Saving Suppers
Change happens when people care enough to make things better.
Many of us are scrambling to feel good these days. There’s a lot to worry about in our country and world. It’s hard to know how to react or what to do. But we want to do something.
A while ago, I wrote a blog for Maria Shriver’s “Architects of Change” series (click here to read) challenging us to entertain inexpensively in order to raise money for hunger relief. It could be for any good cause. CURE International is one of my favorite causes to recommend, especially to anyone who wonders what Christianity is about (it isn’t politics, exclusion, or power). To see, look at this page. CURE provides surgery for millions of children in dire need of it.
Good Food + Good Friends + Good Cause = Making a Difference.
Why not just donate money and skip the dinner part?
Because we need our friends and community now more than ever, and sharing a meal is a good way to build relationships.
“History is full of people coming together, cooperating, and being compassionate. We can continue that work.”
—Rainn Wilson
Connect people who share a cause. Cook more happily (I hope due to a less shocking experience with grocery store prices). Share the comfort of your home ( 9 reasons why from artofmanliness.com). Be mindful of people who live on much less than you probably have. We could all learn to spend less and give more.
This is how to do it.
Ask.
Decide what cause to support.
Plan a dinner party at your home. Share what you’re doing and why.
Cook.
Make a dinner as delicious and special as you can for as little money as possible.
Think plant-based. The cooking challenge: Cheap & Delicious. You can do it!
Give.
Contribute what you might have spent on a more big-budget dinner to the cause.
Get your guests to contribute, too, instead of bringing a bottle of wine or hostess gift to dinner. For example, for hunger relief, every meal provided by Feed My Starving Children costs only $.30. $106 will feed a child for a whole year—that’s three nice tea towels.
A few additional thoughts . . .
The 2-cheeseburger meal combo at MacDonalds is $11.99. If you limit your spending to $12 per guest, and you’d normally spend $35 (more or less), you’ll have $200 (more or less) to donate for a table of 8–this and what 8 guests might give in lieu of a hostess gift. Contribute to the right place, and these dollars will make a real difference.
This is an idea I got by reading David Brooks’s fine book, How to Know a Person: Tell your guests in advance to come with a 4-5 minute story to tell, about anything. You’ll learn something important about everyone at your table.
Unfortunately (because this should not need to be a cause), I’m starting this time around with dinners aimed at the urgent situation of our democracy, directing contributions to the ACLU. Throughout many elections, I’ve been politically independent, voting as best I could for decency, intelligence, and common sense above all else. Along with about half of our country, I am very, very worried about what is happening now and how it will affect us and the world at large. Join me in this effort, if you are worried, too.
“When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.”