How Do You Give?

Did you know 25,000 people die a day from hunger?  What about 6 million children a year? 

Yesterday I hung out with over 1000 people in my community packaging meals to send to Africa.  This is the third year my family has participated in this event with the encouragement from my mother-in-law, who has headed up this local effort. 


Here is a bit of an article I found on Numana's web site about my husband's mom, Norma Henton:

"It’s the legacy of the Wild West; strong, independent, salt-of-the-earth characters with a rugged edge. Banding together to feed the hungry overseas doesn’t naturally fit this oft-perceived profile and yet this Western Kansas community of 25,000 has challenged all the stereotypes.

The story begins with a regular lady on a regular Sunday visiting a church far way from home in Kansas City, MO. While there, Norma Henton heard of an organization called Numana and their dedication to “save the starving” and provide opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people across the U.S. to participate in the process. Currently, over 22.5 MILLION meals have been hand-packaged by volunteers and sent oversees to places where the need for food is greatest. Norma was captivated by what she heard and she bravely contemplated whether she could do this in her hometown.

 

Back home in Dodge City, she couldn’t shake the images and the desire to be a part of this new “movement” called Numana. But she was just one person, a former kindergarten teacher and grandmother. The idea gnawed at her. Finally, she gave in and placed a call to Numana to learn how to host an event in Dodge City. As Norma says, she quickly learned that it only “takes a spark to start a fire".”

 

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Yesterday we packaged over 216,000 meals to send to the starving.  It took a whole day with over 1000 people, but the experience is one of those "warm and fuzzy feeling inside" kind of things that you just need to do.  You don't just get together with friends and make meals to send.  Someone has to raise the funds to make it happen.  My mother-in-law, along with her committee, raised over 50,000 dollars this year to buy the materials necessary to package the meals.  She's pretty amazing.  She's a quilter too! 

For more statistics or information about Numana, check the web site.

 

I just wanted to share her story and inspire others to give.  I have signed up for a project to make quilts for the people of Hurricane Sandy.

 

Please give of your time or money.

Helping others is the best thing you can do.
And to the Veterans that have given more than I ever can, Thank you!