Good Morning,
Yesterday I had the pleasure of having lunch with a man whose passion is to feed the needy, both adults and kids who live in our very own neighborhoods. Stan Curtis founded both Kentucky Harvest and Blessings in a Backpack (http://www.blessingsinabackpack.com/). Blessings in a backpack provides food over the weekends for school-aged children who often do not have enough to eat and rely on the public schools to provide them breakfast, lunch and sometimes even dinner.
In hearing about how successful Blessings in a Backpack has been over the four years since its inception, you have to be impressed. It has grown from a sincere desire to help school kids who go hungry over the weekend to supporting underprivileged kids in over 100 schools in the entire US and
I asked him how he has done so much so quickly. His response was simplicity. He keeps the entire operation simple from donation requests to partnerships. Of course I wanted to test this out, so when I asked how we could help Blessings in a Backpack he said:
Provide jars of peanut butter.
That is a simple solution. I expected to be handed lists of items to collect and lists of items not to get, etc. He said that a jar of peanut butter could feed a child for several weekends, along with the other foods donated by partner organizations.
I asked Stan about donations.
He said to give donations in increments of $80 which will feed 1 kid for an ENTIRE year. Again, a simple solution.
When we exchanged business cards, Stan’s was, well, simple.
Stan said that by keeping the entire operation simple he has been able to provide food for over 30,000 kids every week. That is awesome, but Stan quickly told me that the need is much larger than that.
Simple helped Blessings In a Backpack make great contacts with other passionate people and organizations who want to make a difference and set up strong partnerships who continue to make the process simple.
Simple helped make it easier for people to help without confusing rules and exceptions.
Simple has the power to feed tens of thousands of kids every weekend.
Let’s all work to simplify our lives and try to reduce the complex to the basic levels of simple. When we run into obstacles or roadblocks in our daily activities, we can stop and ask ourselves if there is a way to simplify what we are doing. Less complexity is better.
And while we are at it, I request that each of you at least visit Blessings in a Backpack (http://www.blessingsinabackpack.com/) and see how simple it is to make a difference in kids’ lives around you.
Enjoy!
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