Charity Archives - Being Bon Mot

Celebrating Community One “Like” at a Time

A Bon Mot Birthday Give Back

Ready or not here comes a birthday… May is generally one of the craziest months of the year with grading finals, end of school, graduations, summer preparations, etc., so I tend to gloss over any real celebration. Plus, once you get to a certain age, it’s often better to just ignore the completion of another trip around the sun. Nonetheless, I’m delighted with the likes of Facebook and other social media outlets that make it so easy to honor birthday boys and girls with gifts to charity. So I decided to do a little experiment. Throughout this month, I’ll donate one whole dollar (that’s right, $1!) for every new like, follow, and blog subscription we rack up here at Being Bon Mot. My dearest Auntie Margo, who was notorious for ridiculously long birthday feting, always encouraged me to draw the celebration out as long as possible so I’m honoring her and starting today.

It’s my birthday, and I’ll give if I want to…

All of the money raised during this “Share the Love” campaign/drive/whatever we’re calling it will be donated to Bonton Farms. Bonton Farms is one of my favorite nonprofit organizations in Dallas (or really anywhere). And since I’m a believer in direct giving to charity, I’ll keep tabs on our progress and report often to Bon Mot followers (whether you like it or not). My goal is $250, and I’m committed to give more if things get crazy. I’m not sure what will happen with this little experiment, but I sincerely hope it will make an impact.

Bonton is a neighborhood in south Dallas where 85% of the men have been to prison and incidences of cancer and diabetes are more than 50% higher than the rest of the city. Named during its golden age of “high class” (loose translation of bon ton and generally accepted history of the name), Bonton quickly devolved into a food desert with few job opportunities and rampant poverty. Access to fresh foods was non-existent in the neighborhood. The nearest grocery store was a three-hour roundtrip bus ride for residents. And then Bonton Farms planted its roots firmly in the neighborhood’s soil. Now Bonton Farms is thriving and the organization’s investment in the health of citizens and the health of community is paying off.

Bonton Farms honey and fresh eggs are a fixture at the Dallas Farmers Market, and their beloved goats should have their own Instagram page. The farm’s 40-acre extension is one of the nation’s largest urban gardens and provides seasonal produce in easy walking-distance to neighborhood residents. While the idea of an urban farm isn’t necessarily a new one, the use of their crops to grow confidence, develop skills, and support a thriving culture is entirely innovative in our community. Simply put, Bonton Farms is an oasis.

Daron, Trog, Patrick, and the whole team are dedicated to sowing seeds in a struggling community and to the promise of growth in everyone there. What’s more, the folks at Bonton Farms have always been more than willing to welcome me, my family, and my students to mill about the farm and frolic with the goats and chicks. We’ve also put in work tending to the livestock and crops there. Farm staff have even served on a Homeless and Hunger Awareness panel I hosted on campus. So I’m dedicating my birthday month to cultivating more admirers of the awesome work happening at Bonton Farms and in community gardens everywhere.

My student, James, spending some time on the farm.

You can never go wrong with a Friends reference…

Listen, I acknowledge that this initiative is also slightly selfish in nature. I mean, aren’t most all things philanthropically-focused? There was an entire episode of Friends, cleverly titled “The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS,” dedicated to Phoebe’s pursuit of an entirely selfless act (1998 spoiler alert: She loses the bet.). Regardless of the obviously shameless and transparent self-promotion, I hope you’ll consider taking a minute to explore the great work of Bonton Farms or the community garden in your area. If you have more time and you’re a local, stop by the Bonton Market or spend a Saturday helping out around the farm. Whatever you choose to do, I’m grateful you took the time to read this post.

Graffit in Bonton. garden farm signs — Signs of Hope at Boston Farms

Cash NOT Cans: In Defense of Monetary Support for Food Pantries

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?

_______________________________

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.