A Man's Gotta Eat (And Women, and Children)

"I'm sorry, you're going to have to move along. We don't let people sleep in our parking lot."

Location: Boise, Idaho

We got into Boise around one a.m. Tuesday morning after a short respite spent in Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons per Alex's request and to Kevin and my great delight. We knew we only had a few hours on Thursday morning to check out the different giving opportunities available in Idaho's capitol, Boise. During a lovely breakfast (Thank you, Holiday Inn Express- you always have had incredible cinnamon rolls), we decided we should give blood. Kevin suggested it, and it was a great and simple idea, probably far too often overlooked. We contacted the local Boise Red Cross donation center and lucky for us they were hosting a blood drive so there was availability for us right away. The luck was mutual as well, as Joyce, the center's volunteer coordinator, informed us they have had a recent and noticeable decline in blood donations this past month. The giving was easy, the giving was free, and the giving had snacks at the end! With no money spent, we searched for a local cause to which we could give.

We decided upon The Idaho Foodbank, serving Idahoans for the past 25 years in their mission to ensure "no Idahoan go hungry." While at the Foodbank, Alisha graciously showed us around the premises, their packing and storage warehouses, fridges and freezers while informing us of the varied communities the Idaho Foodbank serves. The Idaho Foodbank, the location in Boise being the main hub, serves schools, senior centers, food pantries, and rural families through a myriad of ways, whether they fill and ship food orders to different locations throughout Idaho or pack up their meals-on-wheels pantry to meet even the rural-est of individuals and communities. Since the decline of the economy, demand for foodbank aid has risen 25%. One of the newest additions to the foodbank programs has been the Backpack Program, sending children home with a backpack filled with 2 cereals, 2 sandwiches, 2 dinners, and 2 snacks to provide the child with meals over the weekend. You can buy a backpack to feed a child over the weekend for the small price of $5.75. We were happy to be able to feed about 20 children, and leave some extra for the foodbank to invest in alternative areas they felt were most necessary. Foodbanks will accept many, many materials and kinds of food. Canned food, rice, pasta, cereals, even fresh produce and beauty and hygiene products, however, due to the foodbank's partnerships with businesses like Albertsons and Fred Meyer, the foodbank is able to purchase about five times the amount an individual can with the same amount of money, reaching about five times the amount of the hungry. It is also important to note that until recently, many grocery stores would simply discard much of their unbought produce, dairy, and bread. As of late, the Foodbank's partners have began donating what they would have originally discarded to the foodbank, stifling the cycle of waste and promoting efforts to end hunger. Everybody's gotta eat, and we are lucky to be able to provide the peace of mind to some schools and families that they will not have to worry about the source of their next meal, at least not just yet.