The children were all nestled snug in their beds…while visions of filled red cups danced in their heads
Last night, in many homes, children went to bed with a new understanding of what Thanksgiving means.
Either before or after their bounteous feasts, they spilled the change they had collected through the month of November out on tables and counted how many school meals they could give.
They knew every combination of 25 cents they could find would feed one child.
The excitement built as they saw the meals adding up. How empowered they felt when they realized that by their own efforts, they made a difference in not just one person’s life, but in many cases 50 plus lives.
Adult’s hearts swelled as they saw the seeds of altruism taking root in their children.
The feelings the kids were expressing became contagious, and before you knew it, adults were adding to the count by pulling out dollar bills and running out to their cars to find whatever change they could to keep the spirit of giving alive.
A small child beaming with smiles was overheard to say “We’ve got a billion meals…don’t even get me started.” The joy was spreading farther and farther and before the end of the night everyone got a glimpse of where true happiness comes from… GIVING.
As of this writing Pioneers of Peace™Thanks “Giving” Cup Campaign has made a difference by providing 3,276 school meals
There is a wonderful synergistic energy that is created between giver and receiver. Everyone is equally enlarged by the experience.
This has truly been a beautiful Thanksgiving, and the beginning of many more to come.
Check us out on our Facebook page. Pioneers of Peace™Thanks “Giving” Cup Campaign, and if you are so inclined to give to our cause, here is the link http://my.wfpusa.org/popthanksgivingcupcampaign
Take a moment and think back to some of the traditions you have been a part of…
One of my cherished memories is that of baking a variety of cookies with my mother over the Christmas season. After each batch was baked, the cookies were carefully stored in the freezer until the night we decorated our tree. That night we took the goodies out of the freezer and arranged them on cheerful holiday plates. Hot chocolate was brewed and served with the much awaited cookies, but only after the tree was decorated. The anticipation was overwhelming. It was so much fun that I chose to keep this tradition with my children and now my grandchildren. I can honestly say it’s as much fun today as it was when I was a child, but more importantly, it brings family members together and strengthens our bonds.
What about Thanksgiving?
In my house as well as many others, the Thanksgiving feast takes center stage. For the past couple of years I’m embarassed to admit Black Friday shopping has begun to take root. After dinner, newspapers are laid out on the floor and the hunt begins for the best “deals.” Kids look at the ads and begin their holiday wish lists while the the shopping strategy is formulated.
Contrast that with a different tradition…
…Last year about this time I read about a neat little project that a beautiful friend of mine was doing. It is a desire of her heart to help eradicate hunger in children. She told us that for only .25 cents, a child would be provided a school lunch in a red cup by the World Food Program. This may be all the food they eat in a day. Our family wanted to try and help and see what we could do so we decided to join the Thanksgiving “Cup” Campaign. We found three cups. One for the grandchildren, one for our children and one for Bob and I. We all looked for spare change in the bottom of purses and pockets, drawers, in the car, and under the couch.
Little ones came with coins in their hands and dropped them one by one into their cup and each time they did we talked about who may benefit from “their” coins.
On Thanksgiving day we all gathered together and counted “our change”. The children made piles of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters on the floor and counted nearly $100 dollars. In a few short weeks we had “found” and collected enough change to provide 400 school meals for children somewhere in the world.
Isn’t that great.
Thanksgiving is the season of harvest; a time to be mindful of our abundance. It’s a time to reflect on being “thankful” for all that we have. Part of counting our blessings is knowing that our lives could be very different. If we slow down long enough, it is easy to see the contrast between the haves and the have nots.
We mustn’t forget the forgotten. There exists almost a billion people in the world who do not know where their next meal is coming from.
This Thanksgiving we invite you to begin a new Thanksgiving Tradition by joining the Pioneers of Peace Thanks”Giving” Cup Campaign.
66 million children go to school hungry every day. 25 cents feeds a child. $1.00 feed 4 children. $10.00 feeds 40 children. $20.00 feeds 80 children.
Tips for Making the Donation Process as Easy as Pumpkin Pie
1. Become familiar with Pioneers of Peace’s direct link to WFPUSA early. It’s important that you donate through this link so we can measure the good we have collectively accomplished. Here is the link: http://my.wfpusa.org/popthanksgivingcupcampaign
2. If you don’t have a Paypal account, you may want to open one. It’s a safe and easy way to pay directly from your checking account and there are no fees. Here is link: PayPal
On our link there are also options for credit and debit cards
4. Go to your bank in advance and ask them what their procedure is for transferring change into dollars. Most banks have change counting machines that make this process very easy.
5. After counting your change on Thanksgiving day, donate the equivalent through our link, and then the next day, deposit your change into your bank account to reimburse yourself.
6. You can also find out where your local CoinStar machine is and exchange your coins for cash. Just know CoinStar will take a percentage of your money.
7. Calculate how many meals you have donated, and know that as you sit down to your own feast, you have provided much needed school meals to children all over the world.
Other Important Information:
When you donate on our direct link, DO NOT donate anonymously. We want to thank you for your kindness.
When you donate on our direct link you will receive an email receipt from WFPUSA for your tax records .
The first 50 people to donate will receive an authentic red cup as a thank you gift. (One cup per household)
We’d like to thank you in advance for joining us in doing our part to end hunger this Thanksgiving season.
As Mother Teresa said…
May this Thanksgiving be a joyous one and the beginning of a new tradition of putting the “Giving” into Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone and may you always find your cup half full 🙂
Join me and many others in fighting world hunger this Thanksgiving by saving your spare change between September 1st and Thanksgiving Day. The money collected will be donated to The World Food Program USA to provide meals to impoverished school children.
The School Feeding Program feeds over 20 million children each day, which is only a fraction of the vast need. Each nutritionally balanced meal is only 25 cents. That means when you spent $20.00 on sushi you could have fed 80 children. Shocking huh!
Hunger Facts
1. 870 million people do not have enough food to eat
2. 98% of the worlds undernourished people live in developing countries
3. Asia and the Pacific have the highest number of hungry comprising 578 million people, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa with 239 million people, and then Latin America and the Caribbean with 53 million people
4. Malnutrition is the key factor contributing to one-third of all global deaths (2.6 million per year)
5. Every 10 seconds, a child dies from hunger related diseases.
Begin by choosing a meaningful cup and start emptying your jingling pockets and bulging wallets into it. Take a look at some of last year’s participating cups.
Some of Last Years Participating Cup
Search under your couch cushions for all of the spare change you can find and send your little children on a quest to find every lost coin hiding in your home and car.
Dig out your old purses and rescue the loose change that is waiting patiently at the bottom, to be used for a wise purpose.
Spread the word that we can make a difference this Thanksgiving; a holiday in which we celebrate abundance and gratitude. Last year we collected close to $5000.00 which provided 20,000 meals to school children.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
Stay tuned for logistical information. For now, choose your cup and start filling it with change. Until next time…
I know today you are being bombarded with Black Friday specials and ads designed to lure you into spending your hard earned money on the trappings of the holiday season.
The last thing I want to do is be another voice through social media suggesting how you spend your dollars… but for those of you who have participated in The Thanks”giving” Cup Campaign, the day is finally here 🙂 🙂
Hopefully by now you have figured out how to convert your coins into dollars so that you can make your donation to The World Food Program. I am looking forward to making mine sometime during today’s celebration of gratitude.
If you haven’t, don’t worry; count your coins today and celebrate your good work.
Tomorrow call your bank and ask if they will let you use their coin counting machine for free. Other options are to count your coins and put them into the paper rolls the bank provides, or use a CoinStar machine which is available in most large grocery stores. The CoinStar machine will keep a percentage of your money (the last time I checked it was 8.9%) for their services.
Of course this charitable challenge is private, which means you are under no obligation to share what you have donated…BUT…it would be fun to see how many meals our combined effort will provide. If you have technical difficulty commenting on my blog you can go to my Facebook page, Barbara Scoville, LCSW and record the number of meals you have provided. Also, it would be fun to see your full cups on Instagram #thanksgivingcupcampaign
School Meals: $1.00= 4 meals
Emergency Biscuits: $1.00= 10 high energy biscuits
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
This morning while writing this post, I watched the sun rise over the Wasatch Mountains through my office window. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the beauty of the earth. I am reminded of an old hymn Folliott S. Pierpoint wrote:
For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies;
For the love which from our birth,
Over and around us lies;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.
For the wonder of each hour,
Of the day and of the night;
Hill and vale and tree and flow'r,
Sun and moon, and stars of light;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.For the joy of ear and eye,
For the heart and mind's delight;
For the mystic harmony,
Linking sense to sound and sight;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child;
Friends on Earth and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild;
Lord of all, to Thee we raise
This, our hymn of grateful praise.
Happy Thanksgiving and may you find your cup full 🙂
2. Click on the red donate button in the upper right corner
3. You will be taken to a screen that requires you to type in your country of origin.
4. After entering your country of origin you will be taken to the screen asking you what program you want to donate to. Click on the program of your choice. While I am devoted to school meals, this Thanksgiving I will be donating to the Philippines because of the dire need.
5. Follow the payment instructions.
6. Take at minimum, a few minutes (not seconds) to reflect on compassion and gratitude, and know you are a pioneer of peace. Thank you.
“In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”Michelangelo
For most of us the answer to the question, “Who am I?” is work in progress. There are times when we are certain who we are, what we like, and what we want; and other times when it seems we have no idea at all.
It has been said that identity isn’t just about what you have done, but what you would like to experience.
Playing “Self Discovery the Michelangelo Way” is a fun game designed to help you discover who you really are. You will be given a series of choices and asked which option resonates most with you. Some will seem easy . . . black and white, while others will require careful contemplation.
Play the game each week and over timewatch how your identity takes form; like Michelangelo chipping away at a block of marble, only to reveal what he already knew was inside.
Included in the game is a polling box in which you can cast your vote and see how your answer compares with others.
Game Rules:
1. Think about each option and decide which one you identify with the most.
2. You may feel like you can identify with both, but choose the one you lean towards.
3. Feel free to think about the options in any way you like: literally, symbolically, metaphorically, preferentially, etc.
4. Claim your identity by voting in the polling box at the bottom of the page, and just for the fun of it see what others are saying.
5. Check in each week to answer the latest question that will reveal your identity.
6. Keep a written record of your responses and watch a description of yourself unfold.
Option: Play this game with your friend or partner. See how well you know each other and build your relationship by sharing aspects of your personality.
Ready to play?
Self Discovery the Michelangelo Way
This weeks’ question (Round 18)
Are you a chocolate milkshake or a green smoothie?
Thanksgiving is right around the corner. How are you coming on the Thanks”giving” Cup Campaign?
Can you believe Thanksgiving is only two weeks from today?
To those of you who are participating in The Thanks”giving” Cup Campaign…how’s it going? I have two cups full of change and am hoping to fill one more before my personal deadline of Thanksgiving day.
When I envisioned this campaign I was dedicated to the school meals program. That was before Super Typhoon Haiyan. I decided today I will be donating my change collection to the same organization, but will designate the funds to be used for emergency relief in the Philippines. (For those of you who are new to my blog you can click on the links at the bottom of this post to learn more about The Thanks”giving” Cup Campaign.)
distributing food including High Energy Biscuits ($1.00 provides 10 high energy biscuits. $100.00 provides 1000 biscuits) and family packs of rice and canned goods.
coordinating logistics and emergency telecommunications efforts of the humanitarian community
transporting infrastructure including prefabricated offices, mobile storage units, generators and radio equipment, vital to the humanitarian community to coordinate response efforts
WFP plans to provide this emergency relief to 2.5 million people over the next 6 months.
100% of all funds received in response to active WFP emergency operations, will be deployed toward the specific emergency, and not reserved for future emergencies or work in other parts of the world. Charity Navigator has identified WFP as a Four Star Charity.
My heart is filled with compassion for the people in the Philippines.
Let us fill our hearts with our own compassion – towards ourselves and towards all living beings. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
This is the reason. It’s called stunted growth syndrome and it is irreversible. Can you imagine your child having a brain like the one on the right because you didn’t have enough food to feed him or her?
Join me and many others in fighting world hunger this Thanksgiving by saving your spare change between now and Thanksgiving Day and donating it to The School Feeding Program, which is a division of the United Nation‘s World Food Program
Begin by choosing a meaningful cup and start emptying your jingling pockets and bulging wallets into it.
Search under your couch cushions for all of the spare change you can find and send your little children on a quest to find every lost coin hiding in your home and car.
Dig out your old purses and rescue the loose change that is waiting patiently at the bottom to be used for a wise purpose.
The change I found at the bottom of all of my purses. Translation: 23 school meals
What might be clutter to you, could be a meal for a starving child.
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Participating Cups
On Thanksgiving Day add up your change, go to http://www.wfp.org and press the red cup donation button in the top right hand corner of the screen.
This will pull up the donation page. Be sure to click on the school feeding program button.
Last night I made a $10.00 donation to see how it works. I am happy to report it was as easy as pie 🙂 And my $10.00 donation will provide 40school meals!
That is the best bang for any buck I have ever spent! On top of that I got an oxytocin rush that just keeps coming every time I think about how happy I am that I donated $10.00 instead of spending it at McDonald’s.
The School Feeding Program feeds over 20 million children each day, which is only a fraction of the vast need. Each nutritionally balanced meal is only 25 cents. That means when you spent $20.00 on sushi you could have fed 80 children. Shocking huh!
Hunger Facts
1. 870 million people do not have enough food to eat
2. 98% of the worlds undernourished people live in developing countries
3. Asia and the Pacific have the highest number of hungry comprising 578 million people, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa with 239 million people, and then Latin America and the Caribbean with 53 million people
4. Malnutrition is the key factor contributing to one-third of all global deaths (2.6 million per year)
5. Every 10 seconds, a child dies from hunger related diseases
6. There is enough food in the world today for everyone to have the nourishment necessary for a healthy and productive life
PIONEERS OF PEACE WALK NOT JUST TALK
Walk with me. Please
Spread the word that we can make a difference this Thanksgiving; a holiday in which we celebrate abundance and gratitude. How can we not share?
Educate yourself by spending just 20 minutes watching the Ted Talk below
Ok, I know I’m going out on a limb here, but I am going to have courage and share something that is very special to me.
As many of you know, the cause of fighting world hunger is very close to my heart. One of the primary reasons I began this blog almost 1 year ago, was to eventually launch a charitable foundation called, “Pioneers of Peace.” In the past year I have secured the copyright to that title. I have also applied for the copyright to “Pioneers of Peace Walk, Not Just Talk.”
It was my hope that I would spend a year gathering a following, and then launch my foundation. Sadly I have not gained the following I would’ve liked, and so when I ask you to be a part of this I am taking a leap of faith.
I was going to wait until January, but Friday morning something happened. I know now is the time; though the response might be small.
This is what happened…I was catching up on Facebook when I saw The World Food Program‘s latest plea for help. It was a picture much like all of the others; a little girl holding an iconic green cup (I like the red ones better) advertising the school feeding program which is so near and dear to my heart.
Then it happened…I saw the gruel inside of the green cup transform into coins. Tears came to my eyes and I decided in that moment I was personally going to get an appropriate cup and fill it with all of my spare change between now and Thanksgiving.
On Thanksgiving Day as an expression of gratitude for my abundance I will donate the change to The World Food Program’s School Feeding Program.
The thought didn’t stop there. I saw not only one cup brimming with coins, but many. That’s when I knew it was time to ask others to join me, knowing that together we could make a significant contribution.
Everyone has a change jar. As my son has reminded me, those jars are often people’s Disneyland Fund. That may be true, but really? Can’t we donate our change to children who are starving and under the threat of stunted growth syndrome for approximately two months starting today. What better way is there to teach your children about gratitude and charity?
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It only takes 25 cents to provide all of the necessary nutritional requirements for one child per day. How many meals can you provide?
Mother Theresa said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
So I am asking you. Please join me in being a Pioneer of Peace by finding a cup worthy of such a collection, and begin saving your spare change. Let us Walk Not Just Talk and share our abundance with those less fortunate on Thanksgiving. I will be providing more details shortly, but for now please pass the word along.
My cup
Send me a picture of your cup ( barbarascovillelcsw@gmail.com) and I will post it for all to see. LET’S DO IT because PIONEERS OF PEACE WALK NOT JUST TALK
The children were all nestled snug in their beds…while visions of filled red cups danced in their heads
“In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”
