My Loss, Their Gain

Afternoon, all. Sitting here getting ready to hit the office after lunch, I got to thinking about a program Weight Watchers is running and the concrete effect it could have.

For the last several weeks, Weight Watchers International pledges to donate $1.00 for every pound lost by members, up to $1,000,000. Of course, my branch couldn't leave well enough alone and so we added a bonus project. For each pound we lose, we are encouraged to donate a pound of food. Strangely enough, this turned out to be a real bonus for weight loss motivation. Let me explain.

So far during this period, I have lost 6.2 lbs. In response to that, I brought in 6.2 lbs. of food: 1 can of soup, 1 box of ready brown rice, 1 Homestyle bake, and 1 pk. dry pasta. I flipped the packages over and wrote down the total number of serving each provide. When you tally it up, you get 37 individual servings of food. Now, here's where the math gets weird. Assuming you are talking about a family of four, that comes out to 9.25 servings of food per person. Assuming that normally square meals are three servings of food (a protein, a starch, a veggie) that means that my 6 pounds of food fed a family all of its meals for one day. Our Monday night group is about 40 people on average. It follows then that if every one were to do the same, we could feed 40 families of four for one day. That's a hundred and sixty folks. Multiply that by the total number of meetings at the location, and it becomes astounding. If everyone just gives a little bit, then the task is easily attained.

I mention this because money numbers are hard to translate into reality. I figure that 6 pounds of food cost me less than $10. What's important to see is the connection between a good work and the person you serve in that work. It's also inspiring me to figure out a way to start a food pantry here in Prague as well. It reminds me of the passage from Deus Caritas Est where our Holy Father reminds us that the poor being with us always is not a depressing fact of the Fall but an invitation to the delightful folly of Love.