My husband was transferred to Memphis with IP when I was 4 months pregnant. I did not know a soul. All of my family and all of my friends were across the country and it was hard. Lonely and hard.
One afternoon, a neighbor rang my doorbell and handed me dinner. I was overcome with gratitude. It was such a simple, yet powerful gesture. For the first time, I really FELT what Mother Teresa was saying when she said, "If you can't feed a hundred, feed just one."
I teach World Geography at the
Collierville Connection, a homeschool cooperative. During our unit on Africa, we discussed Coins4Kids, the World Food
Programme, and did a class project on food insecurity in America. We discussed the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program
(SNAP), formerly food stamps, and planned menus for a family of four spending $4 a day per family. It was an eye opening, difficult task.
When the homework was turned in, the class wanted to do more. They decided to create a service project to raise money for the Collierville Food Pantry.
I will proudly give my students all of the credit. They came up with the plan and I got out of their way! They decided to sell pizza to their friends during the lunch break. First, they designed and put together an interactive bulletin board with facts about hunger as a way to teach their classmates what had touched them about hunger and to advertise their project. Then, they designed flyers to pass out at school and an email advertising campaign to send to all the Connection families.
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We needed some pizza and
Russo's New York Pizza of Germantown generously donated all of the pizza for our
sale!
The students gave up their lunches and free periods to sell the pizza - and they sold every slice! In the end, the class raised $265 for the Collierville Food Pantry. We hadn't even gotten the empty boxes to the trash before the students and some of the other teachers were thinking of ways to make it bigger next year!
My students did not eradicate world hunger. They did not raise enough money to feed 100 people. But they did make a difference for everyone who WILL be fed because of their their community spirit, their kindness, and their enthusiasm to make a difference. They fed SOMEONE today.
It is this same spirit that makes Coins4Kids such a success every year. So many people give their time and talent to feed SOMEONE, which turns out to be SO MANY in the end.
Pam DeMato, Southwind
Since 2004, Coins 4 Kids has raised more than $8.5 million to provide in-school meals to children in nearly 100 schools. With current enrollment, approximately 70,000 kids receive a nutritious meal every day. This year’s Spring 4 Kids event raised enough money to feed more than 7,800 children. The International Paper Foundation is expected to donate more funds to World Food Program USA this year to support the Coins 4 Kids program. Thank you all for your generosity and support!
