A Temporary Delay

[blue_green_dream]

aseanchai and I have been making fairly steady progress in our walking quest, despite things like family matters, crazy work schedules and the occasional thunderstorm. We've already completed the 145 mile Shire challenge and are working our way through the Fellowship challenge. (For those keeping track, we've walked about 271 miles so far.) Fortunately we appear to be ahead of schedule - I say fortunately because it looks like we won't be going anywhere over the next few days. We're expecting crushing and potentially dangerous heat over the next few days; while we're dedicated to the cause, we're also realistic. There's no need for us to endure temperatures as high as 96 degrees. We aren't used to that sort of heat in general, and we definitely haven't done any sort of heat endurance training. Better for us to stay inside, do some (DDP) Yoga and help our our neighbors as needed.

I've been thinking about our neighbors a lot lately, especially since school is out now. Too many kids in the US are "food insecure," and too many of them will spend the summer hungry because school is out. I don't know how many kids in our area may be in this situation, but I'm sure they're out there. And that's not to mention seniors or lower income individuals that are facing dire choices due to inflation and supply chain issues. aseanchai and I do what we can directly by donating to our local Little Free Pantries, but the need is vast. When it comes to Team Westmarch, economies of scale work in our favor. Each dollar that gets donated to our fundraiser becomes four meals at Akron Canton Regional Foodbank. That means that $1,000 becomes 4,000 meals for people in eight Ohio counties, far more than we would ever be able to do on our own. There's a certain kind of magic at work there, and it's wonderful.

Unfortunately, it looks like our fundraising efforts have completely stalled. We've raised $245 (980 meals), but we haven't seen any movement on the fundraiser for several weeks. I feel responsible for this; I haven't been updating longwalks as often as I should, and I haven't been as relentlessly self-promoting as I probably should be on social media. I'll try to improve on these things. In the meantime, please feel free to share longwalks here on Dreamwidth and on social media. If you have the means, consider donating to Team Westmarch - even $1 helps. If nothing else, see what you can do to help people in your community access food they need. I've added some resources below. Share them far and wide and encourage others to spread the information. You could help keep a kid fed this summer.

Food Rescue Hero
Food Rescue US
Find Meals for Kids When Schools Are Closed
FindHelp.org
NoKidHungry.org