It's a modern day parable of the talents. Watching an investment grow, and seeing the countless ways it can make a difference. Barbara Cooke was hoping that for her 60th birthday, her "gift" to her friends and family would reach and extend well beyond just lining their pockets. Indeed it did. For Barbara's birthday, her gift benefited a total of 22 schools, church missions and other aid organizations, hospitals, research organizations, a humane society and the local food bank. In Portland, but also across the country. Here is her story.
"When Barbara Cooke turned 60 last April, she wanted a different kind of celebration.
"I'd reached an introspective age," she said. "I did a lot of thinking about what made me happy. I realized it was being able to help other people."
She calculated how far she could stretch her finances -- she's a testing coordinator at Gresham High School -- before inviting friends to her Northwest Portland home for what she billed as a surprise party -- for them.
After dinner, dessert and a rousing version of "Happy Birthday," Cooke walked among her friends and handed out 24 envelopes.
Each contained three $20 bills.
Cooke told her friends to take her $1,440 investment -- an investment in them, actually -- and make it grow. Like most people, she explained, she had a limited amount of money to give. On this night, she wanted to leverage it by tapping into other people's lives and hearts.
"I wanted them to take that money, use it to do more and then give it away," Cooke said. "Local, national or international. There were no strings or rules."
She wanted to give them plenty of time, too. So she told them they'd meet later in the year to see just how much they could each make $60 grow.
The results would surprise everyone.
Larry Rank remembers "doing the math" on Cooke's outlay after he and his wife, Marilyn Williams, opened their envelope. "That was a bit of change," he said. "I know she's not a rich woman. She was putting her money where her heart is." These organizations all benefited from Barbara Cooke's birthday challenge: In the weeks that followed, the party guests tried to figure out what to do. "It was a challenge," Rank said. "We could have given the money to a church and been done with it. But Barbara made all of us reflective. What could we do with three $20 bills to make a difference?" Rank and Williams settled on a plan and joined forces with another couple, Gary and Sandy Cann. Williams' 41-year-old son was born deaf and attended Southeast Portland's Tucker-Maxon Oral School as a child. The school uses technology -- digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, for example -- to help children hear and speak. The two couples pooled their money and asked school officials what they needed. They were told the school could use a few more high-tech hearing devices. "But each one costs $750," Rank said. "That's a long way from $120." They had to get creative. Williams and Rank had a spectacular garden, and both couples enjoy cooking. They bought flowerpots and filled them with plants from the garden. They invited friends to a backyard party, selling the plants to raise money and telling guests about Cooke's birthday challenge. "We ended up selling enough plants to collect $2,200," Rank said. "The school was blown away. We got a letter from them that a donor had agreed to match our gift. "That $120 turned into $4,400," he said. "The school bought two hearing devices and put the rest of the money into a scholarship fund to help students." The experience, Rank said, changed him. "We all can do more than we think we can," he said. "Goodness that lies just below the surface." Joanne and Darrell Mecklem weren't sure what to do with their money. The idea of trying to make the money grow made Joanne uncomfortable. "I'm not an asker," she said. But she thought about her oldest son, who suffered a brain injury when he was 30. Now 47, he lives at thePatton Home, a North Portland residential care facility. "I called the manager of the home and explained what Barbara had done," Mecklem said. "He told me that when a resident comes to the home, they get a new blanket, a set of linens and towels. It's a way to let people know they're getting a fresh start." Mecklem wrote people she knew and explained the challenge. "It was hard to ask people for money," Mecklem said. "But Barbara inspired each of us to reach out." She raised $715, enough to buy 14 sets of linens. Brian Cass, the Patton Home manager, was so moved that after he thanked Mecklem, he wrote Cooke to praise her for her idea. "We're are on a very tight budget here," he said. "A lot of the clientele have nothing when they get here. With Joanne's gift, I was able to use the money I would have spent on linens to pay for Thanksgiving dinner for the people who live here." As much as she appreciated the letter of thanks, Cooke didn't want to be the focus of the attention. "It was not about me," she said. Cooke said she was surprised by what people did with the money and why. "One woman hand-made 200 cards," Cooke said. "A year ago, her cousin, who was a teacher in Nevada, was killed by her husband. She sold the cards and raised $600. She sent it to the teacher who replaced her cousin in the school. She asked the teacher to use the money to buy books for the class and put a plate in them in honor of her cousin." Some people who attended the party reached out to other friends for advice. "I was a public school teacher for 25 years," said Amy Plumb. "I went to my water aerobics class and asked if anyone had an idea to help a school. A woman said her daughter volunteers at the Community Transitional School, a place for homeless kids in the Portland area." Plumb visited the school and talked with administrators and teachers. "I used my $60 as seed money for a party at my house during the summer," she said. "I told everyone it was a fundraiser. Then I e-mailed everyone I knew. I'm not afraid to ask for money. I raised $1,400. What I learned is that everyone can do something, no matter how small or large." For Cooke, her gift of $1,440 ended up being a spectacular investment in humanity. Last month, the group tallied the total raised: $23,265. "I felt true joy," Cooke said. "When you give, you receive."" oregonlive.com
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Habana Outpost is New York City's first eco-eatery. What's that, you say? "Eco-Eateries are restaurants that use earth-friendly practices in their design, construction, and day-to-day operations. Habana Outpost aims to reduce wasteful consumption and promote sustainable solutions." Check out their Green Facts here.
Our first eco-eatery, Habana Outpost in Fort Greene Brooklyn, was created with the mission to provide quality food in an atmosphere that is welcoming to people of all ages and backgrounds while setting an example of responsible business practices."www.cafehabana.com/press.htm
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Encouragement can do a lot to boost one's spirit or frame of mind. I haven't been feeling down, but recently I have received kind words via an anonymous email, remarks from friends, and even tweets on Twitter that have helped me to refocus and become re-energized in my goal for this blog. My original intent was to create a document that someday I can share with Isla, highlighting good news and hope. This is for her. And it still my goal today, Day 69.
But as I have been writing and researching, and the archive grows larger and larger with each passing day, John hasn't allowed me to be "selfish" with this good news. Good news is meant to be shared. And so he has equipped me and this blog with all of the latest social media paraphernalia. I blog. I tweet. I Facebook. And the crazy thing is, more and more of you are reading. Because, I believe, we all want to hear good news. It awakens our soul. Gets our minds churning. And instead of sitting back sighing woe is me, we get motivated to do something to improve the woe we see. Good news is encouraging.
I feel like I still am seeing the world for what it is. But instead of stopping and dwelling on the problem, I have chosen to look for the hope and progress that is being made. It may be small, still in the start-up phase. Like Sole Hope, who is still planning, developing shoe patterns, and raising money, but who hopes to soon be educating women in Africa on how to sew shoes to reduce the prevalence of disease in small communities. Or it may be well-established, impacting millions. Like the World Food Programme, established in 1962, whose aim for 2010 is to reach 90 million people with food assistance in more than 70 countries. All of these people and organizations that I have found and learned more about are encouraging me daily, and I hope in turn that you also are being encouraged along with me.
I cherish the comments, tweets, and emails that I receive. Please keep sending along good news that you encounter. Thanks for being an encouragement to me, and to those around you.
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Yesterday's post was about the generosity of a single man and his family, cooking and providing meals to those in a down-and-out position. Today I've chosen to look a little further at hunger, in a global sense, to see what is being done for the hungry around the world.
I tried to pull up some statistics, that might help in comprehending this issue a bit more in depth. A couple of questions came to mind as I was thinking about this: 1) Is there enough food to feed the world's population? 2) If there is, what is impacting it from reaching those who need it?
1) Is there enough food to feed the world's population?
"The world produces enough food to feed everyone (6.7 billion people). World agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day (FAO 2002, p.9)." Worldhunger.org
2) If there is, what is impacting if from reaching those who need it? The answer to this question was found at the World Food Programme website. I have only listed the main causes, but clearly it is a complex problem. - Nature - weather and climate change - War - conflict, displacement of millions -Poverty Trap - the poor are hungry and their hunger traps them in poverty -Agricultural infrastructure - high transportation costs, lack of storage facilities, and unreliable water sources -Over-exploitation of environment - poor farming practices, deforestation, over-cropping and over-grazing
Is there good news here? There is. The hungry haven't gone unnoticed. The United Nations has as one of their Millennium Development Goals to halve the number of people who are hungry by the year 2015. It is a continual challenge, especially with the recent global economic crisis, but the goal is still present. People and organizations are still working to get to food into the hands of those who are hungry. Here is a blog article, written by Martin Kabaluapa. "He works with the World Food Programme's Purchase for Progress project to help farmers in Kenya grow their own food to feed their own people. In this blog post, he explains how the project works - and why it's so successful."
As the Purchase for Progress (P4P) Coordinator in Kenya, I tour the country to see how the World Food Programme (WFP) can use its purchasing power to promote agricultural development and improve market access for small-scale farmers.
At the heart of our efforts is a straightforward concept: supporting nations to grow their own food to feed their own people. The opportunities are great. Almost 80 percent of the nearly $1 billion of food WFP buys each year comes from developing countries. In the past three years alone, we have purchased more than $500 million worth of food from East Africa, a place that is sadly better known for its droughts than its surpluses. Can you imagine if a substantial amount of this money was going into the pockets of small-scale farmers working on an acre or so of land?
On a recent trip to Mwala, an agricultural district 60 miles from Kenya's capital Nairobi, I met with farmers, both men and women, to explain how P4P works. The enthusiasm is palpable and now I need to figure out how to best support them to meet our international food standards while maintaining competitive prices.
Here in Mwala, we scout out potential collection points that would keep the food safe and dry - and believe me, the solutions often require creative thinking. A smaller, well-maintained building close to the farms would not be reachable by large trucks. The proposed solution: use smaller vehicles to collect the food. Another option is a strategically located hotel that is still in use. The proposed solution: empty the furniture for the harvest season!
Once a storage solution is found, the real business of helping farmers get to a position of selling their food to bigger and better markets begins. With government and NGO partners, we train them on everything from planting and harvesting techniques to marketing and negotiation skills. This is invaluable as it allows them to produce and store the food and represent themselves professionally when dealing with buyers." One.org/blog
There is hope, indeed, for the hungry.
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Jorge Munoz is giving, out of the little that he has, to his extended "family." For five or more years, he has cooked and delivered 70,000+ meals to men and women hungry on the streets. His day job is working as a bus driver, and one day he saw food being thrown out at a food factory. He requested to take that food, and handed it out a group of 8 men he saw sitting at the subway station. And he hasn't stopped since. With the assistance of his family, they create home-cooked meals with often donated food, and deliver it to the same subway station each night at 9:30. But it is no longer just 8 men. "You know somebody who's got problems to eat, you tell them to come here. I've got free food for them." Twenty-four, sixty, ninety, one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty. Each year, the word spreads. And as the economy became harder, the numbers grow. And the Munoz family continues to give these meals to their "family" on the street. Read here the New York Times article that was written about Jorge.
