Small milestones, historic achievements on the path to ending hunger

          When New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie last week signed a breakfast-after-the-bell bill I got excited about such a milestone. http://tinyurl.com/k7geptn I inquired about details and whether it would significantly increase school breakfast participation toward our No Kid Hungry goals.

My excitement was tempered upon learning that the bill does not provide any funding, nor include mandates. It directs the state departments of Agriculture and Education to track participation and assist schools in moving toward breakfast after the bell. It’s not a muscular approach, more like cheerleading than actually moving the ball down field, so not a big deal.

So that’s how I thought about it until having a chance over the long weekend to read The Bill of The Century, by Clay Risen, about passage of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. As a child of the 1960’s, civil rights is burned into my memory as dominating the national conversation.  But Risen’s book argues that was often not the case, and it evokes similarities to challenges we face in elevating hunger on the national agenda. Consider these excerpts: 

 “It is striking that on the eve of the Civil Rights Act, civil rights as a cause was in every way stymied, compromised, and ignored by the government and large swaths of the American public.”

“At the outset of 1963, few expected anything more than token federal action on civil rights, and even then no one expected it to pass.”

“Complicating things further was the fact that there was no single unified civil rights movement, but many.”

The book’s larger take-away is that while we associate the civil rights bill with Martin Luther King and President Lyndon Johnson, it was actually numerous lessor known leaders and actions, over many years, that made such success possible. Many legislative, political and policy initiatives that were whittled down to symbolic victories considered hollow by the most fervent activists, were important, in retrospect, in changing the political climate. “We must remember there was no single central character, no prime mover, but dozens of contributors.  And while this lesson is particularly true for the Civil Rights Act, it is also true for the history of American lawmaking in general.” 

Risen’s subtitle, “The Epic Battle for The Civil Rights Act”  is telling for “epic” connotes a long and extended narrative that embodies many small contributions, not just a few large heroic actions.  In that light, the New Jersey school breakfast bill, while not a landmark achievement, becomes a piece of a larger mosaic.  So too will the No Kid Hungry campaign itself, which is our laser sharp focus now but just one milestone in our larger vision and mission to address hunger and poverty here in the U.S. and around the world.

A Reminder This Thanksgiving That Charity is Not Enough

NY Times contributing writer Tom Edsall has a new column worth reading this Thanksgiving morning, examining the recent mid-term election results and the changing demographics that will impact presidential politics in 2016.  In looking at the future of the Democratic Party he concludes: “Unless the Democrats develop a coherent, comprehensive strategy for the have-nots, it won’t matter whether the party’s nominee is Clinton, Webb or anyone else.” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/opinion/who-will-save-the-democratic-party-from-itself.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

            Edsall quotes potential presidential candidate Jim Webb on how poverty and lack of opportunity signal our having “drifted to the fringes of the very inequality our Constitution was meant to prevent.”  And while Edsall focused on the Democrats, the broader point is applicable to all Americans regardless of political party.

There is always a lot of commentary around Thanksgiving about counting our blessings and remembering those less fortunate. Usually it’s in the form of an appeal for increased charity.  But Edsall’s column is a kind of wake-up call that public policy must change to effectively address poverty on the scale that it exists, and that if doesn’t, the “have-nots” may at long last evolve from charitable cause to transformative political force.  For those of us with much to be grateful for this holiday season, it’s another reminder that more charity, though necessary and good, is not enough.

Increasing civic participation as political participation shrinks

Two recent articles reinforce a special dimension of Share Our Strength and so many other nonprofits.  The first is an analysis of the November elections from the Center for Responsive Politics  @ http://tinyurl.com/m9pugkw arguing that: “The real story of the election’s campaign finance chapter was not which side had more resources, but that such a large chunk of the cost was paid for by a small group of ultra-wealthy donors using outside groups to bury voters with an avalanche of spending.”

            The second in the Washington Post this weekend is by retired General Stan McChrystal, who chairs the Franklin Project on whose board I sit. @ http://tinyurl.com/meygrgq General McChrystal calls for a system of national and community service that exceeds anything we’ve seen so far.  “Turnout for the recent election was the lowest for a midterm in more than 70 years… We lack common experiences that bind us as a people. We have lost our confidence in doing big things as a nation…. We need to support leaders who ask more of us and not those who simply promise us more….Imagine if, during the next election season, candidates at all levels competed to propose serious ideas for the civic transformation of America.”

            One thing we do at Share Our Strength that may be even more important than feeding kids is creating opportunities for people to make a difference in their communities.  As political participation narrows, we make broader civic participation possible. Every Arby’s and Denny’s customer who makes a donation during our Dine Out for No Kid Hungry, every chef volunteer, Cooking Matters instructor, school breakfast petition signer, and donor large or small, demonstrates that Americans will engage in making America stronger when they believe their actions will lead to results.

That’s not a substitute for the necessary policy change that political participation can achieve. But it is a way of building back confidence that change is possible, that community can be created, and that the voices of organized citizens will be heard. It means every aspect of our sector’s work is a chance to also restore hope that making a difference makes a difference.  So let’s make every moment count.

 

Why NY Mayor de Blasio should lead, not just wait and follow, the national movement for school breakfast after the bell

           Yesterday’s NY Times editorial  (http://tinyurl.com/lld5mzm) urging NY Mayor de Blasio to fulfill his campaign promise and make available breakfast in the classroom was the culmination of the first phase of a campaign to raise awareness and put some pressure on the mayor. De Blasio’s own allies counseled that without some of the pressure that public attention brings, it’s very hard for such an issue to emerge from the multiple priorities competing for the Mayor’s attention.

The editorial  also helped to launch a second phase of even greater grassroots support that included the singer P!NK tweeting the editorial to her 25 million supporters as part of a broad based social media effort to ensure this common sense low cost solution gets implemented.

At a time much of the country is dispirited over the seeming failure of government to get things to work as they should Mayor de Blasio has a golden opportunity to demonstrate how a program that does work can catapult New York City from last to first in the nation in school breakfast participation, thereby making America stronger by making our kids stronger. And he can do so in a way that doesn’t cost NYC money but will instead bring millions of dollars into the city.

A national trend is growing in favor of breakfast after the bell.  Given the success of other large cities around the country, it's probably only a matter of time before it takes hold in New York City.  At worst, the Mayor should follow this trend. At best, the editorial makes a compelling case for why he should help lead.  A strong New York requires strong kids - fit, fed, and ready to learn. A strong America demands no less.

Nonprofits and Voter Apathy: Missing The Forest for The Trees

            You have to wonder if some of us who think of ourselves as change agents sometimes miss the forest for the trees, like during last week’s election which had the worst voter turnout in 72 years at only 36.3%.   See today’s New York Times editorial @ http://tinyurl.com/knpsoke  My own very unscientific sampling found not a single nonprofit or advocacy organization website that was reminding or urging people to get out to vote.

            There’s not an issue from poverty and hunger to arts and culture that isn’t profoundly impacted by the public policy set by our elected officials.   The nonprofit sector speaks to stakeholders who care about change. But if we are so myopic as to only talk about our own specific issues, without stepping back to urge anyone who listens to vote, we miss a big opportunity to play a constructive role in combating voter apathy.  That’s not to suggest we become partisan advocates, but rather civic champions.

            Nonprofit achievement is undermined by poor participation in democracy. And participation has become so low that it will take all of us to change it.

Poverty, Hunger and "Dark Money"

           Predictions about which issues will shape the agenda of the new Congress have dominated the news since last Tuesday elections.  Poverty and hunger have not been on the lists, even though 45 million Americans have been stuck below the poverty line for three consecutive years.  

One reason, as the NY Times editorialized on Sunday, is that “The next Senate was just elected on the greatest wave of secret, special-interest money ever raised in a congressional election…. In the 2010 midterms, when this practice was just getting started, $161 million was spent by groups that did not disclose donations. In this cycle it was up to at least $216 million…”  Neither party’s wealthy donors have a deep understanding of poverty or the desire to make it a political priority.

Against this backdrop of unprecedented amounts of special interest money being spent to buy elections on behalf of those who have everything, Share Our Strength and A Place At The Table are partnering to get millions of dollars of media donated to build political will on behalf of those who have almost nothing at all, not even enough to eat.

It’s not sufficient to counter the vast amounts of money being spent to keep elected officials focused on other issues. But it’s a start, and a critically important “first” in the effort to end hunger.

It’s symptomatic of our broken political system that much of the post-election debate is over which party’s wealthiest donors – represented by the Koch brothers on one hand and by Tom Steyer on the other - got the better return on their investment, and not about how either party can best represent the dreams and aspirations of all Americans from richest to poorest. The latter question holds the seed of the political revolution that still needs to happen.

Letter From NASDAQ: The Importance of Investing in Our Kids

Last Friday in NY, we rang the opening bell for trading on NASDAQ, as colorful, confetti-filled images were projected 10-20 stories high on Times Square video screens.

We participated in this great morning thanks to Ray Blanchette and Jim Mazany of Joe’s Crab Shack and The Ignite Restaurant Group (listed on NASDAQ.)  Instead of basking in their moment in the sun, they shared their strength by having the No Kid Hungry campaign and Dine Out take center stage. That generosity of spirit is characteristic of the leadership behind Dine Out’s growth. 

It may seem unusual for a nonprofit to be the focus at NASDAQ. But perhaps not in our case. NASDAQ is for entrepreneurs investing in the future.  Their goals are to create wealth and enhance innovation and economic competitiveness. That’s what Share Our Strength is about as well. We create “community wealth” to invest in the children representing our nation’s future. We can’t have a strong nation or strong economy without strong kids.

Earlier last week, USDA released new data showing food insecurity essentially unchanged from the 14.5 percent of Americans considered food insecure the year before, and still much worse than the 11.1 percent rate before the Great Recession. Hungry Americans never recovered even though the stock market did. In 2009, NASDAQ fell to 1958 points and the Dow to 9344. By 2014, NASDAQ had doubled to 4562 and the Dow nearly so to 17,069.

NASDAQ has nothing to feel bad about. It did what it’s supposed to do. Such growth directly benefits some and indirectly benefits many. On the other hand, our political leadership should feel sick-to-its-stomach awful. If you can’t come together to feed our hungriest kids while massive amounts of wealth is being created, when would you? 

The rebounding stock market shows that America knows how to create wealth. But the lack of progress in addressing hunger and food insecurity shows we are not as good at creating opportunity for all.

Hopefully other companies will be inspired by the commitment to community of Ignite and our many corporate partners like the Food Network, Williams-Sonoma, Corner Bakery and Arby’s just to name a few. (A more comprehensive list of Dine Out participants can be found at NoKidHungry.org.) This can help create the necessary political will to end hunger. Economic success gave us a lot to smile and cheer about at NASDAQ last week. We’ll have even more to celebrate when our collective efforts lead to economic justice.  

Celebrating economic success, waiting for economic justice

            Last Friday in NY we rang the opening bell for trading on NASDAQ, as colorful confetti filled images were projected 10-20 stories high on Times Square video screens. See @ http://photos.nasdaq.com/2014/09OPENS/No-Kid-Hungry/n-P6ZRm/i-QN6KkVs/A  

 We participated thanks to Ray Blanchette and Jim Mazany of Joe’s Crab Shack and The Ignite Restaurant Group (listed on NASDAQ.)  Instead of basking in their moment in the sun, they shared their strength by having the No Kid Hungry campaign and Dine Out take center stage. That generosity of spirit is characteristic of the leadership behind Dine Out’s growth.  We reached a larger audience with our message and had board members (Wally and Joni Doolin, Mark Rodriguez) and Dine Out Partners (Marla Topliff, Tommy Bahama, the Food Network and others) participate. The professionalism of Molly Parker, Jen Kaleba, Kathryn Haskin, Jessie Sherrer and Alison Zayas and others on our team ensured a successful day.

It may seem unusual for a nonprofit to be the focus at NASDAQ. But perhaps not in our case. NASDAQ is for entrepreneurs investing in the future.  Their goals are to create wealth and enhance innovation and economic competitiveness. That’s what Share Our Strength is about as well. We create “community wealth” to invest in the children representing our nation’s future. We can’t have a strong nation or strong economy without strong kids.

Earlier last week, USDA released new data showing food insecurity essentially unchanged from the 14.5 percent of Americans considered food insecure the year before, and still much worse than the 11.1 percent rate before the Great Recession. Hungry Americans never recovered even though the stock market did. In 2009 NASDAQ fell to 1958 points and the Dow to 9344. By 2014 NASDAQ had doubled to 4562 and the Dow nearly so to 17,069.

NASDAQ has nothing to feel bad about. It did what it’s supposed to do. Such growth directly benefits some and indirectly benefits many. On the other hand, our political leadership should feel sick-to-its-stomach awful. If you can’t come together to feed our hungriest kids while massive amounts of wealth is being created, when would you? 

The rebounding stock market shows that America knows how to create wealth. But the lack of progress in addressing hunger and food insecurity shows we are not as good creating opportunity for all.

Hopefully other companies will be inspired by the commitment to community of Ignite and our many corporate partners. That can help create the necessary political will to end hunger. Economic success gave us a lot to smile and cheer about at NASDAQ last week. We’ll have even more to celebrate when we achieve economic justice.  

Maryland success highlights need for American Meals For Achievement

Public-private partnerships just earned a new vote of confidence thanks to the achievements of our No Kid Hungry campaign.  Heading into the crucial last months of 2014, it affirms our hard work pays off for the children we serve.

Last week the Washington Post reported that Maryland awarded nearly $7 million in state funds to ensure more students could start the school day with a healthy breakfast.  See @ ow.ly/APRlP   The money will reach 481 schools across the state through the Maryland Meals for Achievement program (MMFA) which has been one of Governor O’Malley’s primary vehicles for advancing our goals.  MMFA enables all children, whether they can afford breakfast or not, to have breakfast together, in their own classroom, or on the way into class, as an alternative to traditional breakfast in the cafeteria which requires children to arrive early and suffer the stigma of being the kids who need assistance.

The program’s name says it all. Meals for achievement. Maryland was one of the first states to understand the strong and direct connection between well fed children and academic success. Because of the dramatic improvement in school breakfast participation that our campaign has achieved, Governor O’Malley consistently proposes boosts for MMFA funding.

From the time that Governor O’Malley embraced the goals of ending childhood hunger in Maryland in partnership with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, the number of schools participating has increased 87%.   Those schools show a 7.2% lower rate of chronic absenteeism and are 12.5% more likely to achieve proficiency on standardized math tests.  For every dollar the state spends on MMFA, Maryland gets $4.75 in federal reimbursements for meals.  The winners: children, schools, taxpayers.

As satisfying as this may be, our response must go beyond celebration, to challenging ourselves to think even bigger.

Arkansas, inspired by Maryland Meals For Achievement, was first to create a similar program for its state. The challenge now is to enable other states to follow. If education is the priority we say it is, there ought to be an American Meals for Achievement so that every state’s students have an opportunity to succeed in school by starting the day with the nutrition they need.

In today’s economic and political environment, the threshold question is whether to accept traditional and incremental progress, or push for big and bold.  There’s comfort in the former, But not sufficient impact.  With big and bold, failure is always a risk, but one worth taking when the cost is low, the return is high, and our children’s future, perhaps our nation’s, hangs in the balance.

Letter From a Small Island in A Scary World

The world has been a fearsome place this summer. There’s no escaping the haunting horrors from Syria and Iraq, Israel and Gaza, Ferguson, Ebola plagued West Africa and Central America’s child refugees.  We’re safe at our parks, beaches, restaurants and pools, yet unable to feel safe in the world.  A senior Pentagon official says ISIS has an “apocalyptic end of days” strategy “unlike anything we’ve seen before.”  How does one make sense of it? How is what we do at Share Our Strength relevant, if at all?

            I’m looking for answers here on Monhegan Island, ten miles off the coast of Maine. A mile long by a mile wide, two inns and a handful of artists’ cottages, Monhegan gives new meaning to peaceful.  The summer population swells to several hundred but in winter it’s only about 40, mostly lobstermen. This is the 7^th straight year our family has visited. Monhegan is about as far from the troubles of the world as one can get, yet three things here evoke how we must go about our work together.

First, Monhegan sits amidst a harsh, inhospitable environment, surrounded by often stormy seas. Islanders confront adversity with unity.  Lobstering season begins October 1, known as Trap Day. Notwithstanding their competitiveness and the race to drop traps in prime spots, no one goes until everyone goes. Everyone leaves the harbor together at an appointed time and has an equal chance for the most desirable places. If any boat is not ready, or a crew member is sick, all other boats wait, even if it means a day or more. 

Second, like Share Our Strength, their year depends heavily on this last quarter.  Unlike most Maine lobstermen who fish all summer, Monhegan’s lobstermen fish primarily in winter because in summer the lobsters migrate inland to warmer waters. They have to make the most of every day, and within each day the most of every hour. As we head into the all-important last quarter of the calendar year, responsible for so much of our revenue that funds our No Kid Hungry campaign, there’s not a moment to lose.

Third, in winter and summer, whether lobstermen or visiting artists, there is pride in craft and attention to detail. I’ve been thinking of something our colleague Dan Roge shared with me as he reflected on a recent visit he and his wife had with novelist, poet, farmer and environmental activist Wendell Berry.  He learned that they “never set out to make some kind of impact. They have tried to do things right”  It reminded me of Viktor Frankl the Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor who in his book Man’s Search For Meaning writes: “Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself...”

As we head in to the crucial last few months of 2014, Monhegan’s lessons boil down to these three:

n  Stick together no matter what

n  Make every moment count

n  Do what’s right, the rest takes care of itself

I wish I had more wisdom about the convergence of so many complex and frightening problems around the globe.  The lessons above, and our work even at its best, can’t solve all of them. But, in the long run, what we stand for can: lifting up the dignity of every human being, investing in the next generation so that every child has an equal chance, demonstrating that we all have strengths to share.  There’s no shortcut to ameliorating the ignorance and hatred that cause so much suffering. In fact there is only the opposite: doubling down on strategy to make real the values we represent, recommitting for the long haul, and bringing to each and every action the faith that our own small acts done well inexorably yield transformational global impact.

Shaming Our Nation into Caring About Hunger

Last night NBC Nightly News used a newly released Feeding America report on hunger in America in 2014 as a jumping off point to report on the need of many military families to subsidize their income through visits to food banks.   See the story here @ ow.ly/AqR2R

The Feeding America report covered a lot of additional ground, showing that Feeding America’s network of emergency food assistance providers serves 5.4 million Americans each week and a total of 46.5 million over a year. It describes the choices that many have to make between food and medical, rent, utilities and transportation costs.

But NBC focused on one of the more surprising aspects of hunger in America which is the number of enlisted military families, defending our freedom, who are not free themselves from hunger and want.  You can’t watch the NBC report without feeling that something has gone terribly wrong not only for the families involved but for our entire society if we are not able to provide a basic level of support for even the soldiers who have volunteered to protect and defend us.

The NBC report reminded me of the way Martin Luther King advanced the struggle for civil rights by highlighting the gap between our ideals and our reality, by shaming once indifferent Americans for not living up to their own ideals.   

On the 50th anniversary of LBJ's "war on poverty" bill

This week makes the 50^th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson signing the legislation that enacted his “war on poverty” into law.  During his remarks in the Rose Garden on that morning of August 20, 1964, LBJ said: “we will reach into all the pockets of poverty and help our people find their footing for a long climb toward a better way of life.”  That climb has turned out to be steeper than LBJ or anyone else might have imagined.  Today 46 million Americans live below the poverty line compared to 30 million Americans when Johnson was in office. Renewed presidential leadership is needed and awaited to complete the journey.

From last night's wreath laying ceremony at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on 70th anniversary of D-Day

            Today is the 70^th anniversary of D-Day, one of those rare world-changing events that actually live up to such a phrase.  Last night, 70 years to the moment that our transports were approaching Normandy and paratroopers were dropping behind enemy lines; Share Our Strength was part of a small group participating in a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. 

We were the only nonprofit included among Washington’s most prominent business leaders. We’d been invited by the Greater Washington Board of Trade, in no small part due to their great respect for our colleague Tamra McGraw.  I like to also think they recognize Share Our Strength for a different but important form of service to our nation. Our host was Major General Jeffrey Buchanan who served with both the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101 Airborne and is currently Commanding General of the Military District of Washington DC.

 

General Buchanan and his colleagues explained the rigorous commitment of the “tomb sentinels” who comprise the 24 hour a day honor guard. They volunteer for the assignment despite being held to almost impossibly high standards.  They are measured on more than 100 criteria from the crease in their slacks to the alignment of their eyes. If anything is more than 1/64^th of an inch off they are cited for a deficiency. Two deficiencies means being taken off honor guard duty.

 

In 1984, on the 40^th anniversary of D-Day, General Buchanan was then a young soldier selected to parachute on to Omaha beach in commemoration of the Americans who gave their lives to liberate France and turn the tide of World War II.  He paused to gaze at Arlington’s 400,000 graves behind him. “This really is sacred ground” he said with a sweep of his hand. He asked that we think about those men today.  And he reminded us that from General Eisenhower on down, no one had any idea or guarantee, how things would turn out.

When the ceremony ended around 6:00, I excused myself from dinner with General Buchanan and the Board of Trade and instead walked the deserted roads to Section 60 which is reserved for those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.  On the other wide of the cemetery, far from the crowd of veterans, tourists and others who had gathered at our wreath laying ceremony, only two small families of four or five huddled together around gravestones about 50 yards apart.

From a distance they could barely be distinguished among the field of white headstones, but as one got closer you could see their arms around each other’s shoulders and heads bowed.   Sacrifice and faith and honoring memory were not history lessons for them, so much as the oxygen they breathe. I had walked over to visit one grave in particular, the son of a family friend, but two hours later as the sun set I was still standing among them all.

 

 

A Pulitzer Prize for Giving Voice to the Voiceless

 I sent a note of congratulations last week to Eli Saslow of the Washington Post after he won a Pulitzer Prize for “Explanatory Reporting” for a series he wrote about people and communities struggling with hunger and utilizing food stamps.   http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2014-Explanatory-Reporting  

 

His response to my email was characterized by both humility and genuine appreciation for what we have worked so hard to achieve through our No Kid Hungry campaign:  “If, in some small way, the stories have helped advance your great, important work, then that is worth far more than any prize. I'm grateful to get to write about the problems you all are working to solve.”

 

If you don’t have time to read the series you can get a good sense for its power from The Washington Post’s one page letter to the Pulitzer committee nominating Saslow.  See @ http://www.pulitzer.org/files/2014/explanatory-reporting/saslow/saslowletter.pdf

 

In talking to his Post colleagues about the people he wrote about and who “I owe the most to” he explained: “They’re the ones who take the huge risk. It’s a huge act of courage to have somebody call, who you don’t know, from out of town, and say that they want to come be with you constantly in sort of, you know, every corner of your life in this moment where things are usually not going well and there’s a lot at stake. That’s an incredible thing to ask of people, and yet they say yes, and I wonder a lot about that because I’m not sure I’d be the person who said yes. And I think it’s because people are so — they really crave to be understood and they want to know that what they’re dealing with matters. And I think our journalism should validate that and it should take good care of the trust they’re giving us to come into their lives.”

 

Saslow is 31 years old and hopefully represents a new generation of reporters committed to bearing witness and giving voice to the voiceless. 

“The key to the future is finding the positive stories and getting people to tell them to each other.”

Last week I was in New York to speak at a social entrepreneurship forum that took its name, Go Big or Go Home, from one of the articles I’d written about our No Kid Hungry strategy.  As I was walking toward the event at an NYU auditorium on Washington Square I passed another building, the Judson Memorial Church that had a quote on the wall that caught my eye. It was from Pete Seeger, the folk singer who died earlier this year at the age of 94, and one of my long-time heroes.  It said: “The key to the future is finding the positive stories and getting people to tell them to each other.” 

 

The nature of songwriting is to take an experience or idea and boil it down to its essence and Seeger’s words did exactly that. I stopped and scribbled them down because his sentiments felt like a wonderful reinforcement of exactly what we’ve been doing: at the NGA summit in Detroit, with our new partner Good Housekeeping, in our videos about school breakfast, in our recruiting for Dine Out at the Restaurant Leadership Conference in Arizona, on our Facebook page and Twitter feed, in the best practices that Community Wealth Partners share with clients, and in so many other ways.

 

We’re not just finding the positive stories, we’re creating them. But Seeger’s point is that is not enough. People are inspired by learning of positive outcomes, what works, knowing a problem is solvable, and by those who hold themselves accountable for solving it. Small steps forward play as valuable a role as the large. And so we must continue to find ways to not just create or find the positive stories but also be about “getting people to tell them to each other.”

 

  By the way, Judson Memorial Church is worth checking out whenever you are in NY. It was built in 1892 and financed by John D Rockefeller, designed by legendary architect Stanford White and includes 17 spectacular stained glass windows by the master of that art form, John LaFarge.  It pursues a comprehensive social justice agenda. And it quotes Pete Seeger.

Goose Rocks Beach at First Light on New Year's Day

 

There’s nothing like watching dawn break over Goose Rocks Beach in Maine.  The first sign of light on the horizon is as thin as the white line you see in the crack under a door. Darkness and desolation yield to the emerging outlines of an ocean teeming with life and alive in its own right, coming into focus like an old TV only our parents would remember. This morning the clouds seem to rise out of the ocean toward the sky: fierce, dark and with the jagged edges of uncombed hair.

 The seals are happy to have the place to themselves. They bob in front of the house, venturing closer than we ever see in summer. 

 We took a walk yesterday during the brief period when the mercury made it to 34 degrees. The sun was out and it was pleasant so long as the wind was at our backs. Rosemary and I were bundled from head to toe.  Nate frolicked as joyfully as the seals, wearing only a t-shirt and relishing the sensation.

 The wrack line of dried seaweed was filled with moon snail shells and we collected half a dozen for the bowl that serves as our dining table’s centerpiece.  

 The moon snail has always fascinated me, for the meticulous manner in which it deposits and protects its eggs, and for the brutality of its predatory behavior, all but invisible above the surface of the sand.  It’s able to wrap its expandable foot around a clam and then use its radula, a kind of biological Swiss army knife, to drill a hole into the bivalve’s shell, and insert a tube to suck out and digest the clam. (To see them in all their grandeur go to @ http://ow.ly/say4B )

 A nature writer named Barbara Hurd who teaches at the University of Southern Maine writes about the moon snail as an example of how “beauty recedes when hunger intensifies.”  I like this discovery of a new way of thinking for the New Year: the work of Share Our Strength as protecting and preserving nature’s beauty.  Recalling the faces of first graders we’ve seen eating breakfast from Baltimore to Los Angeles, I can’t think of a better way to describe what we do.