Change Becomes Change

Bake Sale to Help Hungry Children in Our Communities

You've heard it before: Childhood hunger is at an all-time high and increasing every day. What most of us probably don't even realize is that there is likely hungry children in your neighborhood, your child's school and your church. The signs aren't always obvious, but hunger is still there.

Many of these hungry children rely on programs funded by donations from organizations and people like you and me for breakfast, lunch and after-school meals year-round. Did you know that many public schools  provide "school lunches" for children during the summer break? Or that for many, the lunch they get at school or breakfast at their neighborhood care program might be the only nutritious meal they get all day?

Ready to help?

On April 17, food bloggers in communities across America are coming together for the Great American Bake Sale which benefits Share Our Strength, a national organization passionate about ending childhood hunger.

Change Becomes Change will offer three ways that you can help us in this effort.

1. You can donate to our "virtual" Bake Sale RIGHT HERE today through April 18. Please share this with friends and family too.

2. Visit our Bake Sale in Portland, Oregon DETAILS TO COME but please put this on your calendars now.

3. Help us find bakers to donate goods, promote the Bake Sale or volunteer with us at the event - we need lots of friends with passion to help make this happen! Email me at GinaMRau(at)gmail(dot)com or leave a comment to let us know how you'd like to help.

Share Our Strength supports many anti-hunger organizations all across the country and in Oregon they fund our St. Vincent De Paul Society, Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon and the Oregon Food Bank. Our family has special connections to the Oregon Food Bank that we personally support in many ways, and to St. Vincent De Paul Society that our school contributes to on a regular basis.

Our Bake Sale will specifically support efforts to help fund after school and summer feeding program grants that many of our community programs are probably applying for right now. As one of the hungriest states, Oregonian families rely on these services to provide nutrition for their children year-round.

Thanks for your support.

We Are The World

Can you believe that it's been 25 years since the original We Are the World song and video was recorded?  The cause in need was Africa and the artists included Michael Jackson,Lionel Richie, Diana Ross, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Cindi Lauper and many more.

Fast forward to January 2010 and the tragic earthquake in Haiti. The need is just as great. People around the world are coming together to help this small country in trouble.

If you haven't seen the new We Are The World, check it out here. We watched it many times over the weekend, enough that my children are now walking around the house singing it. The images from Haiti is powerful, even for my young ones, and the words carry much meaning. 

I hope you'll also visit the YouTube channel HERE to catch some of the behind the scenes clips and interviews, as well as find an opportunity to help.

If you can't view this in your reader or email, just click here.

Mangrove Fund: Helping Haiti Since 2007 and Today

There's no doubt in my mind that you've heard, seen and read of the tragedy in Haiti that jeopardizes the country. The recent estimates from the Red Cross are that 45,000 to 50,000 people have died, and those that remain face living conditions that we cannot begin to comprehend. Hospitals, government buildings, homes, orphanages, and Port-au-Prince's air traffic control tower have collapsed or badly damaged. While Haiti has seen devestation and hardship many times, the 7.0 earthquake that shook this poverty-stricken country this week is cataclysmic in impact. More than 3 million people will be affected.

People around the world have watched Haitians suffer and are stepping up to help. The list of countries, organizations, businesses and individuals who are helping is long and growing. For those of us that want to help, there's many ways to do so but I want to share one special option with you today.

Bill and Mary Pierznik began the process of adopting their son, Richelor, from Haiti in early 2007.  They have visited the country a total of more than 12 times but upon their first visit they were captured by the plight and spirit of the Haitian people.  Since then, they have established Mangrove Fund to focus exclusively on support for Haiti. 

Since the tragedy they have focused Mangrove exclusively on relief efforts.  They audit every dollar that they spend and keep zero money for administrative costs meaning 100% of all funds go to Haiti.  Their plan is to split relief money between immediate assistance (such as food, shelter and water) and longer term issues (such as preparing the rural areas for the inevitable human migration out of Port-au-Prince).  

Bill and his team at Mangrove Fund are coordinating with people on the ground in Haiti to ensure that the funds raised are sent directly to the organizations leading the recovery efforts. This coordinated effort will make sure that those in need get help. And fast.

No matter how you're going to help Haiti pull through this tragedy, I hope that you'll do a little homework or make sure that your "trusted friend" has. While it's unthinkable that someone would take advantage of this situation for their own profit, we've already heard of a few scams out there. We all want our hard-earned money to go right to those who need it.

Here's the Mangrove Fund website where you can learn more about Haiti, their project and make a donation to help Haitians recover. Thank you

12 Days of Sharing: White Chocolate Raspberry Slices

My mom and I did some serious holiday baking and cooking growing up. Serious. And those special times together in the kitchen are some of my favorite childhood memories. Since my own children are just 5 and 3, we're not quite at that same experience...yet. But they try.

They like to help me measure and pour ingredients and do a little mixing of their own. They enjoy rolling dough, making shapes and decorating but can be distracted by shiny objects inherent to the holidays. Still, I love just having them in the kitchen with me, even if it is between rounds of Yatzee!

For the Share Our Strength Share Your Season holiday campaign, we decided to participate to end childhood hunger in a couple ways: we planned a weeks' worth of low-cost meals and donated the difference between what that week's grocery bill and our usual budget to Share Our Strength, and today we're co-hosting the 12 Days of Sharing virtual cookie jar (see all of the holiday treats shared right here).

I'm so pleased to share with you one of our favorite cookie recipes: White Chocolate Raspberry Slices. We love almost all things berries up here in the northwest and these are no different! They go great with a cup of cold milk!

We hope that you'll enjoy the cookies as much as we do - and that you'll donate what you can to Share Our Strength to help hungry children across America. Now, more than ever, they need our help. You can CLICK HERE to donate (feel free to share this too!).

White Chocolate Raspberry Slices

1/2    cup   Butter, room temperature
1/4    cup   Sugar
1       tsp    Vanilla
1 1/4 cup   Flour
1/4   cup    Raspberry Jam
2       oz     White Chocolate, chopped or chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir in flour and mix until the dough comes together. Depending on many different factors like humidity and altitude, you might need to add a bit more butter to get the dough to come together. 

Divide the dough into thirds. On a floured surface, roll each third into a rope about 1" thick. Place the ropes approximately 3" apart on a buttered baking sheet. With your finger, press into the dough to make 1/2" wide bowls about 1" apart. Spoon 1/4 (or a little more) teaspoon of raspberry jam into each bowl.

Bake until edges are light brown, about 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool.

Melt white chocolate and drizzle across the ropes as you want. Chill until chocolate is firm to touch (about an hour is good). Cut each rope, diagonally between jam bowls.

Enjoy!

 

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More Great Ways to Save So You Can Give

Please visit the other featured blogs at Oprah.com's Deck The Blogs holiday roundup for new ideas and recipes. New articles are added all the time and we're all so excited to be a part of this program!

I'm pleased to introduce you to guest blogger Kate Miller, founder of Cooking During Stolen Moments. She and I met through Share Our Strength and immediately connected. As you read her story, you'll see that we share a strong passion around helping hungry children in our country. Welcome Kate. I'm so honored to have you join our little community here at Change Becomes Change.

Several years ago, my husband and I found ourselves in dire financial circumstances. We had three small children at the time and we were trying to grow our newly-opened small business. My husband took on a part time job in addition to the work he did for our business, but it still wasn't enough. At the end of the day, we had to decide between paying our mortgage or putting food on the table. It was a difficult time, to say the least.

But we persevered. We learned to let go of pride as we quickly realized that pride came from getting the job done, not by how the job was done. For us, that meant we relied on our local food pantry once a month. As humbling as it was, we felt blessed by the generosity of others.

We cut every single possible expense. We made do with one car. We canceled cable and the internet. And I learned to shop on a very tight budget while still putting wholesome, well rounded meals on our table.

Times have changed for the better as the years have gone on. However, my grocery spending habits have not changed. During that lean year, I learned to stretch every dollar.

We used to have to save to live, now we save to give.

Our experiences with our local food pantry changed me. They made me see the importance of helping in any way possible. I felt first-hand the pain of wondering where my children's next meal would come from. Now, I want to do whatever I can to alleviate that pain for others.

That is why I passionately support Share Our Strength and their ambitious but admirable goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015. If I can do even a little to help further their cause, you better believe I'll do what I can.

When I read about Gina's fantastic idea to save 10% from our grocery bills for a week in order to donate that money to Share Our Strength, I knew I had met a kindred spirit. Her idea is so powerful. Think of the impact we could have for furthering Share Our Strength's mission if we all did that once a month or even just once a year.

Gina has already shared some fantastic tips on how you can painlessly save 10% on your grocery bill. Now I have five new ideas to add to her list.

1. Menu Plan. Take a few minutes to plan out the meals your family will eat for the week and write a grocery list based off of those meals. Then, shop with your list in hand and stick to the list. I'm always amazed at how much I save when I have a plan and stick to my list.
2. Opt for the store-brand. The quality of store-brand products has really improved over the past few years. In my experience, there is no discernible difference on most products. If you're hesitant, start small. Some of the store-brand products I've had the most success with are pastas, frozen vegetables and baking items.
3. Clip coupons, but only for the things you really need. You can save a huge amount of money on your grocery bill with coupons when you use them wisely. There's no sense in buying something you don't really need just because you have a good coupon for it though. Take the time to compare coupons to your grocery list from step 1 and use what you can.
4. Don't be afraid of manager's specials. These are the items that are marked down for a quick sale because their expiration date is approaching quickly. I most often find manager's specials on meats and bakery items. And when I do, I grab a few to stick in the freezer. The same goes for produce. Those bananas that are marked down to 15 cents a pound because they're just the other side of over ripe will make great banana bread. And even those can be frozen.
5. Think outside of the box. There are so many creative and unique ways to save money at the grocery store. Think of your family's eating habits and your spending habits. What seems extraneous? Do without for just one week and share the savings.

Choosing to do just one or two of these things will easily save 10% on your weekly grocery trip. It truly is a painless way to do something good. I challenge you to do your part to help Share Our Strength reach their No Kid Hungry by 2015 goal. As for my family, we'll definitely be doing ours!

Kate Miller cooks frugal and delicious meals for her family of six. She has been cooking on a tight budget for over a decade. Although she has no formal culinary or financial training, she considers her kitchen education as trial-by-fire, with five of the toughest critics eating at her table every day. Kate shares recipes daily on her blog, Cooking During Stolen Moments.Additionally, Kate is the founder of Stolen Moments Menu Planning, where she creates personalized menu plans to help families save time and money in the kitchen.

Ideas to Save 10% to Help End Childhood Hunger

Update: I'm honored and a little giddy to have this, and other stories from Change Becomes Change featured on Oprah.com. Find great holiday ideas at Oprah's Deck the Blogs Roundup.

Earlier this week I challenged all of us to cut our food budget by 10% one week this month for Share Our Strength's Share Your Season campaign to end childhood hunger and am pleased to see a lot of interest around supporting this worthy cause. I've also had a lot of requests for suggestions on how to cut 10% from our food expenses which is not always easy to do. Some of us have already cut food budgets which makes further trims the hardest.

But...it's possible. Times are tough but, believe it or not, if you're reading this than there's likely many others with even less (or nothing) to spend on feeding their family. I promise you.

I hope that you'll find some new ideas here to get as close to 10% as possible (some of these are easy, especially if it's just for a week). I know that we'd all really appreciate additional ideas that you have to add in the comments section below.

• Buy in season - It costs a lot less to buy fresh produce that's in season than produce that's been shipped in from South America or has been stored for months.

• Brew your coffee at home - or better yet, at the office. With a medium flavored latte running about $4, enjoying your cup of joe home brewed just a few days a week really adds up. If you usually get those $4 coffees every day, save the treat for the weekend and brew it at home during the week. There's about $20 right there!

• Eat out less - It's pretty rare that eating at a restaurant costs less than eating at home.

• Drink less - Really, drink less alcohol, especially out. This is where restaurants are making their most margin. While you might be saving a lot of money with happy hour food, don't give it all back to them by indulging in a couple full-priced cocktails. Check out Costco, Trader Joe's and Cost Plus for great deals on wine and beer to enjoy at home before going out.

• Buy less expensive protein - Nuts, beans, lentils and vegetables like broccoli, beets, carrots and squash (which is in season & can store for 4 months!) are high in protein but tend to be less expensive than most meats, dairy and eggs. Think chili, vegetable soup with beans, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on whole wheat bread.

At the end of the week the most important thing is that we collectively saved something and made a donation to Share Our Strength. While 10% is a good goal (and we'd love to see some give more), every dollar helps feed a hungry child!

When you're week is up and you're ready to give, CLICK HERE. And don't forget to let us know how you saved money in order to help feed hungry children.

Thanks for visiting Change Becomes Change. If you'd like to get ideas for simple ways you can start making change happen delivered to your email inbox, just click here for a free subscription.

Sharing What We Have to End Childhood Hunger This Holiday Season

Update: I'm honored and a little giddy to have this, and other stories from Change Becomes Change featured on Oprah.com. Find great holiday ideas at Oprah's Deck the Blogs Roundup.

Did you enjoy a nice Thanksgiving with the whole spread? We certainly did and were very thankful that we were able to do so this year since there were many families who couldn't. Some scaled back, others likely didn't have much of a spread at all. And still others might have just been thankful for a warm meal at the local shelter. Many put their children first and hope that there's at least enough to provide them a decent meal.

A recent USDA report found that 14.6% of U.S. households, or some 49 million – 1 in 7 Americans – suffered from hunger at some point in 2008,while the number of hungry children in the US reached a record 16.7 million – or 22.5%. The experts believe that the number of Americans experiencing “food insecurity” will climb steadily in 2009 and 2010 as hard economic times and unemployment continues.

Children who suffer from hunger are likely to face lifelong challenges including:

• weaker immune systems

• more stomachaches

• headaches

• colds

• ear infections

• fatigue

• behavioral difficulties

• impaired performance academically, socially and in sports

I hope that you'll agree with me that no child deserves to suffer like this from a lack of food and help make a difference to the almost 17 million children who won't be enjoying holiday meals like us this year.

If you haven't heard of Share Our Strength then let me introduce you. Share Our Strength is a national organization that works hard to see that no child in America grows up hungry. That's no easy task so they rely on many supporters to help them in a variety of ways. This holiday season, whether you're looking for a thoughtful holiday gift for friends and family, or a way to make a lasting difference in the lives of children in need, Share Our Strength offers great ways to Share Your Season and help end childhood hunger.

Here are just a two easy ways you can Share Your Season to help:

1. Let friends and family know about your commitment to childhood hunger by making a donation and giving them Share Our Strength gift tags to spread the word. You can even send these donation announcements as e-cards too.

2. Text in a $5 donation right from your mobile phone (ok, it really doesn't get any easier than that). Get the details here.

Times may be tough for a lot of us this year, which means that giving to others may be less than in year's pass. While there are more people with greater needs this year than ever, we all need to make sure that our own children are fed first.

But here's an idea that helps everyone: no matter what your weekly food budget is, let's all cut it by 10% one week this month for the Share Your Season campaign. Just one week. Just 10%. So if your food budget is $100, you're spending $90. And the $10 (or 10%) goes to Share Our Strength to help end childhood hunger. That might mean less dessert or one less meal out this week.

How can you save 10% this week?

Thank you for visiting Change Becomes Change. If you'd like to get ideas for simple ways you can start making change happen delivered to your email inbox, just click here for a free subscription.

Donating What We Don't Need

As November arrived in the Pacific Northwest, it quickly became time to go through our winter gear to see what still fits, what doesn't and what needs to be replaced. Two years ago we bought the kids snow gear a size larger than they needed so we were fortunate to get through two seasons. Unfortunately, that means it's time for them to be replaced this year, along with the coats, winter clothes and shoes that no longer fit our growing little ones.

Over the years, we've put these kind of barely-used items for sale at a consignment store, Craigslist or eBay to help fund the replacements. This year we've decided that there are a lot of families who need our warm, gently used gear and winter clothes more than we need the few dollars we'd profit.

At work, the Community Involvement Team that I'm a part of, has organized a Gently Used Coat and Shoe Drive. We're asking folks to clean out their closets and donate these items to local organizations that will make sure they get to the most needy folks.

For other items, we'll take them to the Neighborhood House that "brings neighbors together to feed the hungry, house the homeless, and educate young and old". They serve a lot of families with young children and need a variety of sizes to help meet the needs.

If you have items to donate and share with others, a quick search for local shelters or churches should offer you many choices. National organizations like Goodwill and the Salvation Army are good options as well. You may even know of family or friends that would greatly appreciate some hand-me-downs or would be interested in a clothes swap if the sizes work out right.

This year, I urge all of us to think about those in more need and do something. Make a difference. 

What will you do?

Life without shoes

Other than the daily selection process, how often do you think about your shoes? Could you imagine life without them? If you think your dogs are barking after a long day of walking or shopping in heels, think about the pain if you didn't have shoes.

Well, there's a lot of people all over the world, and right here at home, that don't have shoes. And that means they're exposed to cuts, scrapes and other harm on a daily basis.Think about the nastiness you see on the street, in the park or mass transit. Yeah, pretty bad.

There's a great group called Soles4Souls that have come together to give shoes where they're needed. So far, they've already put over 4 million pairs of shoes on feet since they started this venture! Just last week they held one of their Barefoot Week events right outside my office in Portland where they gave 5,000 pairs of shoes to our large homeless youth population and families living on the streets.

Watching this event throughout the day from my desk broke my heart. I watched families wait for hours in line to get shoes for their young children while I counted my blessings knowing my kids were running around in good shoes at the park.

They're doing a great job but they need our help because there's still so many people, even kids, without proper shoes. So, here's a few easy way we can all help protect their feet. 

Find a shoe drive near you and help keep the 300 million pairs of shoes Americans toss in the trash (yes, 300 million!) out of landfills - and help someone else!

Host a shoe drive with your group, neighbors or friends. Soles4Souls makes it super easy.

Donate your gently worn shoes. Wouldn't it be great if Imelda Marcos did this?

From their site you can learn more about donating cash, or your time on a relief trip.

Let's all commit to one thing so we can support Soles4Souls in their mission to change the world, one pair at a time. My kids are at that age where they're growing out of shoes while they still look new so we'll be taking ours to a drop off location.

What can you do? Do you have one pair of shoes to donate?

  

This was one of those families so happy with their new shoes.

 

Soles4Souls volunteers hard at work with smiles on their faces as they help folks living on the street find shoes that fit.

Don't forget to sign up for delivery of Change Becomes Change right in your In Box and share this with a friend looking to help make this a better world.

Parents on the edge

"Parents that kill" -that's a really scary headline that has been in the news too much lately. Each time I hear these stories, I watch in tears as I wonder what happened, could this have been avoided, what went wrong. Being a parent myself, I cannot imagine that horrible place where this becomes even a considered option. Saying goodbye to my kids in the morning is hard for me most days.

But the reality is that there are a lot of families living on the edge of survival. One father described the feeling like "living in a closed box with no opening". With homelessness and hunger on the rise, parents become stressed out, maxed out and strung out. They don't know where to turn as the pressure to provide becomes overwhelmingly impossible.

There are places to turn, like county crisis lines, food relief organizations and homeless shelters, but things get in the way. Awareness, access and pride are just a few.

So, what can we do? Most parents aren't publicizing the magnitude of their stress or sharing their mental state, so it's not easy to identify early signs of danger. But what if we took some time to get to know our neighbor or someone we see often that has recently lost a job or home? Over time, could we see indications that things have gotten much worse?

Most of us are feeling some economy-related stress right now. Even if we have jobs, they might not be that secure. There might be a new baby coming soon, a daycare provider significantly increasing their rates, a medical emergency, or an unexpected expense that burdens the family.  We all know families in these situations.

While it's easy to feel that we are unable to help neighbors with these challenges, there are little things we can each do that make a difference to someone in need.  

• Visit or call someone who's going through a tough time. Just to listen. An empathetic ear can make their day! Maybe bring some tea.
• Share a meal with a family. Invite them over and insist they bring nothing.
• Provide some fun for kids that might not be having a lot of it. Invite them over to play with yours. Take a bag full of bubbles, sidewalk chalk and jump ropes to the park or neighborhood where kids gather.
• Check in with folks you might regularly run into to see how they're doing. There's a homeless woman outside our local bakery that we've gotten to know and we can tell when she needs someone to just give her a few minutes of time.

These are little things that we can all do. If you can donate food to your local food bank or funds to a women's shelter, that's wonderful! If we all do what we can to make a small difference, it will add up. I promise. But it has to start with each of us today.

I like to keep this quote in mind from Gandhi: Be the change you want to see in the world.