96th Week Update - Miles Neighborhood Food Collection Project

Hi Folks,

“Let’s teach kids to give, first.”

Rodney Glassman on to the Future

Although Rodney Glassman needed to take a dozen steps to get to where I was sitting in the corner of his Starbuck’s in the Crossroads Mall, the trek took him nearly 3 minutes to make. There were lots of hugs, handshakes and friendly greeting. When he finally sat down his phone got his attention now and again but he only looked at it briefly and placed it back on the table.

Rodney knew about One Can A Week from his days on the Tucson City Council and said he liked the concept. Today he wanted to hear about my new approaches. In a minute or two I talked about the presentation to the Sunflower Market and the idea of maximizing food donations to two or three schools to determine the effects of a full nutrition program for needy kids.

He listened intently and then said he would like to see One Can A Week introduced to one or two schools and at the end of the Spring session, throw a pizza party for the kids at the zoo or some other fun place like that. He would help introduce me to some school administrators and help procure the pizzas.

My first reaction should have been, “That’s wonderful; how do we get started?” Instead, I tried to say politely how huge this hunger problem is and that we have to think about all of the medical ramifications involved in poor diets and obesity. Rodney politely hit the ball back to me and asked if I knew how unsettling or abrasive or something like that, my approach was?

I thought, “Good, my New York was coming back. It hadn’t melted in the sunshine.” Of course I don’t mean to be difficult to deal with, but this problem is so huge I get a little impassioned.

We reached an agreement mostly because Rodney was not going to give up on me. I will send him a brief email proposal explaining One Can A Week and how our successful program might be introduced into schools to teach children how to give to needy children on a consistent basis. Rodney in turn will contact school administrators and set up meetings.

This approach is a terrific compromise…I’m happy, Rodney’s happy and I’m glad I voted for him.

Hungry Children Like Candy, Too
A couple of days after Halloween, Rayah, Maen Mdanat’s 11-year-old-daughter, suddenly packed up what was left of her Trick or Treat stash and handed it to her dad. She wanted him is take it to the store and donated to the food bank. “She did it on her own,” Maen proudly told me. “She loves candy but she is thinking of others instead of herself. This is a good thing.”

We collected a total of 196 lbs. of food, including 24 lbs. of produce. The money we donated amounted to $58.50 … $30.00 in checks, $8.50 in cash plus $20.00 and 2 lbs. of food from The Axis Food Mart.

See you Sunday,

Peter