Despite the fact that Daniel and I don’t hold by any particular religion, we do feel it is important to teach our children a sense of doing good by helping those in need. So when I read about a few parishes getting together to collect over 140 tons of food (or money to purchase it), I jumped on the bandwagon and got my family to follow suit, putting religion aside completely.
This food is going to help those in need that are aided by Neighborhood House, SW Portland. Apparently it’s an especially important time to help these people – just after the holiday season. The parishes involved are: St. John Fisher, St. Clare and St. Thomas More. Another thing that appealed to me was the fact that it’s not just Parish congregants who are involved but Jewish and Muslims too – so it’s totally not a religious-based thing which is important to me and Daniel. It has been going since 2007 but, given that according to Neighborhood House’s executive director Rick Nitti, the State of Oregon witnessed a 2 percent increase in poverty last year (as compared to nationwide figures that did not experience any escalation), this is a great year for us to start getting involved in such a project.