Go Halfsies for Good Health and Fighting Hunger

Halfsies: Connecting the Dots from Go Halfsies on Vimeo.

"About 40% of the food produced in the United States isn't consumed. Every day Americans waste enough food to fill the Rose Bowl. And our national food waste habit is on the upswing: We waste 50% more food today than we did in 1974." -- Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland

Go Halfsies is a nonprofit and social initiative offering restaurant-goers the choice of healthier meal portions, reducing food waste, and supporting the fight against hunger.  When people choose to "go halfsies" at a participating restaurant, they receive a half-portion and still pay full price.  The restaurant then donates to local and world hunger causes.

Right now, New York City and Austin, Texas restaurants plan to participate, but since the idea was just featured, Go Halfsies has received requests from DC, Atlanta, Athens, Saf Fran, Boston, LA, Chicago, & even Australia.

Mikey's Meals

A boy transforms his profound gratitude into service after receiving a life-saving operation. Michael Carraway Jr. received a liver transplant at UCSF Medical Center in 2008.  He had been a healthy, active 6th grader participating in sports, music, and Indian dance.  He became sick, and doctors placed him on a list for an organ transplant.  Michael's life was saved by a teenager who was in a traffic accident.  His recovery was swift, and by the time Christmas rolled around, Michael told his mother he wanted to feed homeless people for Christmas.  Mikey's Meals was born.

I prepared dinner and fed 25 people Christmas 2008 to start. In 2009, except for the months of April and May, when Michael was in the hospital, Mickey’s Meals feed 1,175 people in the city of Oakland, CA. Christmas 2009, in addition to providing meals to the homeless, Mikey’s Meals sponsored its first toy drive and handed out 100 gift bags that included toiletries, hats, socks, and gloves to adults.

Mikey's Meals also raises awareness about organ donations.  For his Pay-It-Forward spirit, Michael was recently featured as a CNN Hero for 2012.

One Acre Fund: Breaking New Ground

Family farmers in Africa grow a year's food supply using a hoe and seeds harvested from the previous year.  Often the supply comes up short, and people experience a season of hunger.  Yale business student Andrew Youn saw a way to create solutions with the One Acre Fund.

Our core service package for farmers includes: group formation, education, seed and fertilizer delivery, flexible payments (credit or sales), and market access. Farmers pay for these services.

One Acre Fund helps poor farmers grow more, loans money for tools, and serves 75,000 east African farmers.  On average, farmers double their income.

One Acre Fund was the recipient of the Financial Times Sustainable Banking Award for Achievement in Basic Needs Financing. The award recognizes groundbreaking programs, transactions, and initiatives that use the power of finance to address the scarcity of essential goods across society.

Share Our Strength

Twenty percent of American children don't have enough to eat. Their hunger and food insecurity doesn't manifest as rail thin limbs and bloated tummies like their counterparts in other countries, but hungry American kids face the same risk lacking the energy to learn, grow and thrive physically and intellectually.

The nonprofit, Share our Strength aims to end child hunger in America by 2015.  Here's a look at what the organization is trying to tackle:

• More than 16 million children in America are at risk of hunger.
• 15.7 million children in America live in poverty. 
• 18.6 million children are SNAP/food stamps recipients.
• Over 20 million children get a free or reduced-price school lunch.
• 10.5 million children get a free or reduced-price school breakfast.
• 6 out of 7 children do not get the free summer meals they are eligible for.

Share Our Strength partners with major corporations and donors mobilizing to create community wealth and  promote lasting change.

Feeding the 5000

'Feeding of 5,000' to Combat Waste

Feeding the 5000 showed people in London the insane level of food waste going on every day by preparing a feast for thousands with discarded and unwanted food.  A crooked carrot might be tossed at a supermarket because aesthetically that carrot isn't desirable.  Shockingly, all of the world's nearly one billion hungry people could be nutritiously fed on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the US, UK, and Europe.

"The bread and other cereal products thrown away in UK households alone would have been enough to lift 30 million of the world's hungry people out of malnourishment." Source.

Food businesses, restaurants and retailers are asked to sign up to the Feeding the 5000 Pledge and commit to ending the scandalous amount of waste.

Jon Bon Jovi's Soul Kitchen: Hope Can Feed the Soul

Musical artist Jon Bon Jovi uses star power to address hunger, build relationships, and celebrate community.  His Soul Kitchen Restaurant welcomes everyone to the table.  There are no prices on the menu.  Customers pay what they can afford....usually a $10 donation.  And people are encouraged to pay it forward for others who have less.  Those who cannot afford a meal are not turned away.  They can volunteer an hour of time helping in the kitchen or in the restaurant's organic garden in exchange for a meal.

Bon Jovi tells NBC's Today Show that he hopes his charitable business model will catch on.

Love Kitchen Feeding the Homeless, Hungry, Hopeless, Homebound, and Helpless

Helen Ashe and Ellen Turner have made it their business to feed the hungry.  The twin sisters carry out this mission through their Love Kitchen which has been nourishing bodies and souls for twenty years now.  The twins' charitable work  has been recognized with a CNN Heroes feature, on Oprah, and ABC's Secret Millionaire.


Every week more than 2000 meals are made.  Eighty percent of the food is for the homebound people in the Knoxville area.  The sisters have attracted a lot of volunteers who help make the work possible.  


The Love Kitchen's motto is "Everybody is God's Somebody."

50 Cent Finds a Way to Give Back

Artist, 50 Cent wants to provide a billion meals for hungry people over the next five years.  The way he's undertaken the goal is through enterprise.  He's marketing the Street King energy drink.  The concept is simple: buy a drink, feed the hungry, one drink means one meal.  50 is working with The United Nations World Food Programme.  To date, Street King has funded 2.5 million meals for those without food.

Free Rice: The Game that Translates to Food for the Hungry

Free Rice is a vocabulary game that allows you to partner with the World Food Programme and its corporate sponsors such as AT&T, Citi, DirecTV, and Volkswagon.  Your mission is to feed the hungry.  The game helps you do something positive in your idle time.

Right now, the crisis in Somalia and the Horn of Africa threatens the lives of 12 million people, and tens of thousands of children have already died of starvation. The United Nations expects the famine emergency to persist for several months and the number of people needing help to go up by 25%.  The World Food Programme is on the front lines in addressing the immediate food security needs of refugees.

In the video below Brian Williams talks to the game's creator and explains more.  You can play Free Rice by visiting the website.

Mobilizing Internationally for Somalia

Famines are rare, but severe drought, food shortages, and sky-rocketing food prices have plunged Somalia into a crisis that puts millions of human lives at risk of starvation.  Young children are especially vulnerable .

It's estimated that 11.3 million people need humanitarian aid as food prices grow and supply dwindles in the drought-ridden region where Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya meet, the Associated Press reports.

Here are some organizations stepping up to provide emergency relief:

• UNHCR seeks $136.3 million in aid and suggests donations such as $7, for therapeutic food for a malnourished child.
• The British Red Cross and The Kenya Red Cross will accept donations online or through mail to first mitigate the crisis and see the people through restoring their livelihoods.
• The World Food Programme is appealing for $342 million to feed 11.3 million people in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. The organization plans to airlift operations to distribute high energy biscuits and nutritious supplementary foods.
• Oxfam, in conjunction with Save The Children, is making appeals for $144 million. Any amount is welcome, but the Oxfam site suggests $50 to provide 200 people a day's supply of clean water or $100 to feed a family of six more than two weeks.
• The International Rescue Committee is accepting donations that will provide medical screenings, expand water-supply systems and offer help for pregnant women.
• The ELCA World Hunger Relief is accepting donations to provide immediate aid to refugee camps in the Horn of Africa. 100% of donations will be used for regional relief, including filling a food distribution gap by providing enriched porridge to children and the elderly who are too weak to eat dry food.
• Action Aid will help deliver emergency supplies of food and water, and provide support, ensuring people don't become reliant on food aid.
• The U.N. Children's Fund is tackling crisis conditions faced by 2 million currently malnourished children.
• International Medical Corps' is accepting donations as it ships food and oil to four refugee camps. The Corps will also construct additional latrines and bathing areas.

The Dinner Garden: Seeds of Empowerment

Gardening began as a hobby for Holly Hirshberg, an activity to do with her children, but in 2008 Hirshberg's husband lost his job.  This put her in problem-solving mode.  Her home garden significantly alleviated the burden of food costs.  Why not grow the idea?  She founded The Dinner Garden which provides enough seeds to feed a family of four.  Tens of thousands of families across the U.S. have benefited already.  The Dinner Garden has also provided seeds for more than 100 community gardens.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that in 2009, almost 15% of American households were hungry or "food insecure" during some point that year. "Food insecure" means all household members did not always have access to enough food for an active, healthy life.

"When you're having trouble or struggling, you have so many things to worry about. How are you going to pay your mortgage? How are you going to afford your medicine ... your kids? If you know you have food, you don't have to worry."  -Hirshberg to CNN

The Dinner Garden partners with food banks and businesses across the country including Catholic Charities, World Food Garden, Seeds for Food, the Wyoming Food Bank, the San Antonio Food Bank, The Girl Scouts, Boys and Girls Club, The Peterson Garden Project, The San Antonio Community Gardeners, and The Salvation Army.

Holly Hirshberg and her nonprofit have been featured on CNN Heroes.

Mary's Meals

Hunger kills millions of children each year.  Those who survive in a malnourished state can experience delayed or stunted development both mentally and physically.  Iron deficiency interferes with concentration and decreases a child's activity.  Hungry teenagers lack the capacity to focus in school. Hunger remains the biggest threat to health.

Now, imagine feeding a half million children every day.  Mary's Meals doesn't have to imagine it; they live it.

The organization identifies impoverished children facing chronic food shortages and partners with schools to ensure kids receive one nutritious daily meal.  The academic experience is enhanced and children are able to perform better on full stomachs.   Mary's Meals does this through donations of money, goods, skills, and time.

You can learn more at their website: http://www.marysmeals.org.uk/