#WATWB

It’s the last Friday of the month. #WATWB We are the World Blogfest puts up a post on this day every month to spread goodwill and to show that amongst the doom and gloom, much good is happening. I must say that for me I wondered where to find some good news; all seemed so dark and oppressive, not just here in South Africa but world wide as well.

The idea is to make a link to a good news story, and say briefly why this of particular interest to you. This one is especially interesting. It highlights how we live (in the western world at least) in excess and how much food is wasted. And what steps can be taken using technology to distribute food to those in need.

Our thanks to our hosts this month; their posts are below. Do pop by and say hello.

Simon Falk, Andrea Michaels, Shilpa Garg, Sylvia Stein and Belinda Witzenhausen .

Click HERE to be part of the Light. This is a link should you wish to add your name to it and put up a blog on the last Friday of each month.

New tech for feeding the needy launched in SA

Thank you – I hope this finds you all well. I’ve been very slack in blogging lately. I hope to get back to it pretty soon. On a personal front, my son and daughter-in-law have been and are still travelling through Europe. A while back I got a message from Jüte that she’d mislaid her wallet in Germany, I think. I got a message yesterday from her that it’s been found and she now has it! Another bit of good news is that a bill I was ‘dealing’ with, finally got sorted yesterday and I was refunded the money owing! So, yesterday was a good day. Spring is in the air. The photo below is of my orchids, dying down but still a thing of beauty.

 

30 Comments on #WATWB Feed those in need

  1. Great initiative Susan loved the concept of feeding those in need; there’s so much wastage of food all over the world, on one side there are people walking to find food, and ironically there are others who are walking because they have consumed too much of food. I appreciate the way technology is used to find answer to some serious problems like supplying food for the needy… felt so nice reading this post. Thanks for sharing and spreading the light amidst darkness.

    • Thanks Genevive, it’s quite ironic isn’t it – walking because of too much food, walking to find food … Many are taking this wastage seriously and making a way of feeding those in need. Restaurants, supermarkets seem to be more mindful of how extra food can be used wisely. Thank you for coming by –

  2. Wonderful. When our governments are completely dysfunctional, we have to take care for the needy in our hands. I’m grateful to my grocery store for having frequent food drives for homeless and hungry. This time of year, it’s “Fill the Bus.” Every week I add a $5 bag of groceries for the school bus when I shop. They use relatively healthy nonperishable items like canned soups, tuna, and fruit. They also raise money for the local food bank, making it easy for me to give. Don’t fret about taking a break (I tell you and myself). Sometimes we need it. I thought I’d have a blogging break this week, but the butterflies lured me to write about them.

    • Thanks Elaine for coming by. I’m feeling positively anarchic (or maybe that should read negatively anarchic, or just plain and simple anarchic) about governments world wide. It would be a joke if it wasn’t deadly serious. We have 1000’s of NGO’s providing in all fields, from schools, to feeding schemes, to transport, to clinics – the list is endless. The individual helps in so many ways where they can. We really have to, much as I don’t like the ‘have to’, but it is done willingly.

      I know it’s your birthday Elaine, so a very happy birthday to you! And many more! Can you feel that breath from me? It is a flutter by from me – with love.

  3. This is such a fabulous initiative. There is so much of disparity around us. On one hand there are people who waste so much food and on the other who are dying of starvation. Thanks for sharing this positive news, Susan!

    • Thanks Shilpa for coming by. Great use of technology to assist in fruitful way. I think of your post and the Kerala fishermen who used their courage and bravery in the flooded rivers to bring people to safety – that’s an extraordinary story of humanity in action – have a great week 😀

  4. What a fabulous program, Susan. I’m pleased you found some good news to share. I’ve just been so busy recently, I haven’t joined in the last few months. The last Friday of the month doesn’t tend to suit my schedule, but hopefully I’ll get back to it next month.
    I’m also pleased to hear that there was some good news on the personal front.
    Enjoy spring!
    Best wishes, N.

    • Thanks Norah so much for coming by! I also missed the 2 previous months .. and most likely will miss the end of this month, as we’ll be away. As I will from this Wednesday until the end of following week – I want to see the whales down at the sea before they travel elsewhere … hope you’re having an excellent day/weekend. Is it spring-ish weather down south?

      • Hi Susan, I hope you enjoy your time away and see lots of whales. They travel up and down our coastline at this time of year too. It’s quite a few years since I’ve been whale watching. I must do it again sometime soon.
        Spring is starting to poke in. It won’t be long before the Jacarandas are in bloom again. Our wattle trees bloomed early and all the flowers are gone now. 🙁
        Have a wonderful September!

  5. We’re doing a Feds Feed Families drive at work. It really helps to raise awareness (and also food!). Have a great day, Susan. Glad your daughter found her wallet!

  6. Hi Susan – glad you’ve posted about helping via food banks, or a food outlet for the needy … it’s good there are volunteer services out there … just wish we could feed everyone and live fairly. There seems to be a fair amount of help here … but always more is needed – great to see the post … and yes your Spring is about to green up, ours is going into an early autumn … take care – and so glad the two good things happened … cheers Hilary

    • Thanks Hilary for coming by. Happy Spring day here in SA – and it really is a lovely day. Autumn is a lovely time of year too – things gestate – much like the lovely video you shared in your #WATWB.

      • Thanks Susan … I hope the video will reach out … those professionals looking into developing our future for the better are quite amazing … I was so pleased to come across the book and thus ‘school’ at Oxford and then the video. In the meantime we need so many foodbanks … thankfully for people setting those up in so many communities across the world to help people kept nourished even in a small way … Hilary

        • Hi Hilary, the ordinary person does so much and think tanks do what they do also so much! My late father was an Oxford graduate, a Rhodes scholar –

  7. I am thankful for the found wallet and your bill-pay snafu dealt with.

    Our church fed numerous law enforcement officers in the church dining room and gathered downtown to sing and offer prayers at the Jacksonville Landing, close to the site where the recent shootings took place. 🙁

    I enjoy supporting local missions who fed, clothe, and lodge the homeless.

    Thanks for broadcasting the good!

    • Thanks Marian – I’ll pass on to Jüte your thankfulness … and I’m taking on that board too.

      How lovely re the singing and praying at Jacksonville Landing … and that your church fed them – huge thanks to all who see others’ helplessness and can and do take action. Humanity in action …

  8. I am so glad to hear from you. There has been horrid news about South Africa and the actions of the new government. I’m sure I’m not getting the real story so I just worry.

    • Thanks Jacqui! Who knows what the full story is – but yes it is worrying. Theresa May (UK prime minister, was here yesterday making alliances which I doubt she would if our government was all bad. But the state capture by nefarious groups and individuals is beyond belief … BILLIONS have gone missing. Billions that could have used for schools, hospitals – the list is endless ..

  9. Hi, Susan – It is wonderful to hear from you I’ve missed you! I’m also glad to hear that you had a good news day yesterday.
    It is inconceivable that we live in a world where starvation lies just around the corner of lavish opulence. Thank you for sharing this link and reminder of how we can each shed more light in this regard. We CAN change this situation if we all work together.

    • Thanks Donna! I’ve missed being in a community! Thank you for missing me 🙂 I take this as encouragement!

      A friend of mine who popped round the other evening said that he had an American friend visiting who was appalled when he saw people scrabbling in dustbins and that our government allows this. It’s true that many scrabble in bins for glass and plastic to re-sell to earn a few bucks. But also true that the search for food is on. We have MANY feeding schemes … NGO’s are very active in this regard as is the ordinary human being. But still … Have a lovely weekend and thank you for coming by!

  10. Feeding the needy–tech can be such a force for the good. My WATWB post this time is on the same lines. I’ve been away too, both from my blog, and yours. Lovely to reconnect: those orchids look fantastic!

    • I so look forward to reading yours Damyanti! I know that you’ve been doing wonderful work in Kerala. Thank you for coming by! I hope the family is a lot better –

  11. This is a good cause, Susan, as we all know that food and wealth are unevenly distributed and that some of our nations waste so much. Thank you for sharing.

  12. I’ve long been taken with your last-Friday good news posts, Susan. I’m even wrote the idea into my blog calendar. But when the time came, I realized I was confused. If it’s all the same story, … why not just find our own good news? I can’t quite wrap my head around the linkup part of it. Can you help? I’m very glad to see you back. And happy for your dil getting her wallet returned. There are good people all around us. We need only see them.

    • You can definitely write your own personal good news story Janet. I once related a story a friend told me the day before of when she was stranded on the Outeniqua Pass and a passing stranger came to her assistance in a HUGE way. Any story of kindness or humanity in action is always welcomed .. there are so many good people around.

      Re the link – hit on the ‘Here’ (in red) – a link comes up. You add your name and blog to it. It would be great to see you here! Thank you for coming by!

    • Hi Janet, if the linkup part seems confusing, pls hit me up at atozstories at gmail dot com, and I’d be happy to help–would love to hear the positive stories you share.

  13. Dear Susan, Thank you so much for sharing the link. I agree, feeding those in need is truly important in a world where so much foodstuff ends up rotting away while there are millions of hungry people. Isn’t it crazy that we live in a world where millions are obese and millions are hungry?! In many supermarkets there’s usually a food bank trolley or box set aside for donations and many of them even put up a list asking for the basic ingredients a person can live on i.e. Pasta, rice, soups, beans. I like to pop in boxes of toothpaste, shampoo, soap and sanitary towels too as I know these are sadly, luxury items for many families.

    Re: Writing. Yes, I can relate! Here in the UK we’re coming to the end of a glorious summer, a time when writing is furthest from my mind, as I love being outdoors in the fields, woods and climbing mountains. Soon I’ll be back indoors and scrabbling around for my writing pen once more. Since the spring equinox I’ve only penned a handful of poems … autumn and winter seem to be my strong suit for writing. It’s wonderful that you’re faith in others was rewarded and restored yesterday in the return of Jute’s wallet and your bill. More good news! Together with the onset of spring, how wonderful! Love and light, Deborah.

    • Lovely to receive your comment Deborah thank you! Yes, we also have trolleys outside supermarkets and we’re given a list of groceries to supply. Same sorts of things as yours – tea, coffee, jams, sugar, rice etc. I also add extra things like biscuits, long life milk … your additions like toothpaste, shampoo and soap I will contribute next time also!

      To think that tomorrow is the first September! Has this year flown by or what! Yes, such good news re the missing wallet being found and the bill being refunded! I feel a little lighter and brighter! Love and light to you dear Deborah … may the onset of Autumn be the onset of your pen scribing words of beauty! Have a lovely weekend 🙂

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