Boxing Day wrapup
Although the origins of Boxing Day are somewhat murky, many of the historical theories include the traditions of providing food or other sustenence to those less fortunate than ourselves. English households apparently boxed up Christmas leftovers for servants’ families, and churches distributed alms collected from the ‘poor box’ on the day after Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day. And I’m sure you know the carol about Good King Wenceslas…
So it seems appropriate to celebrate, today, by thanking everyone who participated in the Menu for Hope charity drive: We raised $58,000 $60,925.12 — that’s more than three times as much as last year — a lot more useful to the recipients of UN World Food Programme aid than day-old leftovers.
If you’ve got a little more time off before the new year, why not tidy up your pantry and take a box of canned goods to your local food bank? Most of the holiday donation barrels seem to have disappeared from grocery stores and office lobbies already, but the San Francisco Food Bank offers a handy list of locations that happily take your donations all year ’round. Or, even better, take a shift as a volunteer food sorter — I’ve done it twice, and it’s hard work, but also a lot of fun.
If you’re outside San Francisco, check out Second Harvest‘s search engine: Plug in your Zip code, and they’ll connect you with a nearby food bank.
Comment by Tea
Such an important topic, Anita. Thanks for posting about it (I’ve got a food bank post in the works…but it’s been languishing in the “half written blog post file” for ages now!).
Hope you and C had a wonderful holiday–Boxing Day included!
Posted on 12.27.06 at 4:59PM