Glenn Beck's dwindling list of advertisers got a healthy boost Monday from Survival Seed Bank, a new advertiser peddling seeds to grow "crisis gardens."
Survival Seed Bank markets itself as sort of food insurance should the American government and market collapse. In the Survival Seed Bank commercial that aired Monday, a pitchman sits before a TV showing scenes of breadlines and soup kitchens from the Great Depression and asks "Are you worried about the economy? Are you ever worried that the politicians and the bankers are going to bring the whole thing crashing down? If so, pay close attention, because in an economic meltdown, non-hybrid seeds could become more valuable than even silver and gold. Afterall, securing a source of food for your family is the single most important thing you can do."
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March 9, 2010
December 17, 2009
December 10, 2009
Music, Hunger and Phoebe
Music can elicit many different kinds of responses in people. For me, the response was charitable. Music is my true love and as an aspiring filmmaker that is not something to easily admit to. I've flown across the Atlantic to experience the greatness of a song. Great music can be powerful, enough so that I think it can help feed the many who are hungry in New York. My inspiration for using music to feed the hungry came from a 5-year-old girl from San Francisco who asked a very loving question: "What can we do to help?"
The story of young Phoebe from San Francisco is pretty amazing. I I first came across her story on the Huffington Post, days after my birthday, and only months later would I have an answer to her question. Phobe, on her way to preschool, saw a homeless man holding a sign asking for food and started asking questions. Questions so thoughtful, that they would be surprising even if they came from adults. Phoebe's questions eventually led to her feeding, in her words, "Seventeen-thousand something" people. The story and video is something not to be missed if you haven't seen it already.
So "What can we do to help?" I guess when you read a story like that, about a little girl making a difference and you know you've done nothing that like that, it makes you reassess your life. I've always been the volunteer type, helping out at soup kitchens, the Salvation Army, the Christmas in April program, even at a suicide hotline but I haven't done much of anything the last couple of years. So hearing Phoebe's story inspired me months later to come up with an idea called Music vs Hunger. The concept is nothing new, have a concert and ask the audience for donations and to bring canned food to the show, but this idea has a very New York sound to it. Anyone who knows about indie music knows about what's going on in New York right now. Bands are flocking here from everywhere, trying to make a name for themselves. Not unlike Greenwich Village's jazz era, music in New York is at a special moment. Every night, in small cramped spaces throughout the city, music is being made or played. I've seen so many amazing bands and heard such great music and I can't get enough. And because it's such a big part of my life, I want to somehow combine my passion for music with the need to help.
The numbers are staggering: one in five people rely on a soup kitchen or food bank in New York City, and The Food Bank for NYC is reporting that 93 percent of food pantries and soup kitchens in the city have seen an increase in first-time visitors over the past year. With unemployment at record highs, I think it's important that we don't let people fall through the cracks and become unnecessarily hungry. Music vs Hunger's goal is to use the draw of great music, with exciting up-and-coming bands, to make sure those who are hungry are not forgotten.
Music vs Hunger's first show was in late November. Featuring three great bands HolidayHoliday, the Senors of Marseille and (appropriately) Food Stamps, the show raised $70 and collected about 50 non-perishable food items. I think we can do much better, but just $1 donated to The Food Bank of NYC can provide 5 meals. So our first show helped feed more than 300 people.
Music vs Hunger's second show is on December 22 at the great Cake Shop on 152 Ludlow here in New York. More Info can be found on our Facebook event page.
The story of young Phoebe from San Francisco is pretty amazing. I I first came across her story on the Huffington Post, days after my birthday, and only months later would I have an answer to her question. Phobe, on her way to preschool, saw a homeless man holding a sign asking for food and started asking questions. Questions so thoughtful, that they would be surprising even if they came from adults. Phoebe's questions eventually led to her feeding, in her words, "Seventeen-thousand something" people. The story and video is something not to be missed if you haven't seen it already.
So "What can we do to help?" I guess when you read a story like that, about a little girl making a difference and you know you've done nothing that like that, it makes you reassess your life. I've always been the volunteer type, helping out at soup kitchens, the Salvation Army, the Christmas in April program, even at a suicide hotline but I haven't done much of anything the last couple of years. So hearing Phoebe's story inspired me months later to come up with an idea called Music vs Hunger. The concept is nothing new, have a concert and ask the audience for donations and to bring canned food to the show, but this idea has a very New York sound to it. Anyone who knows about indie music knows about what's going on in New York right now. Bands are flocking here from everywhere, trying to make a name for themselves. Not unlike Greenwich Village's jazz era, music in New York is at a special moment. Every night, in small cramped spaces throughout the city, music is being made or played. I've seen so many amazing bands and heard such great music and I can't get enough. And because it's such a big part of my life, I want to somehow combine my passion for music with the need to help.
The numbers are staggering: one in five people rely on a soup kitchen or food bank in New York City, and The Food Bank for NYC is reporting that 93 percent of food pantries and soup kitchens in the city have seen an increase in first-time visitors over the past year. With unemployment at record highs, I think it's important that we don't let people fall through the cracks and become unnecessarily hungry. Music vs Hunger's goal is to use the draw of great music, with exciting up-and-coming bands, to make sure those who are hungry are not forgotten.
Music vs Hunger's first show was in late November. Featuring three great bands HolidayHoliday, the Senors of Marseille and (appropriately) Food Stamps, the show raised $70 and collected about 50 non-perishable food items. I think we can do much better, but just $1 donated to The Food Bank of NYC can provide 5 meals. So our first show helped feed more than 300 people.
Music vs Hunger's second show is on December 22 at the great Cake Shop on 152 Ludlow here in New York. More Info can be found on our Facebook event page.
November 26, 2009
Sharing the Privilege of Abundance
Thanksgiving always evokes memories of the days when, as mothers of young children, we would bundle them up to deliver turkey baskets -- family to family -- to those in Washington, DC who couldn't afford a holiday dinner of their own.
That simple act connected our children to the original spirit of Thanksgiving -- where families stop not only to give thanks for plenty, but to share with strangers in need. Thanksgiving is one of the few days where soup kitchens and food pantries around the country burst at the seams -- not just with turkey and stuffing, but with volunteers eager to serve.
Americans, in fact, are the most generous people in the world when it comes to private philanthropy: 85 percent of American families give their time or money, with private giving averaging $300 billion a year.
This year Thanksgiving strikes at a critical hour for families everywhere who have been hit hard by the global financial meltdown.
In the United States, one in nine people rely each month on food stamps. Demand at food pantries and homeless shelters is at record levels. And 17 million American households have had difficulty putting food on the table during the last year -- a 14-year high.
Yet while we concentrate our efforts on addressing hunger at home, we must remember another face of hunger in our world -- one that's largely invisible until we glimpse it on our TVs from some distant country, when a typhoon, earthquake, flood, drought or conflict makes the evening news.
It's easy to forget the silent tsunami of hunger that rips an ever-greater swath through the places where there are no streets, where mothers wonder if their malnourished babies will survive and fathers despair that they cannot provide even a single meal for their desperate families. The compounding impact of the food, fuel and financial crises has pushed the numbers of those suffering chronic hunger past one billion -- one in six people on earth -- for the first time in history.
Those in the "Bottom Billion" subsist on a dollar a day or less. Each day, hunger and related ailments claim 25,000 lives, mostly children -- making hunger the world's No. 1 public health threat. Even when chronic hunger does not kill, it maims -- shattering health, longevity, and hope.
Malnutrition in children under age two causes irreversible damage to their minds and bodies. In countries like Ethiopia, Pakistan and Guatemala, one in two children is stunted. Not only is this an incalculable human loss, but it is a quantifiable financial loss to these nations. Studies show malnutrition causes tens of billions of dollars in losses to poor countries -- or as much as 11 percent of GDP.
As we've traveled the world, the two of us have shared stories and tears with other mothers -- far from Washington -- who have watched, helplessly, as their children slipped from their grasp into the maws of hunger. For them, Thanksgiving never comes.
Although the mind reels with the huge needs of the world, the solutions are surprisingly achievable. Many nations -- Ireland, China, Brazil, and a growing number of African countries -- have beat back the worst of hunger. Inexpensive nutritional interventions can dramatically improve the health -- and lives -- of women and children. For just 25 cents a day, we can feed a child at school, giving them a real shot at forging a better future.
And with $3.2 billion a year -- or $1.5 billion less than Americans spend on Halloween annually and a fraction of America's private giving -- we can feed the 66 million children worldwide who go to school hungry. This alone won't end hunger, but it would be a huge step forward.
If we are to solve hunger, it will take the political will and resources of governments. It's encouraging that the Obama administration and Congressional leadership recognize that a sustainable, comprehensive food security strategy is vital to ensure our planet's future peace and prosperity.
Yet every one of us, at all levels, can make a difference -- especially if we work together. The World Food Programme's first Internet citizens' campaign, www.wfp.org/1billion, is mobilizing the online community: if a billion Internet users donate a dollar a week, we could transform the lives of a billion hungry people across the world.
As we enter the season of colossal Wall Street bonuses and a frenzy of holiday spending, it is time for us to once more share the privilege of plenty. It is time to declare, once and for all, that not a single child should die from -- or be irrevocably stunted by -- hunger.
Not on our watch.
Read more HuffPost Thanksgiving coverage and commentary
That simple act connected our children to the original spirit of Thanksgiving -- where families stop not only to give thanks for plenty, but to share with strangers in need. Thanksgiving is one of the few days where soup kitchens and food pantries around the country burst at the seams -- not just with turkey and stuffing, but with volunteers eager to serve.
Americans, in fact, are the most generous people in the world when it comes to private philanthropy: 85 percent of American families give their time or money, with private giving averaging $300 billion a year.
This year Thanksgiving strikes at a critical hour for families everywhere who have been hit hard by the global financial meltdown.
In the United States, one in nine people rely each month on food stamps. Demand at food pantries and homeless shelters is at record levels. And 17 million American households have had difficulty putting food on the table during the last year -- a 14-year high.
Yet while we concentrate our efforts on addressing hunger at home, we must remember another face of hunger in our world -- one that's largely invisible until we glimpse it on our TVs from some distant country, when a typhoon, earthquake, flood, drought or conflict makes the evening news.
It's easy to forget the silent tsunami of hunger that rips an ever-greater swath through the places where there are no streets, where mothers wonder if their malnourished babies will survive and fathers despair that they cannot provide even a single meal for their desperate families. The compounding impact of the food, fuel and financial crises has pushed the numbers of those suffering chronic hunger past one billion -- one in six people on earth -- for the first time in history.
Those in the "Bottom Billion" subsist on a dollar a day or less. Each day, hunger and related ailments claim 25,000 lives, mostly children -- making hunger the world's No. 1 public health threat. Even when chronic hunger does not kill, it maims -- shattering health, longevity, and hope.
Malnutrition in children under age two causes irreversible damage to their minds and bodies. In countries like Ethiopia, Pakistan and Guatemala, one in two children is stunted. Not only is this an incalculable human loss, but it is a quantifiable financial loss to these nations. Studies show malnutrition causes tens of billions of dollars in losses to poor countries -- or as much as 11 percent of GDP.
As we've traveled the world, the two of us have shared stories and tears with other mothers -- far from Washington -- who have watched, helplessly, as their children slipped from their grasp into the maws of hunger. For them, Thanksgiving never comes.
Although the mind reels with the huge needs of the world, the solutions are surprisingly achievable. Many nations -- Ireland, China, Brazil, and a growing number of African countries -- have beat back the worst of hunger. Inexpensive nutritional interventions can dramatically improve the health -- and lives -- of women and children. For just 25 cents a day, we can feed a child at school, giving them a real shot at forging a better future.
And with $3.2 billion a year -- or $1.5 billion less than Americans spend on Halloween annually and a fraction of America's private giving -- we can feed the 66 million children worldwide who go to school hungry. This alone won't end hunger, but it would be a huge step forward.
If we are to solve hunger, it will take the political will and resources of governments. It's encouraging that the Obama administration and Congressional leadership recognize that a sustainable, comprehensive food security strategy is vital to ensure our planet's future peace and prosperity.
Yet every one of us, at all levels, can make a difference -- especially if we work together. The World Food Programme's first Internet citizens' campaign, www.wfp.org/1billion, is mobilizing the online community: if a billion Internet users donate a dollar a week, we could transform the lives of a billion hungry people across the world.
As we enter the season of colossal Wall Street bonuses and a frenzy of holiday spending, it is time for us to once more share the privilege of plenty. It is time to declare, once and for all, that not a single child should die from -- or be irrevocably stunted by -- hunger.
Not on our watch.
Read more HuffPost Thanksgiving coverage and commentary