Through Hannah’s Lunchbox, we are selling our house in Atlanta, moving to one half the size (and price) and investing the difference in The Hunger Project (you can read more about this terrific organization here).  We believe we can make a significant difference in the lives of thousands of Africans who are eager to enhance their futures by joining their hard work with our resources. The Hunger Project, more than any other organization we met with, believes in the human spirit. They see in Africans creativity and capability. And The Hunger Project’s model is proven and replicable, in other words ready to help empower people worldwide to move out of poverty.

As The Hunger Project puts it:

Today there is greater public awareness of the real possibility of ending hunger and poverty in Africa than ever before. There is greater official willingness to resolve macro issues of aid, trade and debt. European countries have significantly increased their aid commitments to Africa. At the same time, and despite the investment of billions of dollars, top-down strategies have failed to make a significant dent in poverty in Africa.

For the past 15 years – working in partnership with the people and leaders of eight countries in East, West and Southern Africa – The Hunger Project has developed a replicable, affordable, people-centered methodology that has proven successful for community development in rural Africa. It is called the epicenter strategy – as it creates dynamic centers for community action to meet basic needs and focal points for effectively linking people to existing government programs and resources.

The epicenter strategy is already empowering more than three million people to achieve lasting progress in health, education, nutrition and family income.

What It’s Doing for Us  (a message from Joan and Kevin)

Most teens become outraged about visible injustices around them; many, for example, want to help the homeless man on the street by giving him a dollar. In the past year, our kids have learned that there is a big space between that impulse and the hard work needed to learn about the root causes and systemic problems that lead to hunger and homelessness. 

When Hannah found herself on an Atlanta street squeezed between a pricey Mercedes on one side and a homeless panhandler on the other, she began prodding us to be a family that “does something.”  As parents, we saw an opportunity for real leadership, decision-making and self-sacrifice that could help our children grow emotionally and spiritually.  In essence, we replied, “What are YOU willing to do?”  As it turns out she (and Joseph) were willing to do a heck of a lot including thinning out their possessions, giving up her childhood bedroom and trading a summer with friends at the pool for a service trip to a place with no text-messaging, unfamiliar food and summertime temperatures over 100 degrees.

The goal of Hannah's Lunchbox, first and foremost, is to help wipe out hunger in one small part of the world.  But the year-long process and our future involvement with The Hunger Project is transforming our family as well.  One huge lesson: Each of us has power in seemingly powerless situations.

Our work on this project has changed the way our family spends its dinner time, car pool time, leisure time and holidays.  Helping in a meaningful way takes a lot of time and patience.  Like training for a  triathlon or any other significant goal, parts of the work are less fun than others.  While meeting inspiring and courageous individuals has been energizing, at the same time our teens have endured poring over annual reports, listening to hours of adult talk and watching videos that were often disturbing.

Looking back on our first year of this long process, we see that all of us grew as individuals and together as a family.  Early on, we laughed at what the kids didn’t know about philanthropy and Africa -- until we began to discover how little we as adults knew.  We expected to do hands-on work as part of our project -- well drilling, home construction -- but we learned through The Hunger Project that what is needed to defeat hunger is more difficult than what can be accomplished with hands. 

Our work is to stand in authentic partnership with people in poverty as they transform; our role is  to encourage them to work in community, hear the voices of women and use their collective power to demand their share of existing services in health care, education, literacy and agriculture.