Help Fight Against Hunger This Summer

Summer time is the quintessential season for picnics, family reunions, and backyard BBQs, where food is often in abundance. As you fill up on seconds or contemplate that second piece of cake, you may not realize that 1 in 6 people in America face hunger and approximately 49 million Americans struggle to put food on the table. “Food insecurity”, also known as the lack of access to have enough food for all household members, affects millions of households throughout the country, many of which have children.

Adequate nutrition is important to maintain the physical and mental health of individuals of every age, but is even more crucial for children who are still in the developmental stages. During the school year, an estimated 22 million children get free or reduced-priced meals through the National School Lunch Program. However, when school is out for the summer, only about 3.9 million receive meals through the USDA Summer Food Service Program.

Food is taken for granted, particularly if no one has ever experienced what it’s like to go hungry). Even if you’ve never faced hunger first hand, there are ways to help fight against hunger in your community during the summer months:

Donate to a Local Food Bank

Many people make food donations to their local food bank during the “season of giving”, but most food banks accept and rely on food donations year round. Each time you go to the grocery store, stock up on a few extra items to donate. While many food banks will accept whatever they get in donations, it may be a smart idea to see what items they need or would prefer to receive. Some ideas for food donations include non-perishable proteins such as peanut butter, baby items (diapers, food, and formula), healthy snack foods for kids, condiments/spices, and personal hygiene products.

Make a Monetary Donation

If you want to do something more than donating actual food, consider making a monetary donation to a summer food program in your area. You can make a one time donation or sign up to be a sponsor throughout the school year.

Utilize Your Green Thumb

In many cities throughout the country, there are community gardens, in which the harvested fruits and vegetables are donated to local food banks. If you have a green thumb or even know how to water and pull a few weeds, there’s a good chance that your help will be greatly appreciated. Additionally, if you have excess harvest at your home garden, consider donating to a food bank rather than letting your harvest go to waste.

Volunteer

Another good way to fight against hunger in your community is by volunteering. Whether you gather a group of friends together to help prepare a meal at a food kitchen, stock shelves at a food bank, host a food drive, or deliver meals to families with young children or senior citizens, you are actively fighting against hunger in your community.

Message Be Heard!

Idealists have a problem with marketing when it comes to spreading their message. For people who focus on doing good in the world, spreading messages via ads and media can seem like a dirty business. According to their thinking, marketing is the exact same sort of manipulative behavior that corporations, lobbyists, and other big evil bodies spend their dollars on.

Marketing may be ugly, but it’s a necessary evil. People who improve the world can’t get their message across if they keep their thoughts in their heads and among a small circle of friends. Effective change can only happen if activists and other progressive community members spread the good word to people outside their social circles. Here are a few easy DIY ways to whip up discussion and awareness for any issue.

Organize Your Message!

When people get together, they make things happen. And luckily, people love getting together. Clubs, activists communities, and other organizations (both formal and informal) are crucial catalysts for change. Form a group if you want to stir up energy for change. People will bring exciting new ideas for protesting, message spreading, community building, and activism.

It’s easy to form a group. Ask a few like-minded friends to put aside a few hours a month, meet at in a living room or coffee shop, bring what they’ve got to the table. Doing so in public has the advantage of offering some free (albeit minor) publicity—you never know who’s going to be sitting at the next table, and chances are you’ll meet allies if you gather in the right place.

Don’t Neglect Social Media!

People down put social media as frivolous. Sure, social media can be frivolous, but when used well, socially aware users can elevate their online posts above the standard array of cat videos and pictures of fancy food. People spend most of their time on the internet these days, and there’s no way you can get your message across if you don’t reach those web-based citizens.

The other obvious advantage of social media is that it’s mostly free. Anyone can start a Facebook group with a few flicks of the wrist. Befriend a few influential people, and you’ll gather momentum and followers in no time. Good social media advertising can get your ideas and actions heaps of attention with no work at all.

So don’t be a snob about social media. You need it if you’re going to attract everyday people. And everyday people are who every movement needs to attract if it’s going to move beyond small meetings among similar-minded people.

Keep Your Message Real!

Don’t get stuck online. Social media are important, but you can’t rely on your Instagram account to ignite revolution. The world is tired of empty online ideals and ineffective slacktivism. Make sure that you and your groups leave the basements and march out onto the real world. Posting flyers at coffee shops, performing street theater activism, and marching in public are essential ingredients for real change. A digital revolution occurs in the mind; a real revolution occurs in the streets.

One Year After Newtown: Guns & Children

Letting Go

In the days and weeks immediately after the December 14, 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School when 20 elementary school children and 6 adults were killed by a gunman, cries for stiffer gun control laws reached a fever pitch. The screams to leave gun laws alone or even to relax them were just as loud. Seemingly everyone had an opinion from the President, to politicians on both sides of the aisle, to gun lobby groups, to gun control advocacy groups, to parents of Sandy Hook victims, to other moms and dads. Even children weighed in on the issue. It is now a little over a year since the shooting. Sandy Hook is no longer regularly making national headlines. Sound bites from the National Rifle Association no longer top the evening news. It seems as if little has changed in the last 12 months. Or has it?

Changes in State Law

While Congress did not make any changes to gun control laws, state legislatures did. In the year since Sandy Hook, over 114 measures were passed that affected state gun laws.

Strengthening Gun Control

Eleven states, plus the District of Columbia passed laws that strengthened gun control. Two states made it harder to carry guns in public. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia passed laws that made it easier for the government to track guns. For example, Maryland and New York now require that lost or stolen firearms be reported, and Rhode Island makes it illegal to tamper with identification marks on firearms. Fifteen states strengthened mental health restrictions related to gun ownership. California, for example, now requires psychotherapists whose patients threaten violence to report the threats, and Colorado requires that mental health records be reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Weakening Gun Control

Twenty-nine states passed laws that made it easier for people to own guns and carry them in public places such as schools, bars, and casinos. Twenty-six states added laws that strengthened the ability to carry concealed firearms in public. Seven states now allow guns to be carried in schools. For example, Alabama now allows school security personnel and resource officers to carry firearms, and Oklahoma allows handguns in private schools and on private school buses. Alabama, Alaska, Kansas and Missouri all passed laws that prohibited state officials from enforcing certain aspects of federal gun control laws or nullified federal gun control laws.

A Kansas city personal injury attorney remarks that clearly most people believe that the gun violence in the United States needs to stop. No one wants even one more child injury from gun violence. No one wants a repeat of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Columbine High School, the Aurora, Colorado movie theater, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, or the Tucson, Arizona Safeway. However, people disagree on the most effective way to stop the gun violence. Some believe that fewer guns in society will result in fewer shootings. Others believe that more guns in the hands of lawful citizens will result in fewer gun deaths by criminals. What types of policies do you believe will have a meaningful affect on gun violence in the United States?

The Military’s Sexual-Assault Laws: Friendly Fire

In recent years several high-profile military sexual assault cases have left the military open to criticism. Furthermore, the government has released troubling data on the frequency of military sexual assaults. According to the Department of Labor 20-48% of female veterans have been sexually assaulted and 80% have been sexually harassed. Critics are not just disappointed that the assaults occurred. Critics are disappointed, surprised and angered as to how such cases have been handled by the military justice system. As a result, several members of Congress have proposed changes in the way the military handles accusations of sexual assault. The goal is to both reduce the number of sexual assaults and to ensure that both the accuser and accused are treated fairly when there is an accusation of sexual assault.

Current Law

Currently, military law gives a commander a tremendous amount of authority over the course of action when there is an accusation of sexual assault. Indeed, the commander decides whether or not to refer the case to the military prosecutor or not. The commander can even have convictions dismissed. For example, earlier this year Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin overturned the sexual-assault conviction of Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, who like Franklin is a fighter pilot. In the relatively small military world it is not uncommon for the commander to know and even be friends with the accused. Sadly, the commander is sometimes the accused rapist. As a consequence victims are often reluctant to report assaults and reported assaults are sometimes not fully investigated. Accusers have been the subject of harassment and retaliation.

A Macon personal injury lawyer notes that the way the military handles sexual assault cases and other crimes is very different from how such cases are handled in the civilian world. In a civilian case, typically the accuser informs either the police or a prosecutor of the attack. If an investigation uncovers sufficient evidence of an assault the accused is arrested and criminally charged. A criminal trial is held and a jury determines the fate of the defendant based on evidence presented by both the prosecution and the defense. During this process steps are taken to shield the identity of the accuser from the public and to ensure that the accuser is not victimized or demonized. In cases where there is not sufficient evidence to prosecute (or even where there is a prosecution), the victim has the option of pursuing a personal injury case against the perpetrator.

Proposed Changes

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., proposes an amendment that would remove sexual-assault cases from the usual military chain of command. Thus, only military prosecutors would have the authority to investigate and prosecute military sexual assault cases. Military commanders would also be stripped of their authority to dismiss court-martial convictions in cases of rape, sexual assault and other crimes. Furthermore, Gillibrand’s proposal would make it a crime to retaliate against a victim for reporting being attacked. This proposal is sharply opposed by the Pentagon and does not generally have strong support in Congress.

Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) offers a competing proposal on the issue of military sexual assault cases that appears to be more palatable to both the Pentagon and members of Congress. McCaskill’s proposal would also strip commanders of their authority to dismiss court-martial rape and sexual assault convictions. It too would make it a crime to retaliate against a victim for reporting an attack. The significant difference between McCaskill’s proposal and Gillibrand’s proposal is that McCaskill’s proposal leaves authority and accountability within the current military chain of command. Both proposals, however, recognize that a change is necessary to protect victims.

In addition to the legal aspects related to investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases, there are psychological nuances that make such cases best handled by those with specialized training and experience. In what way if any should a “specialist” be involved in the investigation or prosecution of military sexual assault cases?