At Daily Stoic, we're trying to come together and feed THREE MILLION people! Rather than let the Black Friday spirit of materialism and selfishness infect us, we have an annual tradition of teaming with Feeding America to contribute to something larger than ourselves.
Every dollar donated provides 10 meals to those who need it. Read on for more info or head here to donate now!
Natasha and her 2-year-old daughter Braeleigh (pictured) are two of nearly 6,500 men, women, and children received turkeys and the fixings to celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving meal in their homes thanks to Thanksgiving Angels, supported by Feeding America.
Marcus Aurelius would have recognized the feeling you feel right now. So would Seneca and Cato and many of the other Stoics. The Romans, like Americans, loved a good feast. They loved wine. They loved breaking bread with their family. We know this because their writings abound with descriptions of overflowing tables and dinners that went long into the night.
But you know what doesn't appear in their writings very often, just as it does not occur to us often enough? How some people don't know this feeling at all. In fact, they are far more familiar with the opposite of it…hunger.
While some of us sit here with stomachs filled with as many Thanksgiving foods as we could manage, there are those feeling the rumblings of an empty stomach. You're wondering if you'll ever be able to eat again, and they are, in a very different way, thinking the same thing.
According to Feeding America, 1 in 7 people in the United States face hunger today, and 1 in 5 are children. In the past two years alone, there's been an increase of 13 million people in need of food assistance. And up to 757 million people globally go to bed each night on an empty stomach.
So today, instead of contributing to corporate overindulgence in the form of "doorbusters" and "lightning deals," instead of waiting in line to get a new flatscreen TV or fighting with a stranger for another toy your kids don't need, let us instead put our energy towards helping someone else. Let's expand our circle of concern, as Hierocles said. Sure, Epictetus is correct, we don't control a lot in this world, but we can keep someone from going hungry. We can alleviate one family's worry and fear. We can put food on their table
That's why, for the fifth consecutive year, we're trying to come together and feed THREE MILLION people. In 2020-2023, with your help, we raised more than 700,000 combined dollars, which provided meals for over 7 million people through Feeding America. This year we are personally putting up the first $30,000, with our overall goal to raise $300,000. Every dollar we raise provides 10 meals, so if we hit our goal, that will be three MILLION meals.
Instead of giving into corporate indulgence this Black Friday, let's be good Stoics and choose virtue. Let's contribute to something larger than ourselves.
Feeding America supporting disaster relief effort after Hurricane Helene.
Just head over to dailystoic.com/feeding and together we can make a small dent in a big problem.
P.S. If you live outside the U.S., check out Action Against Hunger—the global humanitarian organization that fights against hunger across nearly 50 countries. You can head here to donate.
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