Feed South Africa + Lentil Soup with Coconut

I opened the fridge to scour its neglected contents after a busy weekend. Little bits of carrots and onion sat deserted at the bottom of the vegetable drawer. The half bunches of soggy and now unrecognizable herbs were tossed into the garbage. Once the fridge was reaped of its humble contents I moved on to the cupboards; so full a jar of fennel seeds spilled all over the counter as I dug deep in the back to find the bay leaves.

Our cupboards are full.

The purpose for this soup and this post is to bring attention to The Lunchbox Fund and more importantly the fact that 65% of children living in South Africa are hungry. As I stir black lentils into a pot with onions, carrots and red pepper I urge myself to look into that number and see faces. See children, not unlike my own in energy, joy and size. The difference is these children struggle to make it through today with grumbling tummies.

A dear friend of mine recently traveled to India. She came home after that trip moved by all she had seen and with these words, “blessed to be a blessing.” They rang through my head as I created a soup of ingredients from my cupboard. With a full cupboard and a voice I too can be a blessing and so can you.

Today we have a goal, a big goal, a doable goal – to raise $5,000. It’s enough to feed 100 South African children for an entire year. You know, what if we raised $10,000 so we could feed 200 sweet children? Could we do $15,000?! I totally think we could. That’s 300 little ones able to live and go to school with full stomachs and healthy minds and bodies. As my little boy said over while we sat at our table and ate lentil soup, “that’s a lot of kids.” Yes, it is. And we can feed them.

If you are blessed with a full cupboard, let’s be a blessing to those whose cupboards are empty.

Please join myself and nearly 100 other bloggers in donating to The Lunchbox Fund. We are nearing closer to our goal but I say let’s leave that $5,000 goal in the dust and reach for something greater. Anything helps.

If you feel inspired to help us today head here to make a donation and thank you, Nicole Gulotta for starting this campaign.