Tomorrow, a group of us from my office will be taking a couple hours to package up meals to be shipped all around the world with the weeklong project Meals from the Heartland (http://www.mealsfromtheheartland.org/).
We did this last year and as a team we packaged something like 12,000 meals. Each little baggie is cited to be four meals. Although by American standards it looks to be two. Aside from the extra vitamin tab that's thrown in, it looks quite similar to many of my quick fix meals - rice, soy protein and dehydrated vegetables. Of course, mine tends to be tastier as I add lots of different spices, but if a person only gets one meal a day then I suppose spicing it up doesn't really matter.
I'm coming into the home stretch as far as numbering 40 charities/events - and there's still almost 4 months til the end of the year. A lot of people I told about this idea/project have reacted as though it was un-doable or just plain crazy, but it's been really easy and enjoyable. I have a new appreciation for things like Iowa Public Television, the effort it takes to put on a fundraising walk and how something as little as a notepad and crayons can make such a big difference.
I have also discovered a new "hobby". With my "big" contribution (adopting my three-legged dog, Pony), I have an idea I hope to flesh out. Pony and I are currently in Canine Good Citizen classes with hopes of taking the therapy dog certification test in October. I hope to continue on with that interest by enrolling in Animal Behavior College and possibly, over the course of the coming years, train and get a couple of companion/service dogs out to some really deserving disabled folks. That will be a while to come but it's a new side path and that's always exciting.
Until next time!
