293rd Week Update - FINAL - Miles Neighborhood One Can A Week Project

Hi Folks,

We Can't Fix What's Broken,

But the Kids We Feed Will

I don’t know about you, but I often feel I am from another planet. I see behaviors that fascinate me but I do not understand how folks do not sense their overpowering irrationality, insensitivity and hypocrisy. Archbishops live in the lap of luxury yet they are tasked by their deity to serve the poor. Politicians with the Constitution tucked in their lapel pocket spend 80% of their time raising cash to benefit themselves. Military departments give sophisticated weaponry to unstable governments or regimes that turn on us, killing or maiming thousands upon thousands of our soldiers with our own guns and armored vehicles. Then when the soldiers return home, 25% of them have to stand in food bank lines to barely subsist.

Businessmen and businesswomen are no more rational overwhelmed with addictive avarice knowing full well that inequity will eventually dismantle capitalism. They do not care because it will not happen in their lifetime. And the little I can do—confronting those in my sphere of influence every time they tout their entitlement status, which does not make me a popular fellow, by the way—will not do much to correct the situation. Since I do not pretend to understand these things supposed intelligent beings do, I have concluded that I am an alien. What else could it be?

Consequently, I have decided to place my hope for a better Earth on the next generation. The kids, 25% of whom are hungry, need some help gaining access to proper nutrition to facilitate the development of their brains’ potential. To simply discount 25% of a new generation is another one of those human behaviors that baffles me.

For the past five and one half years I have collected food and through my blog tried to excite and encourage people to step up. Even with all of those thousands of words sprinkled with a few good ideas now and again, it has become painfully clear that a weekly reminder to help one another inspired only a very few of the hardiest souls. So I am going to concentrate on personally collecting food in every venue possible in Tucson (see below) and discontinue my weekly email and Google blog.

This will free up more time and energy which should increase the collections. That is my hope.

The One Can A Week Collection Bin

A Most Peasant Reminder

The One Can A Week collection bin is located next to the

appealing canned food display in the newly redesigned
Rincon Market produce department.

The most successful food collection bin is stationed at Sprouts-Speedway. Week in and week out it is filled to the brim with food brought from home and food bought on site. Bill Lohmeier, the security guard has helped increase participation by simply telling customers about the program. When they ask him where the plastic recycle bin is he includes some information on the One Can A Week bin, too. Bill also discovered that the bin looks more attractive and interesting when the plastic bags containing the donations are removed exposing the cans and packages.

Customers entering Chaffin’s Diner are immediately exposed
to the One Can A Week money jar and the food collection
bin. That happens again when they leave with a full tummy.

At testament to Bill’s involvement happened this past Friday at the Rincon Market. A woman and her friend stopped by the display table and she asked, “What’s this? Oh, One Can A Week. I participate at the Sprouts Supermarket on Speedway.”

In the months ahead I will be placing food collection bins in stores, restaurants, offices and clubs all over town. If you would like a bin for your office or have a suggestion, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

As always, thanks for the help.

Sprouts Farmers Market

Rincon Market

Hunger is not a minority problem … it’s America’s problem

Just today Feeding America—the leading  nationwide network of 200 food banks—released its Hunger in America 2014 report. They have published such a report before but this document is their most extensive analysis of hunger in America to date.

Here is a quick top down view of their findings.

·   “Among all clients, 43 percent are white (1 in 10 white people in America), 26 percent are black (1 in 4 black people in America), and 20 percent are Latino (1 in 6 Latinos in America). (Source: US Census Bureau)

·   “10 percent of adult clients are students.”

There are many, many more stomach churning statistics about how we Americans are not actively committed to helping we Americans who are in need. Please review the report and then think about the fact that nobody in America is special when it comes to hunger. It affects everyone. Period.

We collected a total of 140 lbs. of food. The money we donated amounted to $33.00, a $25.00 check and $8.00 in cash.

See you Sunday,

Peter