World Food Day 2012

Today is World Food Day, which is a day dedicated toward ending global hunger. Over a billion people will go to bed hungry tonight all over the world. There are food pantries in many communities across the US that could make amazing use of your canned goods to help meet the need locally. And there are organizations who have dedicated their resources to providing relief to immediate needs caused by disasters like earthquakes and droughts. For most of the people who are reading this post, hunger is not a daily issue. The strange irony of that truth is that if you are reading this, chances are you have the capacity to help someone else who is in need.

I want to give you a few ideas that can help. First, I want to recommend that you check out a pretty extensive list of actions offered by my friends at ONE.org. They are an incredible advocacy organization and they are doing great work to advocate for improve food security in various parts of the world. One of the things that they have asked is that folks like you and me dedicate a tweet to raise awareness about global hunger, and prescribe a recipe for change. Click that link and see what you can do to help raise awareness about the issue of global hunger.

Second, I want you to consider the resources in your own pantry, and make a contribution to a food drive for your local food pantry or through your church. There are people locally who are temporarily out of work, and some non-perishable items from your kitchen via the local food pantry could go a long way to help families who are in a pinch. In northern West Virginia the largest food bank (that serving food to 47 of West Virginia's 55 counties), is the Mountaineer Food Bank.

Third, I want to encourage you to give to organizations that are helping to improve food security and meet hunger needs around the world, and of course I will give a hearty recommendation to support Nuru International's work. Over the last four years, Nuru has helped literally thousands of families to be able to feed themselves by training them in improved agricultural techniques and offering loans of high quality seed and fertilizer for use. My friend Jake wrote a blog post last summer about how Nuru's Agriculture Program was a huge difference maker for about Nuru 2000 farmers when a severe drought hit the Horn of Africa. Will you consider making a donation today to Nuru in honor of World Food Day?

Thanks so much for taking tangible steps toward fighting hunger, and helping our neighbors both around town and around the world to end hunger.