Yes Janie, One-on-one service matters and people appreciate it. But if you are serving 350 meals, is it reducing the poverty level? is the number of meals going down due to the process of serving meals?

I am not saying to quit serving the meals but you have to look beyond that to something else to fix the problem or start it shrinking.

There is a program in Africa and other places that give poor people a couple of goats or rabbits and teach them how to care for them and breed them. Their only obligation is to give a pair of rabits or goats to some other poor person and teach them in the future. This starts a chain reaction that improves their lives. If you give them a meal they eat it and they are hungry the next day. You fixed the problem for one day without lessening the problem. Other programs dig them a well and install a manual pump or build the a community grinding facility to grind grain or nuts for marketing.

Here is an example of attacking the roots:

Local firm collects old sneakers to fight poverty, hunger in Africa
Wednesday, May 16, 2007

NEW PROVIDENCE -- A local company is collecting used sneakers as part of an international Adopt-A-Family program to save lives in Africa.

"If you or your organization would like to help stomp out poverty, all it takes is your used athletic shoes (Adult sizes 7+) that have been sitting in closets for years untouched," said David Allegra.

"Rather than sending your old shoes to the landfill, you can feel the satisfaction and joy of helping to lift a family out of poverty."

Allegra and Company, Mr. Allegra's financial planning and tax accounting firm, will collect donated athletic shoes at its offices at 309 South St., Murray Hill, during regular business hours of 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

The used shoes are sent to Africa to be refurbished with new laces, insoles and sanitized. They are then given to street vendors which creates jobs in the cities. The income generated from the shoes is shared between the street vendors and the Adopt-A-Family program.

According to Mr. Allegra, every 500 pairs of shoes provides one family with

A water well and pump installed on the family farm.

One pregnant rabbit and hutch

Three hens and one cock

20 fruit trees plus 100 additional trees

Seeds for a quarter acre vegetable garden plus a colonized bee hive

A bicycle to transport product to market

"The adopted families are also educated and trained by local professionals with decades of experience, who understand the challenges of small farmers. The instructors go directly to the village and provide training on the family farm," Mr. Allegra said.

"The impact is powerful and personal. The family becomes experienced in regenerative farming practice, from the introduction of livestock and year-round irrigation to organic farming skills, animal propagation, ad marketing of produce," Mr. Allegra said.

The recipient families also receive free dental and eye screening as well as free malaria medication and HIV education, he said.

"There has never been a comprehensive bottom-up approach this complete to end poverty," Mr. Allegra said.

For more information, call Allegra and Company at 908-665-1696.

http://www.nj.com/news/independentpress/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1179332161192090.xml&coll=18