The Feed-Your-Soul challenge!!!!

I am extremely lucky to be a person who loves good food and can afford to eat pretty much whatever I want and who has the luxury of sharing plenty of good meals with friends and family. The food nourishes the body, and the communion with loved ones nourishes the soul.

Food is really one of life's great pleasures. The gift of sharing it with friends is too. In many cultures, the way generations of mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers have demonstrated their deep and abiding love for their husbands and children is through the meals they prepare every day.

It breaks my heart to know that there are some in our community who do not know where their next meal is coming from or when it might occur. These people are our brothers and sisters and our neighbours. It might be the person who delivers packages to your office or who smiles at your child on the street that goes without a meal tonight. It might be that person struggling with an addiction problem or mental health issue that also struggles to keep themselves fed on a regular basis.

A few weeks back I attended the annual Mac & Cheese Luncheon, an extremely popular annual charity fundraiser for the Inner City Agencies Foundation that provide  a broad range of support services for those same people. The luncheon served each year, macaroni and cheese, is a reminder that the people served by the inner city agencies often have little to eat - generic macaroni and cheese is a staple of their diet. I came away from that lunch reminded that it is ordinary people who take on the task of feeding these marginalised souls, and vowed to come up with a plan to pitch in, even if for just one night.

The company I work for has a history of providing significant financial support to worthy causes in our community. But on Friday night, instead of just writing that cheque, 28 of my colleagues and our friends and families spent the evening preparing and serving a meal to 503 beautiful, but forgotten, people at the Mustard Seed Church. The smiles on the faces of those we served were more precious than I can say. The simple act of stopping to refill a juice glass or bring some extra dessert and taking the the time to say hello and ask whether they were enjoying themselves (all things that we wouldn't even notice ourselves) made the most extraordinary difference to these people. 

I'm sure your town or city has at least one similar institution, dedicated to filling the tummies and hearts of those who have been forgotten, or pushed aside by those of us more fortunate.  These organisations feed hungry people 365 nights a year! Mustard Seed feeds 200 to 600 people every night, all week, every month, all year round. Surely one night out of 365 is something each and every one of us can spare.

As someone who loves food and has the luxury of enjoying it with friends and family on a regular basis, I challenge you, fellow food bloggers, to gather your friends and family and use your love of food to inspire you to nourish the bodies and souls of those who are not so fortunate as we are.

Comments

[Stephanie]

I want to hug you right now!

[Lyn]

I will take you up on that hug...but only if you bring the cheese tart. I have a big drool stain on my lap from looking at your blog.

[anthony]

Ahh good on you. I've always thought that we've backed poor families into a kind of nutritional ghetto where they get the very worst of our society's food - the processed, the salty, and the greasy. There's got to be way out of this, just simple stuff like pulses otherwise they're being killed through heart disease and diabetes.

I don't know I just feel all bouregoise and ineffectual when I think about this and should do something. Thanks for the inspiration.

[Health food nut]

What a great name. The mustard seed has so much potential as a name. Did you know that near Chernobel they where mustard grows, the radiation has been removed from the ground.