Contemporary Nutrition 9th Edition by Gordon Wardlaw,Anne Smith

Exercise 17

Fighting World Undernutrition on a Personal Level
If you want to do something about world and domestic undernutrition, consider the following activities. It is a noble act to try to make a difference, even if you make only one small step. As with any change in behavior, do not try to do too many things at once.
Try one or two activities that represent your commitment to solving this problem.
1. Volunteer at a local soup kitchen or homeless shelter for a time (1 month, for example). What insights did you gain?
2. Coordinate the efforts of a campus organization to donate money to an antihunger agency such as the following:
3. Make a contribution of nonperishable foods to the ongoing offering at a place of worship near you. If such an offering does not exist, start one.
4. Get on a food recovery program's mailing list, read its newsletters for information on upcoming fund-raisers and other activities, and become involved.
5. Utilize your love of good food and healthy cooking skills to organize a local meal for the hungry or a benefit dinner to raise money for local food banks. Resources to set up projects may be available from mission organizations. For example, with Blood: Water Mission's Lemon: Aid project, students or families can use something as simple as the sale of a refreshing drink to fund potable drinking water in rural communities in Africa.
6. Participate in food drives organized by local grocery stores by contributing food or services. Food-drive organizers may need volunteers to transport the donations to a food pantry. Pay attention to events around World Food Day, October 16.
7. Point, click, and fight hunger. Internet users can find information on hunger at several sites, including the following:
• Someone somewhere dies of hunger every 3.6 seconds. You can help stop the clock: go to www.thehungersite.com and click on Donate Free Food to send a meal to a needy someone. This site is affiliated with the UN World Food Program, which tracks the number of clicks and then sends a bill to one of its corporate or nonprofit sponsors.
• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has worked to alleviate poverty and hunger by promoting agricultural development, improved nutrition, and the pursuit of food security. This website will keep you up-to-date on recent issues and provides an extensive list of publications related to food security. www.fao.org
• America's Second Harvest, the largest domestic hunger-relief organization, shows you how to help online and has information about the latest updates. www.secondharvest.org
• Bread for the World is a nationwide Christian citizens' movement seeking justice for the world's hungry people by lobbying our nation's decision makers. www.bread.org
• CARE is one of the world's largest private international relief and development organizations, with the goal of saving lives, building opportunities, and bringing hope to people in need. www.care.org
• Turn your personal fitness goals into a campaign to raise funds and awareness for projects that provide food and clean water to communities around the world. Water Walks (see www.bloodwatermission.com) or Crop Walks (see www.churchworldservice.org) are great ways to walk a mile in someone else's shoes.