Grasshopper New Media Presents...

Last week I mentioned how often I get bored with food. It’s bugged me all week, quite frankly. I don’t like sounding so ungrateful. There are people right in my area who struggle to put food on the table each day, and here I am complaining about variety. With colder weather coming on and heating bills on the rise I know that it gets even tougher.

With that in mind, I’d like to use this week’s post to list some resources for finding charities that focus on helping people with food needs.

One site that looked particularly helpful is Charity Navigator, a site that evaluates American charities. They have detailed reports on hundreds of charities complete with financial information; you can see where the money is spent. The Human Services section has six categories. I was interested in the Food Bank section and was pleased to find 142 food banks listed. It’s easy to sort by state to find a local mission.

For our international readers, Food Charity.org lists large programs that can be found both in the US and worldwide.

Can’t find anything local listed? Try calling a church or human services agency. They’ll certainly be able to point you in the right direction.

Are you an American Express cardholder? Their Members’ Project is currently ongoing. They’ve narrowed the selection down to 5 charities; while each is guaranteed to win at least $100,000, the competition awards the charity with the most votes $1.5 million. One of the organizations in the running is the International Medical Corps. The IMC is on-site in 25 countries, working to end starvation and poverty. They respond to crisis situations as well as run long-term projects. A non-political and non-sectarian organization, they focus only on the goal of saving lives and relieving suffering.  I was very impressed to learn that the IMC has a 4 Star rating from Charity Navigator, and has had it for some time.

I became aware of the IMC when they e-mailed me for help in winning votes in the Members’ Project. If you are a cardholder, you can vote for the IMC on the Members’ Project site. People who do not have American Express cards cannot vote (that would be me) but can pass along information about the contest.  Details are on the Members’ Project homepage.

If you’re able to help end hunger, whether it’s a neighbor close by or someone on the other side of the planet, thanks. Every little bit counts.

by AmyL

Photo graciously provided by *Brunna Peretti*, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved