In a few short days we’ll finally be able to put our political divisions aside and focus on things that unite us, by which I mean celebrating cherished family traditions at Thanksgiving … like getting drunk and fighting with the in-laws.
Last year, however, I started something that I really hope catches on as a different kind of annual tradition: my Give the Editor the Bird turkey drive to benefit the Redwood Empire Food Bank.
Nearly 500 of you broke open your piggy banks last November and donated $50,000 to benefit people who would otherwise go hungry on Thanksgiving, and most other days for that matter.
Your generosity was truly overwhelming.
Unfortunately, the need in our community has only grown, so we’re going to do it again this year, only with an even bigger goal, better snarky one-liners from yours truly, and even a chance to win fabulous prizes. More on that in a bit.
I met with the food bank’s Rachelle Mesheau the other day to get the ball rolling, and she told me that while cash donations have remained somewhat steady this year, the number of food donations is lagging, even though the need continues to rise.
And unfortunately, those cash donations buy less food than they did last year. It’s not just the food bank. As my colleague Susan Wood reported a couple of weeks ago, charitable giving throughout the North Bay has failed to keep up with inflation.
In the last month alone, 61,000 individuals sought help from the food bank to address some level of food insecurity. These were unique individuals, not the same people returning over and over again. In the past year, the number of unique individuals served has increased 8%. That translates to 142,000 people in Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte counties. The largest share was right here in Sonoma County, where 112,000 people, more than 20% of our population, have sought help.
Redwood Empire Food bank September 2024 Data & Stats Report
Simply put, there are too many people in our midst who are in danger of going hungry, and many of them are kids. Kids who go to bed hungry. Kids who wake up hungry. And kids who go to school hungry.
You don’t have to be a brain sturgeon to know that a kid with a growling stomach will have a hard time learning and that proper nutrition is essential if children are to achieve their full potential. (And kids who fail to reach their full potential wind up as newspaper editors, and frankly, I don’t need the competition.)
So to keep kids from having to suffer the fate of your humble narrator, we again bring you the Give the Editor the Bird drive. I was actually going to try to class it up and call it Give the Editor the Bird, Part Deux, but our paper’s spell-check system kept trying to change it to Part Ducks.
Either way, it sort of works like the turkey drives we used to do back in the glory days of newspapers, by which I mean before most of them were gobbled up by hedge funds.
In those days, we collected actual turkeys, but instead of having you go to Ralph’s or Oliver’s or Raley’s or Safeway or 7-Eleven, or heaven help us, grabbing a wild turkey from your neighborhood meadow, we’re asking you to simply donate cash.
There’s a good reason for this. The first is that our newsroom operations manager, Ayrjia Child, has enough to deal with without having randos dropping off armloads of poultry in our lobby. But the main reason is that the food bank can buy a lot more with your dollars than you can.
That’s because they buy food in bulk, or what they call economy of scale. At least I think that’s what it’s called. I wasn’t really paying attention when they covered that in school. Remember, I’m no brain sturgeon.
For the purposes of our drive, we’ll count $25 as one turkey. Last year we raised 2,000 turkeys, or $50,000. This year, we’re aiming higher, so our goal this year is — drumroll please — 3,000 turkeys or $75,000.
And because I wouldn’t ask you to do anything I wouldn’t do myself, I’m making the same deal I did last year: If we reach our goal, I kick in $1,000 of the money I get from managing my dog George’s sports betting account.
And just like last year, our esteemed publisher and grand poobah in chief, Eric Johnston, the queso grande of all of Sonoma Media Investments, will match my contribution.
Now about those fabulous prizes. Everyone who donates $100 or more will be entered into a drawing to win one of several really cool experiences.
First up will be a private wine tasting with former Press Democrat wine columnist Peg Melnik, who taught me everything I know about wine, like which ones get you hammered the fastest and the proper bottle-wiping etiquette after you take a swig.
We’ve got some other prizes in the works, including the opportunity to have beers with a really cool Bay Area sports celebrity. More on that in my next column.
In the meantime, click here to donate or go to refb.org/givethebird.
And tell those relatives you’re going to fight with at Thanksgiving that they can donate, too.
Giving the Editor the Bird is a nonpartisan activity.
John D’Anna is managing editor of The Press Democrat. Reach him at john.danna@pressdemocrat.com.
