37.2 Million Households Were Food Insecure Before The Pandemic (Food Forward 8/20)
54 Million Households Are Food Insecure Right Now (Marketplace.org 5/20)
2020 has been an absolute whirlwind. A mostly downward emotional roller coaster. Pandemic, protests, work from home, educate from home, volatile presidential election, murder hornets and the list goes on.
I can’t wait for it to be over and life to return to “normal.” I’m sure it’s been tough on you too. This blog is not to take away from that. However, I’ve been realizing how fortunate I am to have a roof over my head, food on the table and a household filled with love (in the midst of close quarters!). In bouts of self-pity and frustration, I try and keep this in perspective. While I'm enjoying a relatively comfortable life, food insecurity is a struggle for many in our country.
What is Food Insecurity?
Food Insecurity is defined as the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
Admittedly and until recently, I was not aware of how substantial the problem of hunger is, not just worldwide, but in our own country, cities and backyards. It wasn’t really awareness that was my problem, but depth of awareness. I knew hunger was a top issue in our country, but it’s far more severe and impacts many more Americans than I realized.
The numbers on households impacted are astounding. With everything else going on in our country, the fact that the numbers are doubling, is going mostly unnoticed. If major changes aren’t made to get food to those in need, we will have a disaster of epic proportions.
While I may be frustrated by being stuck indoors with family and work colliding, there are families that literally can not put food on their tables.
Food insecurity is a crisis that is exasperated by breakdowns in the supply chain, from farm to table. The technology is not in place to flex up or down, depending on need.
What does this lead to?
40% of Food In The United States is Wasted (NRDC - August 2017)
That equates to 20 pounds of food, per person, per month. This is a worldwide trend, that if reversed can lead to two billion people being fed.
The good news is, we can feed people – right now
Help us Reach $1000: over 10,000 Mouths Fed
As a small business owner, sometimes I feel like I don't have enough to give back that would even make a tiny dent in such a big problem. But, the fact is, that if we all do a little bit, then we CAN make a difference. I have chosen to work with a charity called Feeding America. The great thing about charities like this, and this one in particular, is that they can take our donations and put them to good use... making even a small amount of money go a long way.
I want Bestowe to be a solution to the problem so I have set up two goals for our business to help put food on peoples tables that need it.
- Raise awareness of the problem and simple and immediate changes we can make in our daily lives to help
- Raise money – I will be donating 10% of all my profits to Feeding America. I have also organized an Online Art Auction on my website starting next week and continuing through the rest of the year, where we will auction off works from some of our artisans. 100% of Auction sales will go to Feeding America.
Access our Auctions here to make a Donation.
Our goal is to reach $1000 dollars.
For every dollar donated, 10 mouths will be feed. So that means, if we meet our goal of $1000, we will feed 10,000. And that is pretty epic.
Below are some examples of our gifting on Auction this holiday, starting November 16th with a West Perro Wall Hanging. Stay tuned for other artisans including Aleksandra Zee, Oaksmith, MMClay and more!
4 Ways you can help change food insecurity.
It is simple to get a meal to a family. By banding together, we can get several meals to several families with the help of our charity Feeding America. We can easily reduce food waste and redirect that food to those in need.
These two areas will be our focus for the rest of the year. We hope you'll join us, either by:
1. Reducing your waste. Only cook what you need and buy what you can consume.
2. Buying any gift from Bestowe and automatically donating to the cause
3. Putting a bid on one of our Auctions on Instagram or Online
(our Auctions began Nov 16th and go through Dec 17. Sign up for our newsletter to be reminded or click here to read more.)
4. Donating directly to Feeding America.
Hint: Check first with the company you work for because making a donation to either them directly or our auction. By making charitable donations some companies will match your money up to a certain amount. This could double your donation to the cause and wouldn't that be awesome?