Sweet. A couple of kind souls on Twitter are organizing another NFP event, this time for the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas.
You may recall I took part in the TweetUp blood drive a couple months back. Just today I got my donor card (”A neg”, BTW), so maybe it’s time to help again.
The facts surrounding hunger in Austin are staggering:
• One in five adults and one in four children in Texas is hungry.
• 41,000 children under 18 in Travis County are confronted with food insecurity every day.
• 61% of Austin Independent School District (AISD) students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.
• 12.6% of Travis County individuals live below the Federal poverty level ($18,850 for a family of four)
[stats pulled from Michelle's blog]
Social media works in so many different ways for everyone, but it’s really great for NFPs. Perhaps it’s the giving nature of online participants, but the word spread and this social exposure prompted Tyson Foods to donate 100 pounds of protein if they got 350 comments on their blog. It took just six hours, and when it reached 420 comments they took the entry down. Social media in action right there.
September is Hunger Action Month (HAM) and Saturday, September 13th is the HAMup TweetUP. Jury is still out on what it will involve, but I’ve got my own ideas brewing on how to raise awareness and food donations, and I’ll be posting about them here.
So stay tuned. And if you’re here in Austin, you best believe I’ll be asking for something from your cupboard soon.
