DUers make a difference: 70,000 meals to feed the hungry! -- Yes, I said SEVENTY THOUSAND meals!

[Skinner]

Imagine seventy thousand meals.

That's how many meals we can provide if we make our goal of raising $10,000 for Feeding America. Because every dollar you donate will provide 7 meals for a hungry family.

After only two days, we're already 2/3 of the way to our goal. Can we finish by this time tomorrow?

70,000 meals in three days. Let's do it!

http://help.feedingamerica.org/goto/du

Kick and recommend this thread so more people can see it!

Thank you!

David Allen
DU Administrator

[Skinner]

1. UPDATE: We're 3/4 of the way to our goal!

Total Number of Gifts: 118
Total Value of Gifts: $7,565.00

[lillypaddle]

11. Kicking & reccing

Great cause!

[bananas]

2. k&r merry christmas nt

[democrat_patriot]

3. Just gave .

Felt all warm and fuzzy. :>)

[NightWatcher]

4. How many hungry people are the Freepers feeding?

None? I guess they are just wasting bandwith and oxygen that could be of better service elsewhere.

Congrats and Thanks from someone who's needed a little help before myself.

[Vincardog]

5. $K&R

[The Straight Story]

6. How many happy meals without a toy would that buy?

K&R

[Skinner]

7. Only $310 until $8,000!

Total Number of Gifts: 121
Total Value of Gifts: $7,690.00

[EarlG]

8. kick nt

[CLANG]

9. K&R for killing hunger pangs!

[DirkGently]

10. Worthy.

[NRaleighLiberal]

12. A Merry Christmas Kick and Rec! n/t

[wildflower]

13. Kick

And rec!

[Beaverhausen]

14. kick

[Rhiannon12866]

15. K&R! Great news!

I've always known that DUers are the most generrous folks on earth... O8)

[hamsterjill]

16. Wonderful project!

It's awesome that DU comes together for something like this. Makes me proud to be a part of it.

[Skinner]

17. Only $250 until $8,000!

Total Number of Gifts: 124
Total Value of Gifts: $7,750.00

[ejbr]

18. k & r n/t

[Lucinda]

19. I can't contribute...but bless all of you who did.

You rock! :)

[kag]

53. Not to worry!

I've already donated, but I'll go kick in another little bit on your behalf. (Hope I'm not being pretentious.)

And I know you'll do the same for someone else (maybe even me :shrug: ) when the tables get turned.

Peace.

[KatyaR]

20. Done!

Life is scary lately, but I know it could be so much worse. I'm happy to share what I have.

Merry Holiday to everyone!!!

[closeupready]

21. Wow! HOly Moley!

That is so great! :woohoo:

[dhill926]

22. K&R.......

Happy to donate......

[Turborama]

23. K&R Just hitting 80% on the meter...

[Still a Democrat]

24. Wish I could rec more than once

Like a super rec!

[proud patriot]

25. kick recommended and shared

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. Done

[handmade34]

27. rec

:kick:

[EFerrari]

28. Kick

[Skinner]

29. 6PM ET -- Only $140 till $8,000.

Total Number of Gifts: 129
Total Value of Gifts: $7,860.00

[rug]

30. How can a meal cost 14 cents?

[boppers]

40. Raw foodstuffs are cheap in bulk.

http://pages.prodigy.net/jmiller.cb/s810.html

[Cal Carpenter]

41. For a lot of the food banks

in the Feeding America world, some or most of the food the collect and distribute is free to them - it's what they call 'food rescue' - it's day old bread, overstock, leftover prepared food at the end of the day, extra produce from farmer's markets, extras in a distribution center, rejected loads destined for grocery stores, etc...

So the main cost is transportation, storage, overhead, not the food itself.

The $0.14 takes all that into account.

If you have any questions about it feel free to ask here or via PM - I'd be happy to provide info and/or opinions. I'm very familiar with Feeding America and its affiliate food banks.

[Duval]

31. K&R n/t

[xxqqqzme]

32. I know it doesn't help

DU reach its goal but my local food bank is part of the Feeding America network. They get a monthly contribution from me.

A good friend volunteers @ the food bank assembling food boxes for families. In October she said the food bank ran out of food in August.

Here in Orange County, CA, 1 in 5 persons uses the food bank.

[leftstreet]

33. K&R

[Elmore Furth]

34. K&R and a big ATTABOY!

[Scurrilous]

35. K & R

:thumbsup:

[fascisthunter]

36. late to the party. Kick and Recommend! (nt)

[EarlG]

37. kick nt

[cal04]

38. that's great!

K&R

[harun]

39. Done

[Bonobo]

42. Skinner, I wish you would accept Paypal!

I do not want to use my credit card.

Can you reconsider accepting Paypal?

[Contrary1]

44. Hey Bonopo...

If you want to use Paypal, you can make a payment to me, and I will forward it on using my credit card.

Yeah, I know...sounds a bit risky for you, but I will send you a receipt.

Let me know via PM.

[Bonobo]

47. Thanks. I just sent you a PM! nt

[Bonobo]

49. That was VERY good of you. Thank you so much!

I love that you were willing to do that!

[Contrary1]

52. My pleasure.

Have a good one, my friend.

[kentuck]

43. kick

...

[patrice]

45. Done

[Dem2theMax]

46. Donated and kicking.

And darn it, Skinner, you made me cry.
Never felt so good in my life to spend some money on someone else.

:kick:

[donheld]

48. done

[Cal Carpenter]

50. If anyone has questions about Feeding America

I'd be happy to answer them here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x58900

As I say in that post, I am not affiliated with Feeding America but I do know a lot about how they work, and how the food bank system overall benefits from them.

Skinner, I hope this is okay.

The short, diplomatic version is - they do solid work on a big national scale that quite likely helps your local food bank and gets resources (food and money) that would otherwise be out of reach. It results in more food getting to more people who need it throughout the country. For the size of the organization they have a real, tangible impact and are quite efficient - moreso than many national 'umbrella' organizations with vague campaigns about 'raising awareness' for something or other.

[NRaleighLiberal]

51. We are over 8,000! Kicking....n/t

[Skinner]

54. 11:50 PM ET -- Over $8,000!

Total Number of Gifts: 140
Total Value of Gifts: $8,108.00

[dogday]

55. Great Job DU!

:thumbsup:

[EFerrari]

56. Kick

:applause:

[dmr]

57. Kick

:kick:

[HCE SuiGeneris]

58. K & R

[Divine Discontent]

59. Kicking and donating, thanks for the reminder!

[Divine Discontent]

60. kick

:kick:

[Contrary1]

61. To the top! n/t

[KBlagburn]

62. kick

[PBass]

63. Kicked, Recommended, and Donated!

Bravo, Democratic Underground!!!

Positive, collective action... MORE OF THIS, PLEASE.

[OneGrassRoot]

64. Kicked, donated and recommended! :) n/t

[Major Hogwash]

65. Up and at 'em kick.

It's oh-four-thirty.

[Myrina]

66. morning kick!

:applause:

[Laelth]

67. This is a good and worthy project. Well done, DU. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[Skinner]

68. 9:15 AM -- Less than $1,800 to go!

Total Number of Gifts: 145
Total Value of Gifts: $8,238.00

[lonestarnot]

69. Woohoo! Done!

Thanks David Allen DU! :hi:

[DinahMoeHum]

70. Kickety kick kick

kick kick

[NRaleighLiberal]

71. looks like we are approaching 9K! Kicking with a purpose! n/t

[lonestarnot]

72. And again!

:kick:

[Skinner]

73. 150 DUers have donated!

Total Number of Gifts: 150
Total Value of Gifts: $8,388.00

[mopinko]

74. ok, the other mods made me pay.

a round of applause for a great team, eh?

[Phlunk]

75. just sent in mine

But what kind of meal can you get for 14 cents? Just curious how that works.

[amyrose2712]

76. I would imagine that the Food Bank buys in bulk, and most likely gets discounts.

[Cal Carpenter]

89. For a lot of the food banks

in the Feeding America world, some or most of the food they collect and distribute is free to them - it's what they call 'food rescue' - it's day old bread, overstock, leftover prepared food at the end of the day, extra produce from farmer's markets, extras in a distribution center, rejected loads destined for grocery stores, etc...

So the main cost is transportation, storage, overhead, not the food itself.

The $0.14 takes all that into account.

Feel free to ask more questions - I'm quite familiar with how it works and how they come up with their numbers..

[beac]

77. We had an unexpected furnace problem that delayed me for a couple of days, but

I just donated at last.

Hoping we reach-- and exceed-- the goal soon! :hi:

(Wonder if next year FA could offer the us the option to donate in someone's honor with a gift card sent, as they do on their main site? This is how we usually do it in my family, in lieu of Xmas gifts.)

[cbayer]

78. Kick

[tomg]

79. k,r, and d nt

[NRaleighLiberal]

80. a kick before a trip to the mall! n/t

[beac]

81. afternoon kick n/t

[beac]

84. kick n/t

[beac]

88. kick n/t

[woofless]

82. I'm in.

[mopinko]

83. skinner, i don't see my donation. did i use the wrong button?

or does it just take them a while to post? i used the link in the left sidebar. i didn't see the one by the thermometer till later. i emailed them.

[Dem2theMax]

85. Donated yesterday. Kicking back to the top.

:kick:

[bluestate10]

86. 150 or so contributors on a site that hosts a few thousand a day.

Folks, the situation is not rocket science. $10 from 1,000 gives $10,000 in a snap. Shoot for for 1,150 contributors, even if 1,000 give $10. This is supposed to be a progressive website, I would expect to see a struggle to raise $10,000 in a snap to feed people on the Free Republic site, but not here.

[proud patriot]

87. kick a roo

:kick: