*a special feature from Sarina Peddy, Teacher

As a teacher, I want my students to possess some of the most important qualities in life–such as manners, consideration, love, responsibility, and compassion. By learning to achieve these finer characteristics, the students will gain an understanding of the importance of giving back. The main goal of this project is teaching others to help others.

Did you know? ***

• HUNGER IS NO. 1 ON THE LIST OF THE WORLD’S TOP 10 HEALTH RISKS
• 1 IN 7 PEOPLE GO TO BED HUNGRY EVERY NIGHT
• HUNGER AND MALNUTRITION KILL MORE PEOPLE THAN AIDS, MALARIA, AND TUBERCULOSIS COMBINED

In honor of Earth Day (April 22nd), I am introducing my class to the FEED Project, where we will collect canned food for local food pantries to help those dealing with hunger.  It is an important exercise to show students how hunger and malnutrition can affect every aspect of a person’s life, both physically and mentally. FEED Projects’ mission is to create good products that help FEED the world; they take great pride in using environmentally friendly and artisan-made materials, along with fair-labor production.

Here’s the background on the FEED project: **In 2005, as a student spokesperson for the U.N.’s World Food Programme (WFP), Lauren Bush designed a cotton-burlap tote, marked FEED 1, to benefit the organization’s School Feeding initiative. Each bag sold raised enough money to provide one child with an entire year’s worth of meals. By 2007, she had co-founded the nonprofit FEED Projects to sell the bags; and soon its offerings expanded to encompass clothing, jewelry, and other items. Thus far, the group has raised over $6 million for the WFP and similar agencies. Now Lauren Bush is teaming up with Target to launch a line of more than 50 FEED projects: dishware, outdoor gear, paper goods, and kitchen accessories, whose sales will help feed hungry Americans. Every item comes with a tag indicating the number of meals FEED will donate from the purchase. “Our goal with this collection, is to provide more than 10 million meals for children and families across the country,” says Lauren Bush.** Check out all the amazing products at www.feedprojects.com

*Sarina Peddy lives and teaches preschool in East Hampton, New York. She loves helping children expand their creativity, stretch their imagination, and explore their environment.

** ARTICLE Excerpts from: ARCHDIGEST.COM, PAGE 27.

*** WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME’S FACTS BLAST; NOVEMBER 2010

***Photo Reprinted from: www.feedprojects.com/apparel