Monday Musings: Will you “Go Orange” for No Kid Hungry?

September is No Kid Hungry month. There’s lots you can do!

Unfortunately, we probably watch more TV than we should. I’m sure we’re not alone. However, on occasion, you catch something television that might be beneficial, and I’m not talking about your usual infomercials either.

Recently, our girls saw a commercial on TV that really caught their attention, a sad commercial, and they called me out of the kitchen to watch it as they ran it again. It was a commercial for No Kid Hungry, a nonprofit organization trying to fight childhood hunger.

“Isn’t that sad?” They said.

And it was sad.

Coincidentally though, in the way that fate works, I had just the day before sent Caroline a link to an essay contest sponsored by No Kid Hungry, for students ages 13 and up. I hadn’t actually looked into the contest much, but I saw the age range, and she fit right into it, so I sent it to her.

The television commercial was asking kids to “Go Orange” on Tuesday, September 24, to help in the fight against childhood hunger.

“We should do that!” my kids said.

“Go ahead,” I said.

And their wheels started turning. Between the three of them they attend two separate schools, but there are about 20 schools in total all over the city. They decided to speak to their own principals first and see if a “Go Orange” day could be held in their own schools, and then reach out to both the superintendent and mayor of our city to see if the anti-hunger campaign could be extended to as many schools in the city as possible, as well as to the offices in the city administration.

Both principals responded favorably, and a date of September 27 was decided on, a Friday, which is often a “dress down for charity” day for teachers and employees in the city anyway.

The girls decided that a donation of either $1 or one canned good would be the ticket to being able to “Go Orange” on the 27th at their two schools. All of the proceeds would benefit the local food bank in our city, so that our collections would go to help those in our own community who may be struggling.

The response from both the superintendent and the mayor were both a resounding “Yes,” and it was exciting have so many emails coming in, expressing support and asking questions so that schools could host their own “Go Orange” days on Friday.

Of course, a big part of “Going Orange” is having just the right clothes and accessories, and after a thorough inventory of all their wardrobes, it was determined that we have way more orange clothes than we thought we had. We could probably dress them in orange for a week.

Next up: Advertising.

They spent the next Friday evening creating some posters which would advertise the event in their own schools. Morning announcements were written and announced over the loud speaker at school, and it was being shared on Instagram and Twitter almost instantly.

We’ve participated in lots of food drives before, but we’ve never spearheaded one ourselves. It’ll be interesting to see how this one goes, what we’ll learn, and best of all, how much we can help others in our own city who are struggling. I am proud of the kids for taking this on themselves, for doing the legwork, and especially Caroline for reaching out beyond the schools.

I share this with you today, because you too can participate! You can host a “Go Orange” day at your place of business, in a scout troop, at your place of worship or you could make a donation to a local food pantry this month. There are even restaurants where you can eat, which support No Kid Hungry. Look online and see if there are any near you.

So what do you think? Will you “Go Orange” this month too?

Tags: food drives, Go Orange, Jennifer L. Cowart, kids, No Kid Hungry, parenting