Friday, November 5, 2010

Summit on Food Security

I participated in Montgomery County's Summit on Food Security today and it was one of the best meeting I've gone to through the Benefit Bank. It was truly inspirational. Maybe as I become more involved in the Foodbank, I start to really sync with the speakers. I imagined that it was going to be a typical tabling event where I perform Quick Checks and share information about the Benefit Bank. I had no idea who the speakers were.One of the speakers was former congressman Tony Hall. I had no idea that he did the PeaceCorps! He was very inspirational and it was great to see someone in Washington addressing food insecurities issues. He talked about the duplication amongst hunger groups and how organizations need to collaborate. When talking about the impact of helping the hungry, Mother Teresa once told him, "Do the thing that's in front of you." I took a lot away out of that message. Sometimes, when I think about my role, I question how many people I am actually helping. What he said helped me realize that it's important for me to help the members of my community because that's the first place where I see a need. A lot of people spoke favorable of the Oho Benefit Bank and expressed an interest in becoming a site. Over all, it was a great summit and I was glad that I went!