As many of you may know or may have even joined in yourself, I participated in Project Feed Me.  Project Feed Me was created by Natalie at nono2yoyo.com and its purpose was to help feed thousands of hungry families.  Over the course of nine weeks, each participant was to collect a certain food item (recommended by Natalie) and then bring those donated food items to their local pantry.  This project started during the first week in October (you may have remembered my post) and was designed to end right around the holidays, a time when people tend to need the most.  I remember Natalie emailing me a couple of months ago letting me know about her project and asking if I would be interested in participating.  All I could picture were the sad faces of little children, hurting from being hungry and being left without some of life’s most basic necessities.  It just didn’t seem fair to me that I had a fridge full of food and more than enough to eat on both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and there were families out there that would happy to just have a can of soup.  That said, I eagerly replied to Natalie’s email with an astounding ‘yes!’ and began shopping for my food items.  It was such a simple task, but one that made me feel so extraordinary.

I’m so grateful that Natalie decided to start this project.  She opened her heart and decided to do something to help this ongoing problem.  And what better group of people to participate than healthy food/lifestyle bloggers?  Natalie put out her message to the blogosphere and asked us all to spread the word – whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, on our blogs, word of mouth, through church/community groups.  Well, the word sure did spread as Project Feed Me had 168 members and will have donated over 3,024 food items.  That’s incredible!  Thank you, Natalie, for creating such a wonderful project and for making it all so easy for us to be a part of such worthy cause.  Sometimes, I tend to forget that there are others out there that are in need.  I get so busy with my day-to-day life that I forget about what’s going on outside of my ‘own’ world.  All I needed was this reminder from Natalie; it was that easy.  The feeling of knowing that I have the power to help people in need is a feeling that I don’t want to ever forget.  We all have the power to do this.  It doesn’t have to be a grandiose gesture, it can be as small as giving the spare change in your pocket or donating a jar of peanut butter.  What matters most is that we acknowledge the need and then do something about it.  So again, thank you Natalie, for initiating this and for making us accountable.  I’m sure there are going to be many faces out there that are now going to be smiling because of you and your project.

To conclude Project Feed Me, Natalie asked that the members send her a picture of all the food they collected.  No problem, Nat!  Here are a few of mine…

Healthy Chow with her first food items – canned chili!

All the goods..

A solo shot…

While I finished the nine weeks of collecting the recommended food items and in a sense completed Project Feed Me (I still have to go to my local food pantry), I know that a cause such as this never has an ending.  Unfortunately, there will always be someone in need, whether it be for shelter, clothing or food.  However, it is always a good time for us to give back.  It doesn’t have to be around the holidays or during a particular season.  For that reason, I said in my blog post title that this project is ‘almost’ completed because in a reality, there isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a finish line.  This may be the season of giving, but after participating in Natalie’s project, I want it to be a life of giving.  After all, being able to help one another is truly the one gift we all need.

Do you tend to be more charitable around the holiday season?  Do the holidays make you want to give?  For me, the holidays make me realize just how fortunate I am and how I already have all the gifts I will ever need.

Namasté,
Nicole