The Road Goes Ever On - A Blog About Walking And Doing Good

"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." - J.R.R. Tolkien

For most of us, food is something we don't think about until we don't have it.

Actually, let me revise that. Many people think about food, and think about it often. We try to decide what we want for breakfast. We ponder picking up something for lunch. We wonder if we should check out that new restaurant for dinner, or if we should use all those ingredients we have in our fridge before they go bad. We throw out old food from the back of cabinets, we agonize about what to make for special occasions, and we make impulse buys at the grocery store because of nostalgia or curiosity or just plain boredom.

But how many of us think about not having food? Not with the resigned sigh of, "There's nothing in the house," meaning that you're tired of leftovers or don't want to cook. Rather, I refer to the worry someone feels about going home to an empty fridge or bare shelves. It would be bad enough if you lived alone, but what if you had children, or elderly parents, or both? What if your grocery store was the next town or county over? While some of us my grumble about going to a specialty store for a hard-to-find ingredient, other people may need to make "special trips" just to access the basics.

It shouldn't be this way, but it is. A lot of people, both rural and urban, have to scramble for food because they live in food deserts or can't afford to buy what they need. The need is vast and the causes are complicated. But that doesn't mean we can't help.

One of the reasons Team Westmarch decided to support the Akron Canton Regional Food Bank is because it directly serves our community, which means our neighbors can get the food they need to stay healthy. But more broadly, ACRF supports eight Ohio counties and provides millions of meals to families who wouldn't otherwise be able to eat. It's a happy coincidence that hobbits are known for their love of food, because our walking challenge started in The Shire. By starting our donation drive with a food bank, we hope to ensure that one of life's simplest pleasures - and one most of us take for granted - can be enjoyed by everyone in our region.

We'd like to raise $1,000 for ACRF. Ideally, we'd like to raise $1,000 for nine charities, including causes like One Tree Planted, RIP Medical Debt, Team Rubicon and Shelterbox. However, we've decided not to "unlock" those charities until we reach our current goal. Our reasoning is that we'd rather succeed in raising $1,000 for one charity than fail to raise $100 for all nine. In saying that, we need your help. Both aseanchai  and I have donated money to the cause, but we haven't had much support beyond that (save a $25 donation from a friend). We both know that many people can't afford to donate money right now, and that's okay. Even just sharing this post or our fundraiser page can help us reach more people and (hopefully) bring in the donations we need to help our neighbors. No donation is too small - every dollar donated to ACRF translates into four meals, and those four meals can make a big difference to people in need.

We may be the ones who are doing all of the walking, but we can't reach our destination without you. aseanchai  and I have walked 55 miles so far; we've donated $125 ourselves and received a $25 donation today. We can't wait to see how much further we can go with your help.