Dear Lucas,
I'm excited to tell you about our team's recent visit to the Echo Ridge community, a summer meals site Share Our Strength is supporting this year in Moriarty, New Mexico. Imagine a dusty field, sitting under a water tower in a remote desert community populated largely with trailer homes. Now, picture a bright red umbrella against the gritty desert gray.
For many, an umbrella is just an umbrella, but to children in this community of families struggling with hunger and poverty, this red umbrella provides daily solace from the sun and from the stress of worrying about their next meal.
The umbrella is also a powerful symbol that even a small act can make a big difference.
Through No Kid Hungry mini-grants, Share Our Strength provided the big, bright red umbrella and a table so that kids can come to this site and have lunch every day -- and stay cool and protected from the intense rays of the New Mexico sun.
While there, our team met two sisters, Amber and Adrianne. Adrianne shared how thankful she is for the summer lunches -- especially in the shade -- because she knows it takes a burden off of her father (a single dad raising two girls). Like many kids in the area, Amber and Adrianne told us that at the end of the month, money can be tight and they rely on the meals they receive at the Echo Ridge site as a primary source of nutrition.
Have you met kids like Amber and Adrianne who have inspired your commitment to ending childhood hunger? Have you done something -- even as simple as providing an umbrella for respite from the intense heat -- to make a difference in your community? We'd love to hear from you -- please tell us your "umbrella" story on our Facebook wall.
I am so proud that Share Our Strength is able to support summer meals in Moriarty, New Mexico and across the country through the work of the No Kid Hungry campaign, and I know we can only do so because of your help. Please take a moment to share an "umbrella" story from your life.
Thanks, as always,
Billy Shore
Executive Director