a season of thanks

5. Make a once a month donation to an organization that could use it - In progress

Last week I had the opportunity to volunteer at the MD Food Bank with some co-workers of mine and it was AWESOME!  Not only was only being at work for half a day pretty awesome, but helping to pack up food boxes that will help feed over 6,500 Maryland families was fantastic!  As we left I asked the volunteer coordinator for her card, because I really want to go back and do more.  I left feeling like I need to do more.

 

Our assembly line :)

 

We stacked 10 of these bad boys.

 

I think I missed my calling.  I was a phenom with the tape gun!!

So I've been thinking about it a bunch, trying to determine what I can do during the season of thanks to help out some folks who are just not as fortunate as me.  And the more I thought about the MD food bank, the more I wanted to do something THERE.  So I searched around on their website, and found this gem of a contest, and knew it was for me. 

And I signed up!!!!

So I'm hosting my own virtual food drive.  The cool thing is, those who want to donate just go online, select the type of food they want to donate, purchase it at the wholesale price (yay!) and the donation automatically goes to the MD Food Bank!  Of course there are some pretty sweet perks in there for a Ravens' fan like me. :)

The Food Bank offers this "pre-typed" letter for all team captains (which would be me) to share with their friends and family, so I'll just share mine here:

Join my team and help me get in the game!

If I can recruit you and others to purchase the most food in dollars (not pounds), I could be the Ravens Honorary Captain at the Ravens/Buccaneers game on November 28! Will you put me on the 50-yard line at the M&T Stadium for the coin toss?

Here’s how it works: go to www.mdfoodbank.org/ravens and purchase wholesale food. At checkout, type in my team name, "Nasrene Mirjafary," to help increase my team’s amount raised. Not only will you help me win the Ravens Honorary Captain Experience, your name will be entered into a raffle for two tickets to the same game on November 28, 2010.

If you’d rather create your own team you can register at www.mdfoodbank.org/register .
If our team raises the most in food purchases we’ll make me the Ravens Honorary Captain.

There’s not much time to act, this food drive runs from now through 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 24, 2010.

Let’s move the chains to end zone and help the Maryland Food Bank win the fight against hunger! Make a donation today and help me get in the game!!

 
How awesome is that???
 
So if you're looking for an opportunity to GIVE a little in this season of thanks and giving, please consider donating to my virtual food drive.  For just $10.50 the Maryland Food Bank can feed 1 hungry Marylander for a WEEK!!
 
(I wish I knew their secret, I could vastly cut down on my grocery bills...)
 
And just for the record, I realize the perks for being the winning team are AWESOME, but I also know that this contest has already been going on for several weeks, so winning is really not my motivation here.  I really just wanted to find an easy way to do something proactive for an organization I wanted to support.
 
I also plan on coordinating a volunteer day in December for a group to go to the Food Bank with me and prepare boxes for their Food for the Holidays food drive.  I'd be looking for a group of between 10-20 people to join me and we'd go on either a Saturday morning from 8:30-12 or a Wednesday evening from 5:30-8.  If you are interested please let me know by leaving me a comment on this blog or emailing me at Adoptacat@hotmail.com
 
THANKS!!!!  And donate to my food drive!!!!!! :)