From Lillian: 

The beaches of Long Island hold special memories for me as I grew up in eastern Long Island.  There [...]]]> BwoB staffers, Maggy Keet and Lillian Huang both live in New York. Here they talk about Hurricane Sandy from their experience and list several ways that you can help, whether you’re near or far.

From Lillian: 

The beaches of Long Island hold special memories for me as I grew up in eastern Long Island.  There were many beach picnics with my family and friends as well as cookouts with my church each summer.  In more recent years, after moving to Nassau County, I would attend the annual Long Beach arts & crafts festival held every summer on the boardwalk.  It was an event I eagerly awaited because I would get to indulge on funnel cakes, fried Oreos, corn dogs, and other fun fair foods.

What’s even more special about Long Beach is that my husband and I had our wedding portraits taken there – yes, on the beach.  It was during the off-season and we were the only souls on the beach (besides the photographer). I was so grateful to have such a beautiful setting for my wedding photos.

As we all know, superstorm Sandy hit the Tri-State area last week destroying countless homes and neighborhoods, including my beloved Long Beach.  The boardwalk, where I sat and enjoyed funnel cakes, is shattered.  Homes were burned to the ground from electrical fires.  The images are the same all over the South Shore of Long Island, the Rockaways, and the Jersey Shore.  It is a heart-breaking reality and now it’s time to pick up the pieces.

Post-Sandy images from residents of Long Beach, NY

From Maggy:

We live in Manhattan, uptown, far from the water, and on the 9th floor. While there were a few scary moments, we were okay. Miraculously, we didn’t even lose power. While we didn’t personally suffer a loss, we felt devastated for our city and our neighbors in New Jersey, Connecticut, and beyond. And we felt sick for our friends as reports started rolling in about what had been lost.

In these moments, we’ve all felt the same thing, a deep and very human need to do something. Donate, volunteer, support – to be a part of the collective effort to help and heal. Sometimes that means donating money to nonprofits or time to a clean-up crew. But sometimes it means you get to directly help someone you know. And after Sandy, I did.

An old friend of mine lost everything when her basement apartment in Rockaway flooded with seawater and sewage. I hadn’t seen her in years, but still I couldn’t ignore her Facebook status update: “I am dreading the aftermath when the water is all pumped out – will there be anything to salvage? My head is dizzy thinking about all that has to be replaced. I have never felt this way. Ever.”

Though we hadn’t been in touch, I decided to reach out and call her. I asked what she needed. Could I bring them dinner? She didn’t hesitate: “That would be great!” So I made a big pot of chili. That’s what food people feel called to do when something awful happens – they cook.

Some of you are near, others are far, but if you can’t cook for someone, we wanted to provide a few ways that you can help out. Many of you have already donated your time and money to relief efforts across the tri-state area, but as is the case with almost every disaster, the damage will remain long after the media has gone.

Here’s a list of groups making an impact on the front lines;  on the ground coordinating volunteers and donations, providing hot meals, crucial necessities, and lending a hand to those in need.  Please continue to keep all of the affected people in your thoughts as many still do not have power, and now, have to battle cold temperatures and snow.

Here’s how you can contribute:

Donate Resources
NYC Mayor’s Fund - The City is currently identifying immediate aid needs, including food, water and hygiene supplies, as well as long-term relief and restoration efforts. 100% goes towards hurricane relief efforts.  You can also specify that your donation is for the  NYC food truck emergency outreach
Amazon Registry (NYC) – lists specific items needed for NYC relief efforts
City of Long Beach Relief – there are 35,000 residents of Long Beach that were affected by the hurricane, help rebuild the city
Amazon Registry (Long Beach) – lists specific items needed for Long Beach relief efforts

Volunteer
Occupy Sandy NYC (including Brooklyn & Queens)
Occupy Sandy New Jersey
 Long Island Volunteer Center
Long Beach Hurricane Information Facebook Page  - updated daily with donation and volunteer needs

Eat Out - support local restaurants and small business affected by the storm
DineOutNYC
Eat Down, Tip Up
Long Island Restaurant Week

Follow these accounts on Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates on volunteer and donation needs:
@sandyvolunteer
@OccupySandy
@Robicellis
@nycfoodtrucks

In our last twitter chat with Why Hunger we all learned what GMOs were – genetically modified organisms. Why Hunger busted the myth that we need chemicals & genetically modified seeds to end hunger, especially with a growing population and warming planet. We can’t produce our way out of the [...]]]>

In our last twitter chat with Why Hunger we all learned what GMOs were – genetically modified organisms. Why Hunger busted the myth that we need chemicals & genetically modified seeds to end hunger, especially with a growing population and warming planet. We can’t produce our way out of the hunger crisis. Science shows the most effective farming methods are organic/sustainable agriculture. GMOs, or modified foods and crops for human and animal consumption, are basically not “real food” but instead are created in labs using the latest molecular biology techniques. Real food, like we mentioned in our post about food deserts, is  fresh healthy food grown without toxic chemicals or harmful additives, grown by people making a fair wage.

Here are a few quick facts about GMOs:

Are GMOs bad for us? 
There is a growing body of evidence connects GMOs with health problems, environmental damage and violation of farmers’ and consumers’ rights.

How can we tell if our food product has any GMOs? 
Unfortunately, products with GMOs are not labeled as such, even though polls consistently show that a significant majority of Americans want to know if the food they’re purchasing contains GMOs, the powerful biotech lobby has succeeded in keeping this information from the public.

How common are GMOs? 
In the U.S., GMOs are in as much as 80% of conventional processed food.

How can I avoid GMOs?
Choose food products that are unprocessed or are Non-GMO-Project verified. (here is a list of Non-GMO-Project certified products)

More resources on GMOs:
The Non-GMO Project
Non-GMO Shopping Guide
An article on Overturning False Solutions to the Food Crisis, by Why Hunger
The NY Times and Mark Bittman on GMOs

Food Sovereignty is a term I had not heard of prior to our partnership with Why Hunger. While I know the definition of “food” and “sovereignty”, the [...]]]>

Food sovereignty is the right of people to determine their own food and agriculture policies; the democratization of food and agriculture. (source)

Food Sovereignty is a term I had not heard of prior to our partnership with Why Hunger. While I know the definition of “food” and “sovereignty”, the definition of the two words together is harder to grasp. To most of us, having freedom or control over what we eat and having easy access to the food we feed ourselves and our families is something we rarely have to think about.

[Photos used with permission, credit: Stuart Ramson/Insider Images for WhyHunger]

Last week, I had the opportunity to learn more about food sovereignty by attending the 4th annual Food Sovereignty Prize hosted by Why Hunger in New York City. The event was held at the National Museum of the American Indian, the perfect location to celebrate culture and recognize those taking action to change food systems here in the U.S. and around the world.

The honorees of the 2012 Food Sovereignty Prize included:

• The National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) of Sri Lanka, which fights for food security and the rights of fishing communities of the Sri Lankan coastal regions.
• The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a US-based farmworker’s organization, which works to improve the lives and communities of immigrant workers in Florida.
• The United Peasant Movement of Aguan Region (MUCA) of Honduras, a group facing violence and opposition by the Honduran government for their basic right and access to land.

The evening was filled with many powerful and emotional stories shared by the honorees – the struggles, hardships and pain they have had to endure to gain access to food or land to grow food. They have literally shed blood, sweat, and tears striving for food sovereignty in their countries. This is a fight that each of these groups continue to fight every single day – the fight for the basic human right to food.

However, these groups also give us hope. They are giving voice to their community and raising awareness about injustices in their land, including The Korean Women’s Peasant Association (KWPA) – the winner of the 2012 Food Sovereignty Prize. They were honored for their work in promoting food sovereignty and women’s rights in South Korea’s food systems. The KWPA is proof that food sovereignty is possible – their efforts, which began in 1989, have created long-lasting programs and sustainable food supplies for communities throughout South Korea.

The celebration of these amazing efforts concluded with performances by the evening’s musical guest, Tom Morello. The musician and food sovereignty supporter, rallied the crowd together in a chorus of “This Land is Your Land”, a fitting song to end the night.

Learn more about the Food Sovereignty Prize: www.foodsovereigntyprize.org
See more photos of the event at the Why Hunger’s Facebook Page
Watch a video recording of the event: www.foodsovereigntyprize.org/live

 
Written by David Anderson of Finding Your Soul

 
A man named Donald Patterson of Dayton, Ohio, tells an embarrassing story about the big cranberry scare. It happened some years ago, just at Thanksgiving time. Some pesticide had tainted a portion of the nation’s cranberry crop. This thing is, [...]]]>

 
Written by David Anderson of Finding Your Soul

 
A man named Donald Patterson of Dayton, Ohio, tells an embarrassing story about the big cranberry scare. It happened some years ago, just at Thanksgiving time. Some pesticide had tainted a portion of the nation’s cranberry crop. This thing is, people never found out about it until they had already bought their cranberry sauce for the Big Dinner. So a lot of people had a lot of cranberry sauce they didn’t know what to do with.

That part of the story Mr. Patterson knew. The embarrassing part he found out years later—from a young woman who was just a little girl back in the year of the big cranberry scare. Back then she was a tot from a poor family who had been adopted by a church in town. The people from church would see to it that her family had a little something extra at holiday time. So at Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, they’d collect clothes and food and present it to her family. And that year at Thanksgiving time, she remembers, they received the usual offering: a big turkey with all the fixings, and groceries to last them for weeks. And one more thing. They received cranberry sauce. Lots of it. Fifty-seven cans.

You wince when you hear a story like that. It’s the shudder of recognition. Yes, we are like that. Yes, I’ve given gifts like that. Gifts that didn’t cost me anything. Gifts that demean the recipient, and the giver too.

With the advent of Thanksgiving the “holidays” begin. These are days that epitomize grace, abundance and love—even if our hopes for the holidays never quite match their reality. We know we’re blessed, and we feel an impulse to give. The simple fact is, it’s nice to receive gifts, but deep joy and satisfaction come only when we give something costly—more than we really could “afford.”

If you want to enjoy the best holiday season ever, it’s easy. Just give the best you have to offer. Let’s give the holiday food we’d love to feast on, not just the stuff left over in our own pantries with expired date stamps. Let’s splurge. Be extravagant.

When we give what’s left over, what we can do without, it’s not a gift. A gift has to cost us something; there has to be a sacrifice. And when we do, something transforms the giver.

All the rest is bad cranberries.

As we enter this holiday season, think about calling your local food bank. Find out what they need most this time of year and what you can do to help. If you feel so inclined, share what you learned and what you donated with your readers, it might just inspire someone else to give generously too.

Bloggers without Borders invites YOU to join us for a Holiday Cookie Swap!
(Proceeds* go to Cookies for Kids Cancer)

 
Date & Time: Sunday, December 4, 2011 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Where: Hill Country Barbecue, 30 West 26th, [...]]]>
 
 

Bloggers without Borders invites YOU to join us for a Holiday Cookie Swap!
(Proceeds* go to Cookies for Kids Cancer)

 
Date & Time: Sunday, December 4, 2011 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Where: Hill Country Barbecue, 30 West 26th, New York, NY
Who Can Come: Anyone! But everyone who comes must have a ticket.
Ticket Price: $40 which gets you a delicious barbecue buffet lunch, a box of homemade cookies and a donation to Cookies for Kids Cancer! (Note: there will be a cash bar.)
Where to buy tickets: You can use the form below this post to purchase your tickets, or visit the NYC Holiday Cookie Swap Eventbrite page to get your tickets and see who else will be there!

What to Bring (this is important!):
1. 1 dozen homemade cookies
2. Something to serve your cookies in or on (the smaller the better)
3. A label for your cookies that includes type of cookie, your name, your Twitter handle, your blog (if applicable)
4. No need to bring a container for the cookies you’re bringing home: GLAD is providing potluck-size Gladware to all attendees!

Note: There will be separate areas for sweet cookies, savory cookies (yes, savory!) and gluten-free cookies.

And for all your Twitter lovers out there:

We’re using the hashtag #NYCookieSwap to talk about the event.
Bloggers without Borders handle: @bloggerswob
Cookies for Kids Cancer Handle: @Cookies4kids

Questions? E-mail Maggy Keet

Special thanks to Gail Dosik, Jackie Gordon and Ken Leung for their help in organizing this event!

 
 
* 5% of the funds raised will be retained by Bloggers without Borders for administrative costs.

 
The children in this photo look so happy, so carefree. It’s hard to imagine that they are sitting in the middle of a refugee camp in Kenya, waiting for food. They are part of a group of about 13 million people [...]]]>

Photo: WFP/Rose Ogola

 
Written by Jackie of La Casa de Sweets

 
The children in this photo look so happy, so carefree. It’s hard to imagine that they are sitting in the middle of a refugee camp in Kenya, waiting for food. They are part of a group of about 13 million people in East Africa who are slowly starving to death. They are hungry, and waiting. Waiting for the world to remember that they are there, and to act.

What started as a drought has become one of the worst humanitarian crises in history. A lack of rain, failed harvests and lost livestock, and high food prices are all to blame for the famine. Families are traveling for days, without food and little water, just to reach refugee camps, where they hope to find some kind of relief. Something that will help them survive. If something isn’t done, a lot of them won’t.

I could show you photos of the children starving to death. Images that are so utterly heart wrenching, you’ll wish you’d never seen them. Children who barely look alive, who are barely breathing, barely hoping for a future that they know might never come.

Instead of showing you these photos, I’ll give you the facts:

- Over 13 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Uganda
- 4 million people are at risk of starvation in Somalia, 2 million of these are children
- Over 500,000 people are displaced in refugee camps
- An estimated 750,000 people will die from starvation this year alone

And, if that isn’t enough to convince you something needs to be done, maybe this will:

In Somalia, one child is dying from starvation every 6 minutes.

This means that in the time it will take you to read this, one child will have starved to death. And that is simply unacceptable.

I know it’s so hard to think about a famine happening thousands of miles away from us when there are so many problems in our own lives and our own countries. The easiest thing would be to not think about the famine and starvation, and go on with our lives, sometimes glancing at a news story about the famine and shaking our heads at the pity of it all. It would be easy, but it wouldn’t be right.

I remember when I first saw the images from Somalia and the refugee camps in Kenya. It was over the summer, when the news agencies were actually focusing on this tragedy, that I first saw one of the starving children. My youngest daughter, who was 9 months old at the time, had a virus. I remember worrying about the fact that she wasn’t eating or drinking enough. I was holding her while I turned on the news for a few minutes. And that’s when I saw her: a young mother holding her sick baby girl. The little girl looked like she could barely breathe, she was so weak and famished. For days, I couldn’t get that image out of my mind. Two little babies, one who would recover quickly with medication, the other whose fate was hanging in the balance.

I needed to do something, anything that would help. After a week of sleepless nights, a lot of research, and communicating with on-the-ground journalists and international aid groups, I organized a project. I called it Bloggers Unite for Africa, a campaign to help fight the famine.

Fellow bloggers, I need your help! We have come together before for a good cause, and I know we can do it again. Please help Bloggers Unite for Africa raise money for Africa. I am asking you to join me in the fight against famine. Let us make a difference. If we don’t, the cries of hungry children will echo in our minds long after the famine has ended.

Thank you so much for your time, your help, and your compassion!

Sincerely,
Jackie
La Casa de Sweets

 
Here’s how you can help:

Starting Monday, October 17, Bloggers Unite for Africa will begin a fundraiser, a donation-based giveaway to raise money for our Global Giving projects in the famine areas of Africa. They need help spreading the word about their fundraiser through blogs, Twitter, and Facebook so that readers can consider making a donation. The more readers reached, the more money can be raised to help the victims of the famine. If you would like to donate a prize for their giveaway fundraiser, please email Jackie at lacasadesweets@gmail.com.

 
(as relayed by Kathy Browning of The Cheap Gourmet)

 
The Cheap Gourmet founder, Kathy Browning, is hosting “Cooking for Colebear” to raise funds and awareness for Out of the Darkness Community Walks hosted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

 

”Cooking for Colebear” is a [...]]]>

 
(as relayed by Kathy Browning of The Cheap Gourmet)

 
The Cheap Gourmet founder, Kathy Browning, is hosting “Cooking for Colebear” to raise funds and awareness for Out of the Darkness Community Walks hosted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

 

”Cooking for Colebear” is a digital recipe booklet provided as a thank you gift to individuals making a donation in any amount to “Team Nicole” through the Out of the Darkness Community Walks website.

 
Recipes range from stuffed Cornish Game Hens to Green Pepper Steak and Caramel Apple Salad to Brownie Bites with Strawberries and Chocolate Ganache. Each recipe celebrates the life of Nicole “Colebear” Lundy, a young woman who tragically died by suicide on July 5, 2010.

 
Team Nicole aims to raise $3,000 to help AFSP continue their work to better understand suicide and ways to prevent it. Thus far, Team Nicole has raised $1,787.00 and is now seeking help from food bloggers and organizations to help spread the word so they can reach their fundraising goal.

 
“Nicole was my daughter’s best friend and like a daughter to our family,” states Browning. “I have many fond memories of cooking for her and as a food blogger it seemed natural to share her favorite recipes with those who support the cause.”

 
Suicide claims over 36,000 lives each year or one person every 15 minutes. Suicide doesn’t discriminate and can affect anyone of any age, gender, or economic stature. It is the second leading cause of death among teens and young adults and people over the age of 65.

 
Suicide has impacted Browning’s life three times. In addition to losing Nicole, she also lost her father and best friend to this tragedy. “I understand the pain that suicide inflicts on loved ones left behind and want to do my part to help others attain the help they need to realize how valuable their life is.”

 
The “Cooking for Colebear” fundraising event will continue until December 31, 2011. Anyone that makes a donation via “Team Nicole” will receive a complimentary copy of the recipes. Tax-deductible donations are being accepted at Out of the Darkness Community Walks. Additional details of the event are available at The Cheap Gourmet.

 
Project Creator: GrowNYC

Main Contact Person: Jeanne Hodesh of Greenmarket and GrowNYC

Hashtag: #DineInIrene

Project Dates: September 26, 2011 to October 2, 2011

How It Works:

1. During the week of September 26 to October 2, join us by hosting a potluck or supper club in [...]]]>

 
Project Creator: GrowNYC

Main Contact Person: Jeanne Hodesh of Greenmarket and GrowNYC

Hashtag: #DineInIrene

Project Dates: September 26, 2011 to October 2, 2011

How It Works:

1. During the week of September 26 to October 2, join us by hosting a potluck or supper club in your home, sourcing ingredients from your neighborhood Greenmarket. (Visit GrowNYC for a list of Greenmarkets around the city.)

2. Funds will be raised by dinner hosts who either collect donations from their potluck guests or charge per seat for a served meal. (Dish and donate: suggested donation $25 per guest.)

3. Bloggers without Borders will maintain a #DineInIrene gallery of “Dine Ins” where hosts are encouraged to share what they made, which local farmers’ market and farmers they’ve sourced their ingredients from, and share pictures of who came to eat.

4. Once you’ve hosted your dinner (or even if you can’t host a dinner but want to help anyway), you can make a donation in the amount that you’ve raised directly to the GrowNYC Hurricane Fund. 100% of donations marked Hurricane Irene Relief under “Program Designation” will go to farmers affected by Hurricane Irene.

Alternatively, Dine In Irene checks can be sent to:

GrowNYC
Attn: Chelsea Whittaker
51 Chambers Street, Suite 1231
New York, NY 10007
 
Checks should be made out to GrowNYC, memo: Irene Relief Fund.

Visit the GrowNYC site for a list of those severely affected by the storm, as well as a list of Greenmarkets located throughout the five boroughs of NYC.

Thank you in advance for your generous support. Happy dining!