Tell Us Your No Kid Hungry Story
Posted by Michael McKenna on Thursday, December 8, 2011
A few weeks ago, the Partnership to End Childhood Hunger in Maryland gathered in the state capital to review the five-year plan (we’re now in the third year of that plan). We worked through tactics for school breakfast and supper, discussed challenges and successes for summer meals, and did the same for SNAP (formerly known as food stamp) benefits, Earned Income Tax Credit, and WIC.
But one of the most memorable moments of the day was how we kicked off the meeting. The moderator asked each of us to write on a piece of paper our answer to the question, “Why are you here?” Simple question, right? But think about it. On an average day at Share Our Strength, I often get caught up in work plans and budgets, logistics and meetings about our campaign and don’t always take a step back to think about the big picture of why I’m doing what I’m doing. As in what Share Our Strength supporter and social media guru Amanda Hite calls “igniting the passion conversation.” What makes me tick? The vocational question.
So on that day in Annapolis, here’s what my answer was: “Because I haven’t forgotten 24 hours of fluff and powdered donuts”.
In the fall of my sophomore year of high school I spent four nights at a wonderful organization called the Romero Center in Camden, New Jersey on an experiential learning program called Urban Plunge. My classmates and I toured the city, volunteered with social service agencies, and had discussions with community leaders each night about the struggles and search for solutions in that sadly impoverished city. That first night, three classmates and I had to form a “family” of four and go shopping with $3 per person and buy enough food for the next 24 hours. We bought fluff and peanut butter, ramen, and powdered donuts. Cheap, but low on nutrients and high on calories. Sure we were dumb 15 year old guys, but the reality is that on a very tight budget and with limited options for produce and meat, it is a challenge to do much better. I have never forgotten that exercise.
Days later, back at school, the mothers club had a buffet set up for the swim team after a meet – hoagies, fried chicken, salad, brownies. Witnessing the dichotomy of the haves and have nots that is increasingly the norm in this country planted a seed in me on some deep level. A seed of conviction that I wanted to be in a position where I could help make social problems a little bit smaller in some way. No Kid Hungry has helped that seed grow.
All of us on the staff have that story about why we chose to work at an organization like Share Our Strength. And all of you who have taken the pledge also have a personal story about your own passions and experiences that motivate you to be part of the No Kid Hungry campaign. As my colleague Anne Sheridan, Director of our Maryland campaign, put it when she answered the retreat question: “I want to be part of a movement bigger than myself.”
Leave a comment here or send an email and we’ll share some of your inspiring stories here on our blog. We are a community of believers united by a belief that ending childhood hunger is an important and attainable goal. So let’s get to know each other better! I can’t wait to hear your stories.
December 8, 2011 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: food stamps, no kid hungry, snap
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