Feeding America X Defined Dish

Dear Friends and Family,

During these uncertain times, it’s important to count our blessings. For me, it’s the roof over my head, my beautiful family, and the food I have in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. Right now, we are all suffering. This is hard for all of us. There is so much uncertainty and unknown and it is very easy to feel anxious and scared about what is happening in our world and what our future holds. The only thing we can do is take it day by day and hope that we can all work together (while remaining alone at home) to get through this.

While we are all at home alone it is important to remember our community. During these hard times, our neighbors struggle to keep their families fed. As businesses and schools continue to shut down, we know the next few weeks will be hard for the people that are already food insecure within our communities. This is why Feeding America is ramping up their efforts and our support is especially important during this time.

Weeks ago, I launched a local fundraising campaign over on my Instagram handle to raise money for my local food bank, North Texas Food Bank (NTFB), and The Defined Dish community alone raised over $13,000. $13K goes a long way with a local food bank — for example, $13,000 means they are able to create 1,857 food boxes. Each of the food boxes equals approximately 21 meals for a family, which if you do the math, is over 39,000 meals in North Texas alone. This is the perfect example to show you that if we each give a little, together we can make a difference and help so many in need. 

I received a lot of feedback from The Defined Dish community to select an organization that across the United States we could all participate in so that no matter where you live it can help your local community. Many of you sent me organizations that you love so I went digging. Feeding America seemed like the best fit PLUS my local food bank (NTFB) suggested it as well. You see, Feeding America is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, with a network of 200 food banks across the country. They feed 40 million people at risk of hunger, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors. In light of COVID-19, Feeding America has created a COVID-19 Response Fund so they can continue to serve communities and individuals facing hunger across America during this time of uncertainty. 

I spoke to one of the reps over at Feeding America and know that this money will go directly to help all of our communities across the US during these hard times. They are also planning ahead for the aftermath of COVID-19. With so many without work or an income, Feeding America has big plans to continue serving our communities and helping those in need. You can read more about Feeding America and their efforts on their website.

For The Defined Dish community,  I have set a goal (which I really believe we can go WAY bigger than this) of $50,000. To add a fun challenge to this goal, Clayton has promised to SHAVE HIS HUGE BEARD when we hit $50K. I invite you to donate — even $1 can make a difference! Every little bit counts. Let’s join together and make a difference and help those in need today.

To donate now, click here. 

Thank you so much for being a part of this special Defined Dish community. I am so honored to have you here and to be able to share with you, and I am so happy that we can join together to help those in need. Stay safe and well!