Going hungry is no way to grow up. It impacts everything: school, interactions with others, work.
I think about my son. He’s not even close to going hungry. Yet, he complains if he has to go to bed with his stomach growling. Luckily, he can go downstairs and find something to eat. I cannot imagine trying to console him, or get him to sleep, when his stomach is begging for more.
For 1-in-6 people in the United States, hunger is a reality. Going downstairs is not an option. They must go to bed hungry. They go to school hungry. And, when there’s no school, oftentimes, they have no food.
We can all help. Donate a few canned goods every month to a near-by food pantry. In some locations you can purchase a bag of food at the grocery store and they’ll deliver it for you to the pantry. Create a donation jar everyone in your home contributes to. Host a food drive. Ask for food to donate in lieu of birthday and holiday gifts.
TDS Telecom does a number of things to help fight hunger. The company makes contributions a couple of times per year to food pantries in the markets we serve cross the country. In fact, over the last few years, we’ve donated about $12,000 a year to a handful of area food pantries.
In addition, TDS supports the Second Harvest food pantry. We do a food drive, help with the local NBC15 TV station’s grand finale — sorting food, answering calls during the phone-a-thon — and we donate the phone lines for the event. For six years running, TDS has also made a $7,000 contribution at the request of our employees. (We ask them to select a local non-profit that could receive the donation in lieu of hosting a holiday party … they continually pick Second Harvest).
It feels good to help fight hunger. To see the smiles on the faces of our employees when they know they are making a difference – it’s priceless. But knowing there are still so many going to bed hungry, it makes me want to do more. We can all do more. Please join us in making a difference in your community. Together, we can eliminate hunger!
