by andre | May 18, 2012 | Blogs |
The education system has played a significant role in my life. My passion for 25inchange started when I was a freshman in high school. I took an opportunity to travel to Honduras. This trip was life changing for me. From my experiences on the trip, I found my inner passion to create community and to help provide shelter, water, food, and health care. Upon returning to my “normal” life in public high school, it was hard for me to readjust and justify why I was born to a “rich” family in the US and not in the slums of a 3rd world country. My strong pull for justice changed the next 10 years of my life. After high school, I felt that maybe a higher education would help me understand and resolve the inequality I had witnessed. I attended college at DU to study International Politics, studied abroad and focused on the economic policies of the EU and then topped it off with a MA in Global Finance, Trade, and Economic Integration. My point in mentioning all this is that within all the classrooms and lectures; I found no answers. Education, while essential to learning the facts, did not provide me with an answer to the problems. While some theories, politicians, and policies worked better than others – there were no tangible solutions in the works I read. The truth of the matter was that no one person, country or politician knows how to even start to address chronic hunger, obesity, and shelter. It sounds cheesy, but I honestly believe that the answer is the community. God’s commandment to...
by andre | May 15, 2012 | Blogs |
My mind did the most unfortunate thing today: it made a connection. I’m officially sick of black beans and rice. So much so, that my brain has now connected the smell of black beans and rice to the smell of my daughter’s urine soaked diaper. With a blind fold on, and through smell alone, I think I would fail to identify which is which if they were laying before me. Appetizing, right? The fact that I lost my appetite over this idea, led to an even more profound connection for me: I’m a spoiled brat, and I don’t know squat about what it means to be hungry. Chronic hunger and obesity are forms of malnourishment a person can never just pick up and understand. They are the long term effects of the inability to eat, think, and live in the presence of healthy food. People who suffer from chronic hunger do not have access to a healthy lifestyle, while those who are overweight and obese have been forced to devalue it. 1 billion people on the planet are chronically hungry right now. Another 1 billion are not hungry or even overweight, but are malnourished from eating nutrient deficient foods like chips, candy, soda, poor carbohydrates, and food lacking vitamins and protein. And then we have another 1 billion who are overweight or obese because of the systemic lack of food value in their lives. Like the majority of Americans, I’ve got about 10 pounds I can lose to get to a healthier weight for my body type. In fact, 3 billion people would have been significantly healthier today had...
by kenn | May 14, 2012 | Blogs |
I love seeing people come together and sacrifice some of their greatest pleasures for a great cause. You all are amazing people in my eyes. I know some of the advocates have gone through some really tough challenges with their mind, body, and soul and I just want to say, stay strong! You and your sponsors are the voices for the 14,000 kids that pass away everyday due to starvation. This is a blip on the screen of life for most of us; but, could be a child’s entire screen if you save their life by providing a meal. I have been very blessed to only have had to deal with a couple issues back on day 3 when I believe my body was detoxing itself. I enjoy torturing myself though, so, when my college buddies were visiting this weekend, I took them to every food establishment I love. Wooo!! I know why dogs drool when you place food at within their reach but won’t let them have it. It blows my mind that I have never had to experience this before. I spent time in Haiti and Zimbabwe and although I was very limited in food, I didn’t have delicious meals in front of me to have to deal with. What do we want in this world?? To be happy… not worry… those are just a few. Let’s see, money is not evil at all, it is amoral. Money is feeding these kids but money doesn’t buy happiness. It can buy fun, that is for sure; but, fun ends and then what? As a nation we spend billions...
by chris | May 13, 2012 | Blogs |
It’s a question I’ve wrestled with my entire life. After spending 13 years in the military I was always led to believe that projecting strength is always the answer. Come to think of it I can’t recall one time in my military career where I was ever encouraged to show weakness as a sign of strength. This question has surfaced from time-to-time in my life, but never more real than it has over the course of the last 7 days. Only being able to eat a meal of rice and beans when someone else contributes $25 that provides 100 school meals to children through the World Food Programme is a humbling experience. Having to ask for a $25 contribution and then count on a yes answer in order to eat can be unnerving. In fact it has been. What if I’m told no? What if my request is ignored? What if I’m faced with the rejection of silence? What then? I am only beginning to imagine what the 300 million chronically hungry children of the world are living through day-in-and-day-out. I mean, I’m only living this reality for 25 days. After that I have the option of going back to choosing all the comforts I had access to before these 25 days started. But the children… … they don’t have that option. It’s not part of their reality like it is mine. It’s not something they hope for like I do because for them it’s not real. As I was reading through a passage in Compassion by Nouwen, McNeill, and Morrison I was struck by this thought about the...
by kenn | May 12, 2012 | Blogs |
Its day 6 and my famous red cup and water bottle have become my loathed best friends. I love them because they keep me going, and loath them because they are the last thing in the world I want. I’m only a week in and it’s been extremely interesting to not only self evaluate my physical being but my psychological being. When we started we were challenged to keep an eye on our psych and watch changes in our behavior. Not thinking enough into it time I now understand why we were asked to do that – for me this is where the true empathy is coming from. While I cannot image what it would be like to live a life of starvation, I am truly starting to scratch the surface of understanding what physical poverty is like and why its a downward spiral. Anyone in desperate need of help, needs just that, help. However if you cannot help yourself the only place that help can come from is other people. The catch 22 is that when you are physically impoverished your first and natural reaction is to go into seclusion avoiding contact with other, and thus ultimately decreasing any if not all your chances to receive support. I am more an extrovert than an introvert but during this time it has really challenged me to be in large groups, social settings, or the like – I’m becoming an introvert, not that that’s bad, just crazy for me. The true question is why? What I have personally found is that when you cannot participate fully with others in activities that are outside your means (even...
by minde | May 8, 2012 | Blogs |
“It is not surprising that compassion, understood as suffering with, often evokes in us a deep resistance and even protest.” I can’t help but come back to these words in the book “Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life” as I start day one of 25 in change. I recognize the protest happening within my mind and body as I neglect the selfish sponge that I am, but I also recognize the deep protest within me to stand against the injustice of a silent killer. What would it be like if believers really could be collective solutions to the suffering and injustice of others? That there could be a potential danger we are starting? That I am starting. I can feel that danger right before me. The danger teetering between greed and grace. The danger of starting a revolution. This morning I woke up to a thick, ashy sky with soft rain weeping. I feel this mimics my soul right now. There is a mourning happening within. Mourning for not doing this sooner. Mourning for how attached I am to the pleasure and comfort of food. Mourning for those who don’t have a choice whether they eat, or what they eat. Mourning for my own feelings of loneliness even though 24 others are alongside me advocating and a billion others who I will never be able to fully understand their suffering and pain, but long to. I’ve eaten my second 12 oz portion of rice and beans and already Im feeling my taste buds resist. Although, the sense of fullness is satisfying and feels heavy inside, I find myself wanting to forgo eating all together. Im sure by the end of this...
by admin | May 6, 2012 | Videos |
The first group of 25 advocates putting into words what this is all about.
by admin | May 5, 2012 | Pictures |
Click on the advocate you would like to sponsor! A nice look at the team before they each begin their journey toward a world...
by admin | May 5, 2012 | Blogs |
Someone once said “Be the change you wish to see in the world”, but is this really a good ethical model for uncreative and selfish people? I mean, let’s be honest, we only really want selfish, uncreative, violent, and rude people to change—the rest of us have it figured out. Right? After creating the first production car, Henry Ford was asked about how the customer influenced his decision, he answered “If had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”. To ask people who are stuck in a rigid and complex system to “be the change they wish to see in the world” is very much like asking people what kind of car they would like to drive when all they have ever done is ride horses. How can you imagine something when you’ve never even been close enough to think about it? I’m a fan of the concept of “being the change”, but sometimes we need the needs of the world to change us before we can imagine what change in the world should look like. I think it’s much more honest to say “Become the change”. 25 in change is world revolution which begins by revolutionizing our own personal worlds. The technology of 21st century has allowed us to become radically global in our communication, but it also has enabled us to become extremely isolated. We can be distracted, entertained, and numbed to the needs of the world through the illusion of being connected to it through technology. If we don’t like what we hear or see, we simply change the channel or close...
by admin | May 4, 2012 | Pictures |
A bit of team building and fun before we begin the journey!...
by kenn | Apr 30, 2012 | Blogs |
“World Food Program USA (WFP USA) is a nonprofit organization that builds support in the United States to end global hunger. WFP USA engages individuals and organizations, shapes public policy and generates resources for the United Nations World Food Program and other hunger relief operations.” “Imagine a world without hunger…what would it take? With nearly 1 billion hungry people around the world, how do we get there? WFP USA believes that everyone has a role to play in eradicating hunger, from individuals to organizations, from governments to the private sector. Leadership at the highest levels of the U.S. government is a critical component of solving the problem. We educate Members of Congress, the administration and other government officials about international hunger issues and specific policies that could improve U.S. government efforts to address global hunger. We also advocate for sufficient funding to ensure that U.S. government programs are reaching as many people as possible who are in need around the world. To build support for strong U.S. leadership in addressing global hunger, we collaborate with and mobilize opinion leaders, businesses, grassroots networks, nonprofits, coalitions and others.” ~World Food Programme “We can put an end to global hunger, but not without your help! More than 1 billion people are going hungry today. They need your voice to ensure that they are not forgotten in Congress. Members of Congress are elected to represent you in Washington, DC, and they want to hear from their constituents on what issues are most important to them. These tools will help you shape your message so you can speak to Congress on behalf of the...
