Rice and Beans? Yes, Please.

I'm not gonna lie. I like rice and beans and my husband is probably thinking I have an ulterior motive (like finding an excuse for him to eat it too...) but even still, this is a worthwhile endeavor that I would like to pass on.

SO... in college one year, in order to raise money towards world hunger, a meal was hosted where you would buy a ticket (i'm don't remember the price, but it would be of equal value to what a normal dinner would cost) and then instead of eating a normal dinner, each guest was served rice and beans. I actually think they went a little bit farther with this and a very few people were served steak dinners but it was all based on the percentage of the world population who can afford a decent meal.

Anyway, if you know your facts, you know that hunger is directly related to poverty, and a good portion of the world's population lives on less than $2 a day. In 2010 it was estimated that 13.1 percent of the world's population--which boils down to 1 in 7 people--ARE HUNGRY.

Okay, so why am I taking the time to write this?

I read this blog post (as should you) and got to thinking. It's hard to bring our children up in a place that can be SO BLIND to the rest of the world's needs. Of course i am not looking to instill in my 22 month old children's mind that there are starving/dying people out there and scare them to death, but i DO want to raise them with an awareness of the world in which they live and to know how truly blessed they are every day and teach them to be truly thankful for even the small things in their lives, like their dinner each night.

Serving Rice and Beans each week is a good reminder. A vast majority of the world eats this for every meal--we can AT LEAST eat this once a week. One day when my kids are older and complain to me about how they don't want to eat rice and beans again, i'd like to be able to really explain to them WHY we do it.

That's the plan anyway.

and one more thing...while you read the blog link above, you'll notice she offers up a few organizations to give to. I would like to second the referral to Amazma Ministry. If you have never done so before, on the left-hand side of my blog there is a list of blogs that i read. In that list is one called The Journey. Read It. You WILL be blessed. You WILL be moved. You WILL NOT be wasting your time. Kate, the writer of The Journey and a true servant of the Lord, founded this ministry at just 19 years old. Her story is amazing.