Many Hands Make Light Work

Mike, Jordie, Nick and I were part of a group who spent our Saturday morning volunteering at Kansas City’s community food bank; Harvesters.



In just 4 hours, we shattered the old record, which was 6 tons of food moved and boxed up, ready for distribution to one of the 550+ agencies in Harvesters’ networks. Our group moved... drum roll please... 16 1/2 TONS of food. 66 THOUSAND people in Kansas City rely on Harvesters each week for food assistance. The fastest growing population of need? Suburbia. Our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers need our help.


The urban areas have historically had the most need and those numbers remain relatively stable. Suburbia is now relying more heavily on Harvesters resources than ever before. We are collectively, a people of means with generous spirits. My intent with this post is to nudge you toward action by sharing the awareness that I myself did not fully have before spending a few hours with this organization.


We all see the little white tear-off coupons in increments of $1, $5 and $10 sitting right at the checkout line of our favorite grocery stores. Most of us, my guess is… utilize them from time to time, particularly during the holiday season. Where does the money go and how much of it goes to actually funding the cause and not covering administration costs is often in the back of our mind. Not only did I find out the answer to this question, but was literally bowled over by learning how well this fine-tuned non-profit machine is run overall.


Less than 3% of Harvesters' resources are used for administration and fundraising--well below the industry standard. In the non-profit world, 84% of each dollar going directly to fund its cause is considered a well run operation. With Harvesters, 97 cents of each dollar you donate at your local grocery stores by way of that little tear-off coupon goes directly to feed the hungry. That to me is incredible, especially when you factor in community needs going up, costs continuing to rise and the ability for individuals, corporations, faith-based communities, foundations, social service organizations, and state and federal grants to raise donations is becoming more and more challenging as this economy continues to struggle.


Together we can make a difference; work smarter, not harder. Choose to help fund organizations with impressive (high) program ratio’s and/or demand the same skills from the management of the organizations that are there to guide your favorite causes forward.


And never underestimate the value of your time; it is as valuable a commodity as your money is to these folks. Thousands of corporations, congregations, civic groups and individuals contributed more than 107,000 volunteer hours in fiscal year 2009. That's the equivalent of approximately 52 full-time staff members. Harvesters will be the first to tell you they could not come close to achieving the sort of success they have without our man-hours.


Hunger in our country is unacceptable. It is unacceptable anywhere. We are lucky to have Harvesters in our community taking care of our own. Let’s take care of Harvesters in return.


Note: I know non-profits are made up of diverse organizations and we cannot compare apples to oranges. A food bank has fewer costs than say a museum that has to hire staff and security and insurance. An 84% program ratio might indeed be a good number for a museum, but would be an unobtainable goal for a social services non-profit. I get that. My only point here is that Harvesters… when compared to other non-profits in their industry… is the Gold Medal Standard. Tear off that $1, $5, or $10 coupon next time you’re feeding your own family and you can rest assured that your money is getting to those in need by way of their own kitchen table.

What do you want to do this week, Chris?

"Good As Gold" sculpture by Donald Lipiski

The beginning of a new year for me typically starts out with high hopes. Lots of changes are on the docket to make; most are repeats of past failures: eat right, exercise more, do a good deed daily, and bump up our worship services to something more than quarterly. Typical stuff, all good intentions.



This year however, I have found myself pondering over it a bit more. What I’ve concluded is, I can’t take one more year of the same. The same broken promises to myself, the same unrealized goals, the same view from my gerbil cage. I need some new inspiration and definitely some new scenery to go with it!


This isn’t a particularly brand new revelation for me. My M.O. is to fantasize in January, fail in February and accept the mundane as my status quo by March. So is this my lot in life? Let me ponder some more…


NO!


As my mother often says when confronting a challenge, “There are more ways to skin a cat”, (my apologies to cat lovers and PETA!). If you can’t go over it, or through it, try going around it. Or under it. Or knock the damn thing down. Whatever it takes.


Job 1 is to identify what” it” is. For me, it’s a rut. I’m in a rut, and I’m the only one who can get me out of it.


So this is my solution: a proposal to myself. I’m calling it “What do you want to do this week, Chris?”


Net/net… there are 52 weeks in a year. My goal is to step out of my box each week by doing something that I often “say” I want to do, but never actually get out of the starting gate. These will be for the most part, simple pleasures. Not costly or particularly time consuming, these are activities that I can do during the day, during the week.


Our communities, if we take the time to notice, offer a plethora of opportunities. Some are there for fun, some are there to help, and some are there to give us an opportunity to help others. I’m open to them all.


Make no mistake, I still want to eat right, exercise more, do more good deeds and get a little closer to my God. But my hope is that by stimulating my life in other ways, these shortcomings will become less of a focus and perhaps even, less difficult for me to overcome.


Officially, today falls in the second full week of the year. Because I am O.C.D., I cannot fathom not starting with week one! So play along with me here as I post something somewhat lame that I did last week. I promise to try and spice it up going forward.


Week 1: I dropped in for a few hours last Sunday at the Matt Ross Community Center in downtown old Overland Park. The purpose was to shake up my fitness routine by swimming some laps. Mission accomplished. An unexpected benefit however was rediscovering that “community feel”. There was so much going on there… who knew? Probably everyone but me; hence the need for my 52 week journey!


Week 2: I am writing this post from the Plaza branch of the Kansas City Missouri Public Library. I am not a novice at this particular activity, but it’s definitely been too long since my last visit. Next time, I should visit during a different time of day in order to feel more of its essence; I’m certain the landscape changes drastically as the day winds down. The guy sitting at the next table has been reading newspapers since I got here. He’s been talking to them too… I enjoyed his commentary on the Mark McGuire debacle even though he wasn’t intentionally sharing it with me. I couldn’t help but watch when he pulled a large Ziploc from his backpack. In it were some fresh wipes; he pulled one out and washed his face. I looked away but he really didn’t notice me anyway. He was busy unpacking then repacking his backpack. Then he started layering his many pieces of winter-wear on his body. I bet, the thought occurred to me, he might be heading back to a shelter at this time of day to secure himself a bed and a meal. Those are real commodities on the coldest of nights like we are experiencing now; best to plan ahead. Young students are starting to arrive and fill up the same chairs left behind by the many homeless people I have encountered. Again, this is nothing more than my imagination but my guess is they’re coming from the campus of UMKC and killing some time studying before they start their shift as a server at one of the many Plaza eating establishments. I’m not too far away from the Children’s section of the library; it boasts some of the better views from its windows. I can hear the buzz from there increasing, the after-school crowd is filing in. I am sitting at a window table just above Ward Parkway, which offers me a fabulous dual view of the city east of here, and the Country Club Plaza just to the north. It also reminds me that traffic is picking up and it is probably best I hit the road back to the suburbs soon. Days like this make me look forward to next week and what it might offer, as long as I make the effort to look for it again.


So stay tuned, and if you have something coming up that lends itself to company, give me a holler, hopefully I will say yes!




Note: I have yet to give much thought as to how to go about sharing my weekly activities. For now, my intention will be to post each week and title it “What do you want to do this week, Chris?”   Sounds like a plan at least!