What Sesame Street, my son and others have taught me about “food insecurity”

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Jennifer Bosk

In my day it was known as plain old ‘hunger’. What’s up with “dressing up” the issue by calling it ‘food insecurity’? It seems like now I’m hearing that term all the time. So I started thinking that maybe I didn’t fully understand ‘food insecurity’ and it turns out it is much more than just hunger.

I started learning about food insecurity from my son who is an elementary school principal at a Title I school where the majority of children live in families with little to no income. While he knew that most of the children would qualify for free lunches, he was apalled at how hungry they were. When it dawned on him the children would only eat that one meal each day at lunchtime at school, he implemented free breakfasts for the students as well as provided backpacks filled with food for the weekends from his local Backpack Buddies program.

Another time I learned about the ‘food insecurity’ issue was in a Sesame Street special featuring the new muppet, Lily, who comes from a food insecure home. She’s a pink muppet in a blue dress and she is hungry. She goes to a community garden for food where she meets Elmo and Grover and shares a bit of her story on how her rumbling tummy is about much more than hunger. Continue reading →

We want your computers

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Edwin Jeffords

Teaming for Technology - United Way of the Greater Triangle

Computers waiting for refurbishment!

Undoubtedly, you’ve heard about our computer refurbishing program, Teaming for Technology, right? If not, here’s the lowdown: we take in gently used computers (1-4 years old) from individuals and corporations. Our Teaming for Technology crew and an army of volunteers clean the computer, wipe the hard drive, install a new OS, install Office, upgrade the RAM, and repackage it with all the peripherals. Then we distribute these like-new computers to nonprofits and schools across North Carolina. It’s a great program and a great mission.

Here’s the rub…the entire program runs on donated computers and volunteers. We absolutely LOVE when companies approach us about taking their soon-to-be retired computer equipment. But, we can NEVER get enough. Last year alone, Teaming for Technology refurbished and distributed over 2,600 computers. This year, we’re shooting for 3,000! In order for that to happen, we need companies like yours to partner with us when it comes time to replace your computers.

Most companies replace their computers every 3-4 years on some sort of rolling schedule. Our most successful partnerships that have created the most impact toward “bridging the digital divide” in North Carolina are companies that donate their computers to T4T each time there is a batch within the company being replaced. Not only does your company get a significant tax deduction for the charitable donation, but you can rest assured that the technology will go to deserving schools and nonprofits right here in North Carolina.

Not quite sure about us yet? No worries, come spend a Friday afternoon with us volunteering in the shop. You can see the process first-hand and help us refurbish the computers yourself. We open our doors to any volunteer on Fridays after 1pm.

Interested in learning more? Give us a call, and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have!

Edwin Jeffords
919-463-5001

Why is Ben Affleck Eating on $1.50 a Day?

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Jennifer Bosk

(Photo credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

So Ben Affleck is going to eat on just $1.50 a day. So are Sophia Bush, Josh Groban, Debi Mazar, “The Avengers” star Tom Hiddleston and Hunter Biden (that’s Vice President Joe Biden’s son). Each one will spend just $1.50 total each day for their three meals for one solid week. Each ‘star’ is doing this to raise money for their charity and, more importantly,to call attention to the vast number of people living in poverty who must live on just $1.50 worth of food a day.

This week, April 29 through May 3, is the Live Below the Line campaign that’s changing the way people think about poverty—and making a huge difference—by challenging everyday people to live on the equivalent of the extreme poverty line for 5 days. – See more at: https://www.livebelowtheline.com/#sthash.OsrQyEfd.dpuf

Gimmicky? Maybe. But at least you’ve read this far and maybe if I throw in something profound about hunger and poverty you’ll learn something like …In the United States, more than one out of five children lives in a household with food insecurity, which means they do not always know where they will find their next meal.

Did you catch that the above statistic is about the UNITED STATES? Not Africa, not South America but right here in the good ole U.S. of A.! Shocking!

So sometimes we nonprofits need to find ‘different’ ways of drawing attention to issues we hope you’ll care about and want to do something about. While Live Below the Line does the $1.50 day for food challenge, United Way of the Greater Triangle does poverty simulations and the CEO Sleepout. Playing at being poor? Camping out to pretend to be homeless? Nope – not what we want to achieve at all. What we want is for you to participate or hear about the events and maybe it will be enough to get you thinking about how, on any given night in the Triangle, nearly 2,000 people are homeless and sleeping on the streets of Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Smithfield. Oh…and by the way, 40 of them will die this year.

But thinking about it is just the first step. Are you ready to take the next step and join in with other community leaders to work on finding solutions instead of bandaid-fixes? Drop me at note at jbosk@unitedwaytriangle.org and I’ll tell you how to get involved.

How can you compete with a billionaire?

Posted on April 23, 2013 by mrodgers

Do you know who Warren Buffet is? Bill Gates? Of course you do. How about Patrice and Precious Motsepe? Not ringing a bell? Well, Mr. and Mrs. Motsepe are a couple from South Africa – and they also happen to be among the wealthiest individuals and families in the world.

Another thing they have in common with Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and most recently Richard Branson, along with another 101 billionaires (so far!) around the world is they have pledged to donate half – or more – of all their wealth to charitable causes during their life or immediately upon their death. They have all embraced a philosophy of philanthropy created by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet called “The Giving Pledge”.

At the core of the pledge is this affirmation: “We are inspired by the example set by millions of people who give generously (and often at great personal sacrifice) to make the world a better place.” Each donor decides how much they will ultimately pledge, and to what organization and causes.

According to the National Philanthropic Trust, 81% of the high net worth individuals in the U.S. that donate to charity cite “giving back to the community” as their chief motivation for giving.

But all of this is only for “high net worth” individuals, right? Well, according to the same report 65% of all households in the U.S. give to charities. And while the average amount of all donations was $2,213, the middle amount given was only $870. You don’t have to be a “high net worth” individual to donate $870.

And in 2011, 73% of all charitable giving came from people – like you and me. And while billionaires can easily afford to pay someone to research the 1,080,130 charitable organizations to decide where to donate, you don’t have to.

United Way of the Greater Triangle supports many successful and vital programs in the Orange, Durham, Johnston and Wake county area. Eighty-seven agencies and 162 programs that focus on hunger and literacy, safety and well-being of children, single parents, homeless and more provide services for the 1.4 million people of the four counties.

That’s a powerful reach that helps “make the world a better place.” And while you may not have the money of a billionaire, your money, along with your neighbor’s and mine, can have a powerful and lasting impact on our world right here in the middle of North Carolina.

Go to http://www.unitedwaytriangle.org, look around our website and see the ways you can help. If you can’t donate money, there are plenty of other ways you can give – donate your time, advocate our mission to help others, tell someone about 2-1-1. Just know that we’re here to support your community, and a better community is better for you.

Part of a Greater Picture

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Jennifer Bosk

This blog post was written by our winter semester intern, Logan Tallent. Logan will now return to her studies at NC State and we will miss her!

I think we all go through a time when we realize that in the midst of everyday life, we forgot to take care of one of the most important parts, our bodies. Thankfully, this caught my attention after I gained the notorious college weight over a year ago. I had always been physically fit and took pride in exercise, but somehow that part of me got lost in the everyday hustle. I decided this past November that it was time to fix this and began running 3 times a week.

The first day of this endeavor, I could not even run a mile. It hit me how much I had let myself go, but made me even more determined. With the encouragement of some sweet friends, I signed up for my first race- a 10k called the Cooper River Run in Charleston, NC. My competitive spirit along with the realization that I could easily embarrass myself in front of over 40,000 people kicked in, so I forced myself even on my tired and lazy days to get up and go run, many times with a grudge in my heart. Five months later, it was a week before the race arrived and I was excited to carry out the goal that I had worked toward.

Life has a funny way of happening during our big moments. Eight days before my race, I got a call from my very best friend about one of our hometown guy friends, Justin, who had been in a tragic accident. Driving home the next morning, it hit me that we may lose him forever. Two days later, on Easter Sunday, that thought became a harsh reality. That week I spent time with my friends, people who I had not made time to see because of the different paths we had taken, all who were mourning our friend who was only given 20 years of life.

When I left my little hometown of Lincolnton so that I could be in Charleston for the race, my heart was heavy and my body exhausted. The last thing I wanted to do was run this race and leave all my friends at home whose lives were now changed forever. That Saturday morning, I got up with my sorority sisters who had encouraged me to do this in the first place, grabbed my coffee, and chugged water. If I had come all this way, I was at least going to try and actually run the whole race.

When I got to the race, I was overwhelmed at the amount of people. There were 40,000 runners. However, that was not the surprising part. I was surrounded by all ages; kids who were running with their parents, young couples, elderly men and women. The most amazing were the 35 men and women in wheelchairs, who would make the mile hike up the Charleston Bridge just like the rest of us, with only their arms.

As the announcer sounded the start of the race, the anxiety began to leave my body. During that 6.2 mile run, I looked at all the other runners. I saw people running in honor of people who had died, friends in the hospital, causes like breast cancer, health initiatives. Everyone was running for more than themselves. They were running for a greater purpose, for a better life, a better world.

As I approached the last mile of my run, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The homeless, who resided in the downtown area, were on the sidewalk, screaming and cheering and helping the staff pass out water. They had nothing, yet they were cheering for a group of people who to them, seemed to have a light in the darkness. It was the craziest high that I had ever felt. It was a moment of time where I saw that I was part of something greater, we are all part of something greater.

I think there are very few times in our lives when we really had the opportunity to grasp this, the truth that in this world we are NEEDED- whether that means volunteering and changing a life, or simply being an encouragement by just living life. We ARE needed.

I share this to encourage you- YOU are needed. YOU are important. Justin was needed, he was important, and that showed in the lives that he left. So when opportunities for real change arise and the thought crosses your mind that someone else can do that, that you aren’t necessary or needed, remind yourself, that nobody can create change or be an encouragement in life the way you can in your own unique way. I truly believe you will find that personal, small changes, like a 10k or a day dedicated to volunteering, create a bigger, lasting change for not just yourself, but the greater world and picture that you are a part of.