Category Archives: Resources

Hope is Coming: Convoy of Hope Minneapolis

inspiration, Ministry, Resources, Service Projects

Hope is Coming

I’m running a little behind this week. My husband is on vacation, so while my days are filled with the usual work, we’ve also been working on home improvement projects like refinishing the deck, and entertainment like movies and baseball games. It’s exhausting. As much as I have loved having S around more, I just wish we could have been on vacation at the same time.

One of the things that has been keeping me on my toes is the upcoming Convoy of Hope rally here in the Twin Cities. I’m serving on the organizing team as the lead for children’s shoes. Donations have been rolling in, the planning and red tape are going well, and it’s going to be a great event. So for today’s post I thought I would tell you all about Convoy of Hope as an organization and the upcoming rally here in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Convoy is a faith-based non-profit organization that provides disaster and poverty relief around the world. They are probably best known for the truckloads of supplies they deliver after natural disasters. They also have feeding programs in eleven countries, and dozens of domestic rallies every year that provide immediate physical relief to people in poverty.

Convoy of Hope has an excellent reputation, with a four-star rating from Charity Navigator. They scored 100% in transparency and accountability. They have developed partnerships with churches around the world as well as major corporate partners.

The Twin Cities rally is coming up on Saturday, August 1, at Spring Lake Park High School. Gates open at 10:00 am. Every adult (up to 10,000 people) will receive a ticket that they can redeem for a free bag of groceries as they leave, and a free lunch will be served to everyone. During the event there will be tents where different local organizations will be providing health screenings, pregnancy tests and ultrasounds, job services, and community services. We’re giving away shoes (provided by Toms) for women and children. We’ll be taking family pictures. There is a DJ coming, and a whole kids’ zone filled with games and inflatables. The entire event is free.

Convoy, the local organizing team, and the volunteers who are giving their day to this event hope that the rally brings an infusion of hope and alleviates some of the immediate physical needs of people in our community.

-If you are in need, all you need to do is show up. No one will ask you to apply or qualify for the event. If you have needs, come have them met. Free of charge, and free of judgment. You are our guest of honor.

-If you can spare a few hours to help out that day, we NEED you! My tent, children’s shoes, needs 125 volunteers to organize the inventory, measure little feet, and run shoes to their new owners. Volunteers will be given a free t-shirt and lunch. All volunteers need to be ten or older. Volunteers between 10 and 13 need to be working alongside a parent or guardian. Volunteers between 14 and 18 will need a waiver signed by their parent or guardian. Volunteers over 18 can sign their own waivers J There is a volunteer rally on Friday night at Emmanuel Christian Center (7777 University Ave in Spring Lake Park) where the volunteers will get their shirts and all the details about logistics. If you want to volunteer, all you have to do is come to the rally on Friday and sign up. If you want to be guaranteed that you will be working in the cool tent (kids’ shoes!), let me know and I can get you signed up for my team.

If you don’t live in the Twin Cities area, you can still help out! We need prayer warriors to join us in begging God for good weather. There is no backup rain date, the show goes on as long as the weather isn’t actually unsafe. Pray also that people who need this boost would hear about the event and be able to attend. And if you can’t be here but you want to physically contribute, the kids’ shoes tent needs a few more supplies for the event. Contact me by July 15 and I’ll get you a link to the supplies we need. Convoy is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, so if you do make a financial contribution to the event, it’s tax-deductible.

I am really excited to be a part of this rally. When I was a kid my family went through some lean times. I didn’t get new shoes for back to school. I was lucky if I got them when my old shoes wore out! I remember when I was in 5th or 6th grade, the sole separated from my shoe. As I walked down the hall it went flap. flap. flap. My mom tried several times to repair it with rubber cement, but it just kept flapping. I made light of it; that’s just what I did. But inside, I was embarrassed. I believed that I wasn’t as cool (and dare I say even as valuable) as the other kids because my clothes were off-brand and hand-me-down, my shoes were in terrible shape, and I never got the fancy new school supplies other kids had. I cannot tell you how I coveted the big box of Crayola crayons with the sharpener in the back. God and my parents saw to it that I had my needs met – we never went hungry – but I know how it feels to feel like less. I’m excited to put new shoes on hundreds of kids before they go back to school this fall!

A few links for you:
Convoy’s site about the Minneapolis event, including a video about volunteering.
The Facebook Event page for the Minneapolis rally
Charity Navigator‘s review of Convoy of Hope

Edited to add:
It occurred to me during my thinking time/commute that I should tell you the rest of the story about my flapping shoe. I was in 5th grade at the time, and my little sisters were 7 and 4. We had been living in a small town for about a year, where my dad was the pastor at his very first church. The church wasn’t doing super well financially, so we weren’t either. On top of that dad had his brand new bible college (read: private university tuition) student loans to pay for. Our needs were met, but that was pretty much it.

So I was in 5th grade, wearing a cheap pair of shoes that I was undoubtedly hard on. I was one of those active, forgetful kids who was hard on things. I remember being surprised that the sole of my shoe was letting go so soon after we bought them. I knew my mom would be upset, but I also remember picking at it, because 11 year olds are neither wise nor terribly smart… So as I mentioned above, the sole of my shoe was hanging on by a thread, and everywhere I went it made a slapping flapping sound. I played it off as a joke. I made it flap loudly on purpose. It’s a shell game, a defense mechanism that kids use. If I make my embarrassing thing a joke, then you won’t judge me about it. In theory.

But it was basketball season, which made it that much harder. I was terrible at basketball. Really, really, terrible. But I played in 5, 6, and 7th grade because that’s just what we did. I rode in the bus and sat on the bench and practiced, but that was about it. And I did that in my messed up shoe. I’m not sure why I didn’t give up basketball; the clues were all there that this was not for me, and I didn’t harbor any delusions of becoming good at it. But I had to be strong and funny and as much like everyone else as I could be.

A couple weeks into the season, my mom showed up at practice. This was the 80s, maybe 1990 at the latest. Moms did not come to sports practice. They were at home dust bustering or something. The coach whistled and waved me over to mom, who had a shoe box in her hands and an eager look on her face. “Here,” she said, “this just came in the mail.” I lifted the lid to find a pair of white high top LA Gear tennis shoes with peach and pastel green trim. To this day I don’t know if my parents ordered them from the Sears catalog or if one of my grandmas sent them, but they were my first pair of real, kind-of name brand shoes (LA Gear was cool for a short time and then faded into pop culture history with Girbaud jeans and big hair). I clearly remember how I felt – the surge of self-esteem and joy at the newly leveled playing field. Am I dramatizing? A bit; it’s hard to make words that describe that fleeting lift. The shoes didn’t make me good at basketball (they weren’t magic). But they gave me a boost up from “mockable” to “normal.”

As an adult I regret that it mattered that much to me. I know that my true worth is not based on brands or fads, and I abused, wore out, and outgrew the new shoes too. I’m sorry that my goal in life was to blend in and be normal. But for kids, especially those in the tween/teen phase, “normal” and blending in really matter. Perhaps you’ll be happy to know that my son doesn’t get new shoes for back to school just because it’s fall. He gets them when he wears out or outgrows his current pair. I did get him new crayons every fall during elementary school, but it was the typical 24 pack, not the mega box with the sharpener. As Mary Poppins said, “Enough is as good as a feast,” and perhaps because I remember, I am satisfied to provide J with “enough.”

5 Ways to Save Money with Coupons

Resources,

Couponing

Why don’t people volunteer or give to worthy causes? If I were a betting woman, I would put good money on two answers: they don’t have extra time, and they don’t have extra money. Freeing up space in your schedule takes soul searching and hard decisions, but saving money is much easier!. A few years ago I started couponing, and in the very first month I cut my family’s grocery bill by $150. I’ll admit I’m not always faithful to the couponing, but even a half-hearted effort trims the budget! Imagine what you could do with an extra $150 a month – pay off debt, make some nice donations, or double up by using your savings skills and your extra funds to provide more food to your local food bank! Here are five tips that will help you get started saving money with coupons.

  1. Know the sales cycles – Grocery store sales tend to cycle about every six weeks, so if cereal is on sale this week, don’t wait until next week to pick some up. In fact, pick up as much as you can to tide yourself over until the next time it goes on sale.
  2. Shop the seasons – Produce, of course, is always cheapest in season, but other groceries have a season as well. Diet foods go on sale in January to try and grab the business of the New Years resolutioners. Pizza and cocktail wieners go on sale right before the Super Bowl. Ham is on sale at Easter, and turkeys at Thanksgiving. Barbeque supplies go on sale right before the summer holidays of Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and Labor Day. Basically, if there is a seasonal or holiday reason for something to be in demand, stores will compete to get your business.
  3. Combine coupons with store sales – My biggest tip for saving money on groceries is to start at Pocket Your Dollars. PYD is a blog devoted to helping you save money, and her resources are free. The main thing I use PYD for is the weekly listings of store sales and coupons that can be combined to make the sale price even better – some things even end up being free. The stores covered by PYD are based on the Minneapolis/St. Paul market, but some of them are national or regional chains. If your favorite store isn’t on the list, dig around online for someone near you blogging about coupon matchups, or use Pocket Your Dollars’ coupon database to look for available coupons that match the advertised sales.
  4. Learn the store policies – If you’re going to get into couponing, you need to know each store’s policies about coupons. Sometimes you’ll find a store that won’t take printed coupons off websites. Others accept expired coupons, offer double coupon promotions, or allow you to use both a store coupon and a manufacturer’s coupon for the same item. Visit the website of your favorite store(s) and print a copy of their coupon policies. If you carry the policy in a couponing binder or in your purse, you’ll be able to defend yourself against rookie cashiers.
  5. Plan your shopping and your meals will follow – One huge resource waster is failure to plan. If you don’t plan out your family’s meals for the week, you’ll end up making a lot of last minute convenience purchases on your way home from work. And the more times you stop at the store, the more you’ll spend just grabbing a little of whatever looks good when you’re hungry and tired at the end of the day. Likewise, if you start the week by planning your meals and THEN your shopping, you’ll be at the mercy of the stores and what they want to charge this week. Instead, start by planning your shopping. Check the sales, match up the coupons, and stock up on the deals. Then you can plan your family’s meals based on what you have in the house or can get on sale this week. Add some seasonal fruits and veggies and a gallon of milk, and you’re all set for the week.

Here’s my system: I have a portable file box with a folder for each month of the year. When the Sunday paper comes (we ONLY get the paper on Sunday, and pretty much just for the coupons), I file them by month. All You magazine is another great source of coupons, though I’ve let that subscription lapse lately. Then on Sunday afternoon or Monday I check out the weekly sales and coupon matchups on the Pocket Your Dollars site. I print the printable coupons, find and clip the newspaper coupons, and attach them to my shopping list with a paperclip. Now, here in MN we have Aldi stores, and I understand some of the rest of the country does too. I use my coupons to get the best deals at my local grocery store (Cub Foods), as well as Target, Walgreens, and CVS. Then I go to Aldi for produce, milk, and other things my family just wants. Like I said before, I’m not as strict about the couponing as I used to be. I blame my teenage son. Feeding him is like throwing things down a bottomless hole. No matter how much food I throw at him, it never seems to fill him up! I end up buying a lot of cereal, popcorn, ice cream, and snack foods for him, even when they’re not on sale.

Even if you only adopt a portion of these suggestions, you will still trim away your family’s monthly grocery expenses.

Do you have savings tips or additional ideas? Leave a comment and help us all stretch our dollars!

Meals on Wheels 101 and Service Opportunity

101, Government Programs, Resources, Service Projects

Meals on Wheels

In 2010 there were 57 million senior citizens (defined as over the age of 65) in America. That number is expected to double to 112 million seniors in 2050. This explosive growth is because 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day, and American life expectancy is at an all-time high. Seniors are the fastest growing population segment in America.

As seniors age, many struggle to remain independent. Expenses grow faster than their fixed retirement income and Social Security cost of living increases can keep up. Physical problems make it hard to get around. Social isolation, especially in rural areas, may mean that no one checks on their health and safety for weeks at a time. Senior citizens have to fall back on Medicare/Medicaid more heavily when their physical and/or social limitations lead to longer hospital stays after treatments, or earlier nursing home moves.

The solution is really quite simple. Someone needs to check on seniors who live alone, and help them get groceries and prepare a hot meal. Of course in most situations the family takes care of these needs, but what about seniors who have no family, or those who live far from their loved ones?

That is the idea behind Meals on Wheels (MOW). Meals on Wheels is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that has provided hot meals and check-ins to seniors who are poor, physically disabled, or socially isolated since their first meal delivery in Philadelphia back in 1954. They claim to save tax money by allowing seniors to be safely independent for a longer time.

Funding for MOW is a public-private partnership. There is some tax money designated to feed seniors in need, but much of their income comes from corporate and private donations of money and food, and most of their work is done by volunteers. Meals on Wheels America is the national organization. They oversee more than 5,000 community-based MOW operations around the country. Nationwide, those local chapters deliver more than a million meals a day, and more than 2 million volunteers work with them preparing food, delivering meals, serving (MOW dinners are served at some senior centers as well as home delivery), doing office work, helping at events, and conducting safety checks.

The time commitment for volunteers and the skills needed vary from job to job. To find out what kind of help is needed in your area, or to put yourself or a loved one on the list to receive Meals on Wheels, contact your local MOW chapter (Find it HERE).

Sources:
Meals on Wheels has faced some budget cuts in recent years. This CNN Article from 2013 was helpful in my research and covers the topic of their funding issues.

The Better Business Bureau has rated the national MOW organization. See that review HERE.
Charity Navigator has reviewed the local MOW chapters. Visit their site to search for your local chapter.

The national Meals on Wheels website has tons of great resources for seniors and their families.

Have you or a loved one experienced Meals on Wheels? Share your story in the comments!

Waste Not – Want Not: Regrowing Food from Kitchen Scraps

inspiration, Resources,

zombie gardening

Food-That-Magically-Regrows-Itself-1080x3225from Whole Foods via Cookingstoned.tv

Spring is in the air, and I catch myself daydreaming about sun on my back and dirt under my fingernails. I can’t wait to get my garden started – it’s hard to hold out for frost-free nights! Gardening is a great hobby; it allows you to commune with nature, learn about the environment, and feed your family whole, seasonal foods at an affordable price. Nothing the grocery store has to offer can compare with the flavor of my garden’s fresh offerings.

I know some people don’t have the space, knowledge, or inclination to garden. Getting started seems like a big commitment: sod removal, fence building, etc. This week we’re going to explore one way to cut those costs – plants that you can grow from food scraps. No digging up the lawn, no buying expensive equipment or even seeds. Some grow right in the kitchen, and others will need a pot or garden plot. It’s a fun and affordable way to cut your gardening costs and produce budget by using the same purchase over and over again!

1. Herbs: Basil, rosemary, and mint (and probably many others!) can be propagated and planted – a good return on that overpriced bunch of herbs from the grocery store! Pick a longer stem from the bundle and trim off the bottom and top leaves right where they meet the stem. Place the bottom of the stem in water and leave it. In about a week you’ve got little roots forming. Once the plant is substantial enough, you can transplant it to dirt. Step-by-step directions can be found on A Blossoming Life blog.

2. Celery, Romaine, and Other Bunches: When you bring home a bundle of celery, romaine lettuce, bok choy, or other veggie bunches, the first thing you do is hack off the stump end and toss it, right? I know that’s my process. But the root end of those plants can continue to produce! Cut off the stalks, and place the root end cut side up in warmish water. Every day, change out the water and within two weeks you should see new growth out the top. After 10 days-2 weeks, the plant is ready to be re-planted into soil. Step-by-step directions and pictures can be found on One Thousand Words blog. I love how she explains that veggies aren’t dead yet! Another post I saw referred to this regrowth as “zombie gardening.” That might be the hook I need to get my teenage son to participate and eat more veggies…

3. Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes: I can’t tell you how often I find the potatoes in my pantry sprouting and starting to rot. Commercially grown potatoes are cleaned before they’re sold, and that starts the decay process sooner than it does in nature. To use that growth rather than throw it out, cut the potatoes into pieces no smaller than a golf ball, making sure each piece has at least one eye. Voila, seeds! Kevin Lee Jacob’s site, A Garden for the House has a whole article on planting, growing, harvesting, and storing potatoes.

4. Onions and Garlic: Another veggie with a re-grow-able stem end is green onion. They’re super easy to grow, just cut off the tops you’re going to use, and put the stem ends in water. They’ll just grow back and you can keep clipping and regrowing from the same set of stems. Other onion varieties and garlic can also be regrown. Kalyn’s Kitchen has a good look at green onions. From Simple Daily Recipes, the directions for garlic. From Instructables, onions.

5. Seed-bearers: Bell peppers, lemons, apples, avocados, and other seed-bearing fruits and veggies can easily be regrown. Just remove the seeds, and let them dry before planting. Of course, apples and lemons are going to have to grow a whole tree before you get fruit from them, but if you’re interested in that project, you probably already have the seeds right in your kitchen.

A number of blogs and how-to sites have covered this topic very well, and they even offer info on some of the more complicated plants you can regrow, like pineapples:
DIY & Crafts
Simple Household Tips
Happy Money Saver

A few other thoughts on kitchen scraps:

*Veggie scraps, produce that’s about to turn, and chicken carcasses simmered together become chicken stock. This is virtually free and it’s much healthier than the expensive canned stock available commercially.

*Composting means using biodegradable food scraps and yard waste to create nutrient-dense soil. There are many how-to’s online if you’re interested in making your own nutrient-rich soil.

*Increase the nutrient density of your garden soil by burying banana peels beneath your roses or tomatoes, or by sprinkling crushed egg shells under your tomatoes. More info on Daddykirb’s Farm 

Waste not, want not! Have a happy spring, and don’t forget to share your scrap-recycling and gardening ideas in the comments! (Disclaimer: I’ve linked to a lot of blog posts that do a great job describing “zombie gardening,” but in most cases that post is the only thing I’ve read on the site. I’m not necessarily endorsing the whole blog, you’ll have to check it out for yourself.)

National School Lunch Program 101

Government Programs, Resources,

Lunch Program 101

Whether you and your kids attend(ed) public school, private school, or homeschool, I think we can all agree that it is a comfort to know a free basic education is the right of every child in America. Public schools in America offer more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic. Counseling services, career guidance, and physical exercise are also offered up free of charge. Additionally, during the school day the kids are fed lunch. Like choosing private or homeschool instead of public, parents can choose to pack a lunch for their kids instead of taking the hot meal. And like the public school option, it is comforting to know that a free basic lunch is available to those who cannot otherwise afford to eat.

The United States federal government instituted the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) in 1946. The USDA website does a nice job describing what they do, so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. Here is what they said:

Generally, public or nonprofit private schools of high school grade or under and public or nonprofit private residential child care institutions may participate in the school lunch program. School districts and independent schools that choose to take part in the lunch program get cash subsidies and USDA foods from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for each meal they serve. In return, they must serve lunches that meet Federal requirements, and they must offer free or reduced price lunches to eligible children. School food authorities can also be reimbursed for snacks served to children through age 18 in afterschool educational or enrichment programs.

Take a deep breath in, push aside the politics, and exhale. Here is the stone cold bottom line. For many kids in America, that free school lunch is the ONLY food they will get today. That’s sobering. Their bodies and minds are growing like weeds, and a bare bones cafeteria lunch provided by the government is the only thing they can count on.

There is a movement right now of chefs, nutritionists, moms, etc. who are working on improving the nutrient density of those cafeteria meals. I’m not going to go into detail on the movement, but I’m attaching a few resources from different perspectives so you can look into that and get involved if you’re so inclined.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine – “Healthy School Lunches: National School Lunch Reform”
School Nutrition Association – The org representing the people who provide the food to the schools
Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver’s School Food Revolution
Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign – dedicated to get kids more active as well as reforming school lunches

What I am going to do is give you the basic information on the NSLP, and information on how you can apply for free or reduced price lunches if your kids need them.

31 million American kids eat school cafeteria lunches each day (2012 statistic). Families with an income at or above 185% of the poverty level (over $43,568/year for a family of four) pay “full price” (the already subsidized price established by the school). Families below 130% of the poverty level (currently under $30,615/year for a family of four) receive free lunches. Families with an income in between the two get a reduced price. In 1966 the School Breakfast Program was added. The qualification process and income guidelines are the same for both programs, though not all schools offer breakfast.

The National School Lunch Program cost $11.6 billion in 2012, and the School Breakfast Program cost $3 billion (the breakfast program has fewer participants). Both are funded and administered by the federal government. For more information on these programs, visit the USDA Food and Nutrition Services site HERE. To apply for free or reduced price lunches for your kids, pick up an application form at their school or on the school’s website. The experience of getting lunch in the cafeteria on a given day is no different for the kids who get free/reduced price lunch than it is for the kids whose parents pay full price, so you don’t have to worry that your child will be singled out or embarrassed.

From the years when my husband served on the PTO board of J’s elementary school, I know that parents who can’t/don’t send lunch money and don’t apply for the free/reduced subsidy are a huge drain on the school. The school feeds the kids anyway, (how could they not?) but they are forced to eat the cost (no pun intended). So please, please, please, if you can’t afford school lunches for your kids, send a bag lunch or fill out the paperwork. Don’t leave our already strapped schools to pick up the check.