US Postal Service Food Drive

I left a few cans in my mailbox today, to participate in the National Association of Letter Carriers and the U.S. Postal Service National Food Drive. Apparently they collected 73.1 million pounds of food last year. What a great drive. Big thanks to all our wonderful postal employees.

Food bank

I donated some money to a few of our local food banks today for the holidays.

Los Angeles Regional Foodbank to pay for 220 meals (it was $55, what a deal!). And to
Union Rescue Mission where I also signed a Christmas card.

The food bank in LA had to turn away thousands of people at Thanksgiving because they ran out of food. I'm starting to see more people on the streets, and its going to get worse.

My own situation got worse this year, my household lost about 80% of its income for about 4 months. But we are back up to 70% of what we got last year, which is enough to pay the bills and buy some rice and beans. We tend to eat cheap so we can help others eat. Its also healthier!

Education Generation and Food Drives

I suggested a food drive happen at my gym (Curves, go 6 days/week!) for our local holiday food drive. I've run into a few of the ladies who go there (its a woman's gym) helping sort and distribute food for the Foothill Unity Center, and I know we'll get a good response with donations. Curves usually does a food drive in all their gyms in March and its pretty successful. Food banks are really hurting this year - less donations and more need. Think about passing on some of your excess if you have any.

Education Generation (the new online non-profit to help kids in developing countries get educated) has a few students that need funding by Dec 20th. I donated to Amos Ouma, Fredrick Oyugi, Kennedy Ouma, Josephine Owuor, and Michael Oumo, all promising students from Kenya. You can help them too for $20. And helping a student ends up helping the family which helps the village and the townships and then the entire country. Its supporting the brightest and most ambitious students.

Local Food Banking

I helped pack 1220 boxes of food for Thanksgiving yesterday. The event was at the Los Angeles arboretum and the food goes to local families through a local charity - Foothills Unity Center. The food will be distributed next week. I went with some Obama supporters, we have done it a few times before and decided to keep doing it as part of Obama's service. Its a lot of fun. The number of boxes needed this year is a lot more than last, last year we only did ~800.

Last night I went to the taping of CNN's heroes at the Kodak theatre. I got a complimentary ticket thanks to 'People Assisting the Homeless - PATH'. It was a great event, I enjoyed seeing all the stars (John Legend played!). The show will be airing next Thursday at 9pm on CNN.

Food Banking

Yesterday I helped box food for the holidays for local shelters. It was fun, I was with some friends - local Obama supporters I'm volunteering with.