ThisNext Blog

Now that you’re all shopped out and the gifts are given, do you still feel a little … empty? It’s not to late to celebrate the true season of giving. While you and yours are popping open the top button on the trousers and contemplating renewing your gym memberships to recover from this season’s barrage of gluttony, millions are starving around the world. Some of them are in your own back yard.

Anita at Married …with Dinner celebrated Boxing Day the old-fashioned way, by boxing up some extra food and giving it to her local food bank. You can do so, too, and she points would-be do-gooders to Second Harvest, where you can find local food banks. Consider volunteering as a food sorter, too. In fact, gather a group of friends and make a day of it. A bunch of Bay Area food bloggers are doing it soon. Come on, it’ll be fun!

If you have more money than food or time on your hands, you can still, obviously, make a difference. Stephanie Lucianovic at Chow: The Grinder notes two charitable organizations that do more than merely feed the hungry today; they teach the hungry to feed themselves. What better way to squeeze in that last-minute donation for your 2006 taxes?

It’s only appropriate that we take this moment to thank everyone who bid on this year’s Menu for Hope campaign. This year we raised over $58,000 for the United Nations World Food Programme — that’s almost three and a half times as much as last year. We’re just dying to see who wins our fabulous cocktail kit, but wait we must — results will be announced on January 15.