge believing that we will never fill every little hungry belly. There are just too many of them; too much bureaucracy in our government; and not enough of us.
But the Share Our Strength team, while laying out the harsh realities of hunger in Texas, also gave me a glimpse into the successful programs in our city that will one day make the No Kid Hungry goal a reality. Touring us to all corners of the Dallas area, we had the opportunity to witness first-hand the progress being made. Stop after stop I vacillated between despair that was delivered in the form of cold hard hunger facts and the promise of deliverance by groups of people with strategic, actionable programs; between heartache for little faces I have not even seen to that very tangible thing that happens when a well-laid plan speaks to both your heart and mind – hope.
Although I am still haunted by the after-school snack of a 3 oz. bag of chocolate animal crackers and small carton of milk that will serve as dinner to some of the 56 kiddos in a program in East Dallas, I find myself optimistic.
While we were once content to “do what we can” we are now committed to do what we must.
Learn what you can do by taking the No Kid Hungry Pledge.
Ellen is the president of the product marketing firm, Insider Marketing, and is the author of The One Year Book of Inspiration for Girlfriends (Tyndale House Publishers). She blogs about living in a state of uncommon joy at ellenmiller.com.
March 15, 2011 | 1 comment(s) | Tags: hinges of hope, no kid hungry, texas
Comments
1 reader comment so far.
I definitely know what you mean by going from "I'll do what I can" to totally being committed. Taking the No Kid Hungry Pledge isn't just about helping out in soup kitchens once a year, or giving a couple of dollars every so often. I know that every bit helps, but taking the pledge is more than that. Taking the pledge is saying that you will do whatever you can, whenever you can, even if it hurts the wallet a little bit sometimes. I loved the part of your article that said "I admit that I had silently surrendered to the challenge believing that we will never fill every little hungry belly. There are just too many of them; too much bureaucracy in our government; and not enough of us." I know that you do not feel this way now, but this mindset is what too many people are getting, this mindset is what will set back the three million dollar goal. I do agree that there is too much bureaucracy in our government, it's getting to the point of being ludacris. The government is too worried about themselves and goings-on in other countries, that they cannot even realize the hungry children here in America. But I know that if we get enough people to be motivated, to be commited to the challenge, that we can reach that goal. The goal is a stretch, but it isn't impossible, that's the point of it being a goal. It is something that you work towards, and eventually after enough hard work and commitment, the goal will be reached. Keep up the commitment and the hard work, and it'll pay off.
Posted by Nicolas Lambeth on March 15, 2011
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