Eating for the Hungry

And The Results Are In!

2006-11-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

I'm not talking about the election results...I'm talking about the winners of the penny war. It took FOREVER to count nearly 40,000 pennies by hand, and that is why the announcement has been delayed! Congratulations to first place Jefferson Davis Academy, second to BH-HS, third to WE-HS, and fourth to BHS. Jefferson Davis was the overall winner, but BH-HS actually brought in the most silver change to earn points for their school. However, the other schools had put too many pennies into BH-HS's jars for them to maintain a lead and JDA was able to overcome! On Wednesday, November 15, 2006, I presented JDA with their trophy and gave a small speech on who and what my project involved. Overall, the project raised $392.47 to fight poverty in our county.

Also, the official budget is completed! Here is how the project is shaping up.

$ 50-Decorations
$ 25-Invitations
$ 300-Waiters
$ 50-Advertisement
$ 20-Penny War Trophy
$ 55-Jars for Penny War
+ ______________
$500

Thanks for your support. Check the county paper this Wednesday, November 22, 2006, for the full report on the penny war! Also, a special thanks goes out to Mr. David Berman, the reporter, on the great job he has done!

Moving Right Along

2006-10-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

Plans for "Eating for the Hungry" are going very smoothly. It is now the middle of our two week long "Penny War" to raise money to combat hunger in the area, and the schools are doing a great job. Secondly, we have picked out a menu with the Winton Inn which is housing our banquet dinner and the next steps are to line up speakers and SELL THE TICKETS!! Now the real work is beginning, but this work, compared to when I was just planning, is much more exciting and the results are a lot more rewarding! Thank you for taking the time to visit the blog, and please come back next week to see the results of the penny war!!

The October Plan

2006-10-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

Wow! September was the busiest month I think I have ever had. I don't have a lot of tangible proof of what I have done on my project, but I do have a significant amount of planning done. The Winton Inn has agreed to give us one of their dining halls for the evening of my dinner. We (my mother and I) have also set up a date in October to meet with their head chef to make a menu! It is very exciting!!

For October, the topic is FUND-RAISING!! October 16, 2006 is World Food Day USA, and it is also going to be the kick-off for our school fundraiser which will be a county wide penny war. I also have to meet with the principals of each school. Because the schools are different sizes, the results will be divided per student so that it is fair to everyone. The winning school will receive a plaque and recognition in the newspaper.

Things are moving along nicely, and I will post again when I have some more updates...Thank you for your continued interest in my project!!

A Schedule!!

2006-08-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

After meeting with my liaison (Ms. Shealy) on Monday, I had so many ideas bouncing around in my head that I thought my brain would explode..We finally got them all written down, a schedule, and a list of students in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades that might be interested in helping with the project! Some of the ideas we discussed were locations for the dinner, fundraising ideas, and prices. The timeline for the project is designed to focus on one major task each month so that the project remains organized and manageable.

September: Form a budget, and get bids on big items.
October: Fundraise and find donations to cover the difference.
November: Attend school board, town/city council, and county council meetings explaining the project and inviting members to the dinner.
December: Advertise, and get the word out.
January: "EATING FOR THE HUNGRY" BENEFIT DINNER!!!
February: Recap and summarize the project.
March 24 & 25: Present the presentation at Furman's Riley Institute.

I will post later on in September and let you know how the budget is shaping up! Thanks for your continued interest!!

Hunger...A Growing Problem???

2006-08-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

Do you see something wrong the title of this blog?? Well, that is what the research said that I did this past week. Hunger IS a growing problem in the United States. There are 2 terms that involve the lack of food. The first is food insecurity which means that there is a lack of resources to obtain the full daily amount of food needed for sufficient health. The second, of course, is hunger which means that the food insecurity level is so high that the problem recurs so often that malnutrition could eventually occur. Here are some of the sickening facts about the state of the US population:

In 2004, 11.9% of US HOUSEHOLDS where considered "food insecure." That means that over 1 in 10 households wonder whether or not they will have breakfast tomorrow morning.

Of the 13.5 million households labeled "food insecure," 4.4 million of them were so severely affected that USDA classified them as "hungry."

From 1999-2004, food insecurity has increased by 3 MILLION households (not 3 million people..3 million HOUSEHOLDS)! Of those 3 million households, 1.4 million have children.

I can't lie. When I read those facts, it made my stomach turn. However, none of those facts startled me like this last one:

In 1999, 31 million people were affected by food insecurity. That number increased in 2001 to 33.6 million people and then jumped again in 2004 to 38.2 million people in the UNITED STATES alone who suffered from food insecurity due to a lack of sufficient resources!

Now you tell me how in the world a country as wealthy and powerful as America can allow its population to increase 7 million people in a category such as food insecurity in a 5 year period?! I ask that you stop and think of the first 10 families/households that come to your mind. Out of those 10, would even 1 of those households be considered "food insecure?" For most of us, the answer is problaby "No." However, for many other people, the majority of the families that came to mind deal daily with the affects of being labeled "food insecure." They are stuck in this growing nightmare that seems to never end. After doing this research, I once again know that my heart is in the right place and that my benefit dinner is definetly what I want to do to help my community members going through this same struggle.

Many others share this same desire with me. That is why October 16, 2006, is designated as World Food Day USA. Please mark your calendars. If you cannot help in any other way, please pray for these people and share with someone else the struggles that our fellow Americans must indure everyday!

"According to the results of the Census Bureau survey, those at greatest risk of being hungry or on the edge of hunger (i.e., food insecure) live in households that are: headed by a single woman; Hispanic or Black; or with incomes below the poverty line. Overall, households with children experience food insecurity at more than double the rate for households without children. Geographically, food insecurity is more common in central city households. The survey data also shows that households are more likely to be hungry or food insecure if they live in states in the West and South (FRAC)."

If you would like more information on the facts found here, please visit http://www.worldfooddayusa.org/ and www.frac.org. Thank you for reading this blog!

Just An Update

2006-08-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

Although it has been almost three weeks since I last left a blog, I have not forgotten about it! Just as an update, I have been working on a tentative schedule and budget to turn in to the Riley Institute. Furman University's Riley Institute offers each EPLer (Emerging Public Leader) a grant to help get each of our projects started. Therefore, I have been trying to think about all of the costs that need to be accounted for and also a timeline to help me better plan my benefit dinner to help raise awareness and money to fight hunger and poverty in my community. I am trying to plan one major step of the project each month so that I will not get burned out! My senior year is already so busy!!

I am also going to be meeting with my liaison (Ms. Shealy) soon so that we can hammer all of this out. She helps me think of the little details and financial problems I could potentially run into along the way. I will post the schedule for the next several months as well as a proposed budget shortly after we meet. Please come back soon and check them out!!

Finally, I am doing some research to find out about other poverty campaigns and what is being done on a national scale to help reduce such agony as hunger and starvation so I will have a better feel for what I am working with. I will let you know what I find out!!! Thanks for the visit!!

Why "Eating for the Hungry"?

2006-08-02T11:41:00.000-07:00

Well, of all of the issues I could have targeted, you might be wondering why I chose poverty and hunger. Actually, my inspiration came from an article in the local newspaper on January 18, 2006, when a local citizen employed by Axis 1 (which has a food bank in the facility) stated, "My biggest contribution time is at Thanksgiving and Christmas-then other times-people forget." The article continued by stating that the pantry had hit the "post-holiday slump" and that "while she appreciates the holiday donations, food is a daily need year-round". That is when my thoughts began to churn about finding a way to allow these starving people food all throughout the year.

As I talked about in my first blog post, we as EPLers have to research our project in more detail during the summer. I found statistical evidence to prove that my county has a serious problem with poverty and hunger. The site was www.fedstats.gov if you would like more information.

Statistic - My County - South Carolina - USA
Graduation Rate - 67.5% - 76.3% - 80.4%

Median Value of Homes - $66,600 - $94,900 - $119,600

Median Household Income - $26,456 - $38,003 - $43,318

Persons Below Poverty Level - 17.2% - 13.8% - 12.5%

Personal Income Per Capita - $21,027 - $24,000 - $29,469

Unemployment Rate - 8.0% - 5.4% - 4.8%
(Sorry it won't leave those in a pretty chart format!!)

Now I don't know about you, but after seeing a difference as large as that in my county's poverty and unemployment rates, I just knew without a doubt that this was what I wanted my focus to be! It wasn't a starving child in Africa or the Middle East anymore. That child had now presented himself right here in my own area, and that is something I cannot ignore. It is my hope that others in my community will be touched and henceforth motivated to helping stop this problem here in the area in its tracks!!

I'm Home..Now What?

2006-08-01T17:52:00.000-07:00

Well, I just got home on Saturday, and now I am beginning to get the wheels of my project rolling. I have written a vision statement for my project which is directly below the title of my blog. Now I am working on the importance of my project to show everyone else around my area that poverty really is a big deal and that together we CAN make a difference!

The idea for my project is to host a charity banquet in my community. The banquet is going to include a nice dinner, a presentation on why poverty is a big problem in the area, and of course some entertainment. The idea is to make the people in my area aware of the needs right here in our own backyards. It should also get teenagers involved, and hopefully start a movement in the community to better deal with the issue of hunger and poverty!

What is EPL?

2006-08-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

(EPL stands for Emerging Public Leaders which is a conference put on each year by Furman University and the Riley Institute which is for rising high school seniors nation wide. There we become EPLers. So what does an EPLer do? Well, first we research the needs in our communities and write up a service project that we can lead. We also select a liaison from our school (mine is Ms. Shealy) who is like our local guardian angel who helps us with any and everything, supports us in the failures, and celebrates the victories!! Upon acceptance, we begin to collect articles from the local paper supporting our research, read a book on service, and interview a local leader. Then we spend a week on one of the most beautiful campuses in the USA (Furman, of course) where we cover everything from poverty to the environment, media, and even get to meet Mr. Richard W. Riley, Former US Secretary of Education!! We also tour Columbia and Greenville in the process. Finally, we hone in on our specific community issue and better develop our project under the guidance of Dr. Brooke Culclasure, Mrs. Cathy Stevens, Dr. Chris Burkett, Mrs. Audrey Dodson, Dr. Don Gordon, and our counselors, Scott, Monica, Cindy, Christina, Anthony, and William. They are the rest of the angels that complete our choir of support! Finally, we come home, and the real work begins on our projects. That's where I am now. Keep checking back to find out more!! (For more information on the EPL program, check out our blog link, and also visit the website which is http://www.furman.edu/riley/programs/emerging.htm .)