Today is the last day of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. While not necessarily a cause for celebration, it is intended to draw attention to the pervasive issues of hunger and homelessness in our communities. And its timing is no coincidence. This is typically that time of year when we begin to fret over holiday preparations — frantically searching for new and interesting recipes on Pinterest, tidying up our guest rooms for family visits, perfecting our napkin folding technique, etcetera ad nauseam. As we celebrate gratitude and do our best to gain perspective on our relative blessings, we often look for opportunities to help those who are less fortunate.
We happen to live in a community where needs abound. Despite appearances to the contrary (ahem, Bravo!), Dallas is one of the poorest cities in the country and, not surprisingly, maintains Texas’s lowest median household income ($47,243 as compared to $57,617 national household median). While conditions are improving slightly, more than 30 percent of children in Dallas live in poverty (second highest rate in the country), and one out of every four kids in our community aren’t sure where their next meal will come from. Food insecurity impacts more than 800,000 people in the North Texas area alone, and, as a result, our hunger relief organizations are busier than ever.
I spend a great deal of personal and professional time interacting with nonprofits that address issues of poverty and hunger, especially during this time of year. I am constantly in awe of the work that organizations like CitySquare, Austin Street Center, and the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) do each and every day. Their impact is measured in meals served and sheltered souls; luxuries that I am too often guilty of taking for granted. So if you, like me, are moved to feed the hungry in an effort of thanks and giving, I’d urge you to put your money where your mouth is. Literally.
While in-kind donations of food are always welcomed and appreciated at your local food pantry, it’s far more effective and efficient to give a monetary donation. Food drives give us a tangible sense of our contributions, particularly for kids, and certainly serve a valuable purpose. But online giving convenience aside, hunger relief organizations, especially large clearinghouses like NTFB, can make our money go farther than it ever would at the local grocery store. When they say $1 provides access to three nutritious meals, they mean it. Nonprofits benefit from the value of large-scale purchasing and negotiate with wholesale companies for non-perishable food items as well as fresh meat, fruits, and vegetables for their clients (Fresh foods, by the way, are most scarce in poor households.). When was the last time you ate for $1?
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Once you decide which organization(s) you wish to support, here are some ways to help fight hunger in your community:
A Good Way to Help = Clear your pantry of non-perishable food items or pick up a few extra on your next trip to the grocery store. Be sure to double-check ‘sell by’ dates because food banks won’t redistribute expired items, and you’ll create extra unnecessary work for the organization’s employees and volunteers.
A Better Way to Help = Check out your organization’s wish list (most food pantries and other service agencies provide a current list on their website) then shop specifically for those items to donate. This is a better way to support food assistance nonprofits because directed in-kind donations, instead of random canned goods from your pantry (hello, coconut milk and pumpkin puree), help organizations meet the specific nutritional needs of their clients.
THE BEST Way to Help = Skip the store and give a monetary donation. (And finally try out that coconut pumpkin bread recipe.)
“Hunger is not a problem. It is an obscenity. How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
-Anne Frank
Hunger & Poverty Resource Links
Dallas Mayor’s Taskforce on Poverty – 2018 Update
U.S. Census Bureau Poverty Information & 2017 Report
The World Bank – Understanding Global Poverty
North Texas Food Bank Partner Agencies
I’d love to hear from you and the way your family celebrates thanks and giving.