World Food Day

It was my birthday last week. Considering last year's birthday was a let down between a hospitalized family member, underwhelming gifts, an especially difficult body day, no birthday cake, and the fact that a lot of the people I loved best forgot about it entirely, I knew I wanted something different out of this year. Once I stopped feeling sorry for myself, I remembered once hearing that if you want to feel better about your life you should help someone else. With that seed planted, I knew I wanted to mark the day with a gesture of kindness, but I was not coming up with any bright ideas.

A few days before the day, a couple of Facebook friends must have mis-read the date and wished me a happy day. Eureka! The fuzzy, unformulated idea quickly came into focus: I would pledge a dollar for every happy birthday I received on Facebook and donate the wishes to our local Food Bank and Learning Centre. I expected a little over a 100 wishes.

By the end of the day, I had 269 wishes, two friends who graciously agreed to match my donation, and another who made a donation directly to the Centre.

Today, October 16, is World Food Day. If you go to Food Banks Canada's Facebook page and share their post, Cargill will donate $5 (https://www.facebook.com/FoodBanksCanada).  This is significant. World Food Day allows us a chance to think and talk about food and food security. Each month nearly 1 million Canadians visit a food bank, over a third are children, and those numbers continue to grow. I don't feel that it matters who the visitors to the Food Banks are; I have a hard time thinking of anyone not knowing where their next meal is coming from, and an even harder time thinking about anyone being hungry and not having options, but if it helps you care, know that the people who need food and food security are people just like you. They include students, seniors, people with disabilities, working families, newcomers, and children.

Tracking all the wishes, receiving the news about the matches, and reading the messages from so many friends who loved the idea became the happiest part of my day.  I knew that giving can do so much good, but it took my Facebook birthday wishes to help me realize that giving also feels good. I want you to feel good too. Please consider giving, and while you are at it, give thanks for what you have.