The straw that broke the camel's complacency

• Feast countdown = 51
• Current craving = Greek Scramble at Thumbs Up Diner (a sinful blend of feta, spinach, and eggs)
• Current craving distraction = Fiddling with blog color schemes

The Goal: To sponsor an international sister in need by giving up dinner each Sunday for a year.

For the next 52 Sundays, I will skip dinner (nighttime snacking included) and direct the weekly savings of roughly $7 toward Women for Women International's sponsorship program.  The program will pair me with a woman afflicted by war, and through my donations and letters of support, the hope is that she can work toward a life of healing and sustainability.  Sunday supper has now been replaced with a feast of giving.

Before I go any further, please don't mistake me as a) another extremist dieter with hidden motives or b) one of those people who "just forgot to eat lunch again".  That couldn't be farther from the truth, as my well-stocked fridge and good friends at Chick-Fil-A will attest, and not to mention my talent for tracking waiters across the restaurant out of the corners of my eyes.  No, I love good food and have a reputation for all-day snacking, so this new challenge will take an extra kick of will power.

So why would a food-lover do this?  For three reasons: to make room in my budget for giving, to prove that anyone has capacity to give, and to put my drop in the bucket of good deeds that collectively can change the world.  I realized that, aside from rent, food costs continually take first place among my monthly expenses, and it wouldn't be hard to cut one meal while also cutting more coupons, all for the sake of supporting another.  This is not meant to be a platform for my own self-righteousness -- plenty of people make sacrifices much more monumental than mine.  Instead, I want this experience to help similar people see how simple and practical it is to give regularly and to offer someone a leg up in the world.  I want to help bridge the gap between caring and doing.

For me, I crossed that bridge after a long buildup period of reading and listening.  I read Greg Mortenson's latest book, Stones into Schools, about the most desolate communities in Central Asia that crave schools for their girls and women.  I watched Nicholas Kristof's Reporter documentary, set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, on finding individual women's stories that put a face on the larger problems and inspire readers to care.  I read articles from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that emphasize women as a key component to breaking the cycle of poverty in developing countries.  Finally, I read and watched Lisa Shannon's story of running long distances in order to raise awareness and funding for the war-torn women of Congo.

The words and images followed me for weeks, weighing on my heart and leaving me restless to do something, until I ran into the literal one-for-one solution -- giving up my meal so that another woman can eat, be whole, and empower others.  Among all the causes to support today, Women for Women International is one that truly creates myriad ripples and touches whole communities.

I hope you will join me each Sunday night as I take time to reflect, distract myself from food, and hopefully share stories from my sponsored sister over time.  (I won't be paired for another 4-5 weeks, so look forward to the next several posts where I pine for Girl Scout cookies and Mellow Mushroom pizza.)  In all seriousness, I'll need your support in the coming weeks, and nothing would make me happier than knowing I have a team of folks going through the same challenge, or simply offering words of encouragement.  Come feast with me next Sunday night!

(If interested, read more about becoming a sponsor with Women for Women International)