We’ve wrapped up Hunger Action Week, five days dedicated to raising awareness about hunger in our community.

So now what?

It’s time to take action. There are many ways you can get involved, and we’re sure that you can come up some creative ideas too. Here’s what Mary Shaw, one of our staff members at United Way of King County, said she chose to do.

“I thought I could get involved by doing a virtual hunger awareness lunch. OK, I guess I am not the queen of Facebook either. Only a few of my FB friends RSVP’d for my lunch.

It was a lot of fun anyway, with enough folks for a small party and, like most parties, people kept showing up throughout the event! Some of them gave from their own pockets as well. When lunch time came, I sent them all some info about the work they are supporting by participating in my lunch, and let them know how they could ‘leave a tip.’ I felt like I was having a party with my friends even though we were all at our respective desks at work.

I guess not everyone is quite in tune with what ‘virtual events’ are and didn’t know exactly what was expected so they didn’t RSVP. Or maybe they are familiar with my budget and didn’t want to force me to give! (Probably not.) Next time I will try to provide a better explanation of what the event is all about and see if I get a better turnout. It was a great idea and I had fun with it. It raised a few bucks and hopefully more awareness.”

On our Facebook page, Marilyn Dauer talked about how the Hunger Challenge and Hunger Action Week have inspired her to do more.

“For me it created a new way of looking at purchasing food, nutrition, food costs, etc. I have gained a new awareness of food issues in the community. I will be helping with a food drive this weekend to gather food for our local food bank. I am also now volunteering weekly at Annie’s Kitchen which is a free dinner offered to anyone in the community every Wednesday. So, Hunger Action Week has made a good impact on my life.”

Here are 8 ways you can help end hunger in King County:

1. Contact your legislators and let them know that hunger relief programs like State Food Assistance are important to our community. 
2. Invite friends to a “virtual lunch.” Estimate the cost and donate that amount to your favorite hunger-relief organization.
3. Plan a food drive with your school, neighborhood, place of worship or afterschool group.
4. Set up a volunteer project that help ends hunger in our community.
5. Energize your book group around a book that focuses on the issues of hunger such as “Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty” by Mark Winne or “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan.
6. Donate the free items from “buy one, get one free” grocery store campaigns.
7. Grow a vegetable garden with your family and donate extra vegetables to a food bank.
8. Give a gift to United Way of King County to support food banks, meal delivery programs and urban farming projects. Through April 14, every dollar you give will be matched so that means your donation will be doubled!

If each of us commits to speak up, act, volunteer, and support organizations working to reduce hunger in our community, we will succeed.