Anti-Poverty Mom's 2019 Gift Picks

I wasn't going to do a Holiday Gift Guide this year because in past years, it's screwed up my personal gift giving when my gift recipients read my list. It kind of ruined the surprise, you know?

BUT, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about the books on my "activist" shelf. These are books that I keep referring back to for inspiration, stories, statistics, and examples of how I would like to write. So, even though it's a little late in the season, I'm going to give a few of my recommendations for the anti-poverty activists on your lists! 'Tis the season for getting cozy with a book :)

Happy Holidays!

Keep Marching: How Every Woman Can Take Action and Change Our World 
by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner
Keep Marching is all about maintaining the momentum we felt during the surge of Women's Marches after the 2016 election. This book is not only a handy reference when I need a quick primer on issues - like health insurance, wage inequality, U.S. maternal mortality - but it also provides brief snippets of advice on taking action as well. Reading this book and joining Moms Rising, the organization Rowe-Finkbeiner co-founded, is a great way to jump start your personal advocacy in the new year if you haven't been so active lately.











The First 1,000 Days: A Crucial Time for Mothers and Children - and the World
by Roger Thurow
Next year is going to be a big year for advocates working on global nutrition for moms and babies. RESULTS has already announced that it will be a major campaign. In December of 2020, Japan will be hosting the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit. It will be an unprecedented opportunity to set the world on a pathway towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals targets - in particular, to end malnutrition in all its forms by 2030 and strengthen the link between diet, food systems, and health.

That makes Thurow's book a must read for anyone working on nutrition. He followed the lives of pregnant mothers around the world (rural Uganda, urban Chicago, a village in India, Guatemalan highlands) striving to provide proper nutrition for themselves and their infants. With moving personal stories and informative facts, he illustrates how crucial the first 1,000 days of life (from conception to 2nd birthday) are in creating opportunity for children & families.

A Day at the FARE: One Woman's Welfare Passage 
by Pamela M. Covington
Covington wrote an easy-to-read, easy-to-relate-to biographic narrative. She perfectly sums up the reasons why it's so difficult for a woman with children to leave an abusive relationship and how grueling it is to navigate the American system of aid for mothers who need immediate help. It's a living nightmare for many right now and a lurking nightmare for mothers who don't earn their own salaries. This is an "it could happen to anyone" tale. I recommend it especially for men who will never be in her situation or women who feel they won't ever be. Read it for your own sense of empathy and vote accordingly.








The Girl Who Smiled Beads 
by Clemantine Wamarya
Wamariya writes a vivid biography about her time as a refugee living in a camp and coming to the United States. The thing that struck me most about this book is the poetic descriptions of her feelings. She sometimes refers to a time when she didn't have the words to describe her experiences...well, she has them now and we are blessed to be able to read them! The way the book skips back and forth in times helps me glimpse how disjointed the lives of refugees can be. It paints an eye-opening picture of the bewildering hardships of flight, refugee life as a child, the difficulties of accepting help, and building a new life without parents.








Tightrope 
by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn

Okay, the trouble with this one is that it's not actually available until January 14, but it is currently available for pre-order! You can always print out a nice picture of the cover and put it in a card for your activist to open. Of course, I can't give you my impressions of it since I haven't read it yet, but if it's anything like their previous books - "Half the Sky" and "A Path Appears" - then it should be fascinating. I can't wait to read it. Here's the synopsis: "The Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of the acclaimed, best-selling Half the Sky now issue a plea--deeply personal and told through the lives of real Americans--to address the crisis in working-class America, while focusing on solutions to mend a half century of governmental failure." 

Scouting for Food

In my city, today is the day for the Boy Scouts of America annual "Scouting for Food" collection day. So, if you're my neighbor, this is a reminder to get your blue bag put on our door handles last week, fill it with food in cans or plastic containers, and put it out on your porch for the Boy Scouts to collect and donate.

Why give? Two huge reasons:

1. Feed hungry people in our area. Obviously.
2. Empower the kids!

About this second point, I was once a Girl Scout mom and they did a similar "April Showers" collection where we gathered personal hygiene products for our area pantries. The kids feel so good about doing this service. It's one of the main reasons to be a scout...to help! They were so excited to see the bags on all the porches. Except when there were none. It was super sad when it was raining or bad weather and you hit a neighborhood where hardly anyone was participating. I'd get questions like, "Is this a mean neighborhood? Why aren't they helping?" And I'd have to say something like, "Well, people are forgetful and busy sometimes."

So...don't be mean or forgetful or too busy. Help out the scouts today and help out your fellow humans! Get those bags out there!

Here's the list of the most desired food items to help you make decisions on what to put out:

How Can We Do More for Veterans?

Today, I read a Newsweek article about how almost half of our veterans feel uncomfortable with the convention of people saying, "Thank you for your service." Some cited that they simply felt awkward with the platitude and didn't know what to say back and others would prefer that we civilians try to connect on a more personal level. For instance, we could ask them more about their time in the military. This is all good to think about and made me wonder about the veterans that we are failing. How do struggling veterans feel when we say thanks, but then don't act to help them out of systems that don't give them what they need?

I'm not an expert on veteran affairs, but I do know that 1.5 million veterans live in households that completely rely on SNAP benefits (formerly known as Food Stamps) to keep themselves and their families fed. 

Additionally, the US Housing & Urban Development reported that about 40,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Why are so many veterans homeless? In addition to factors that affect all Americans in poverty (shortage of affordable housing and livable income), veterans are a group that disproportionately have to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse. Because many have faced dangers to secure our freedoms, they are now at risk for these problems...sometimes without access to health care or family support others might have. 

So, how do we go beyond posting memes and saying "Thank you for your service" on this Veterans' Day? Here are some suggestions from me. I'd love to hear more ideas from you in the comment section! I especially invite comments from those who have served so that the rest of us can learn.

• Ask a veteran about where and how they served. Then, listen!
• Urge your members of Congress to fully support SNAP benefits and protect it from the Administration's repeated attempts to cut back
• Donate to Feed Our Vets, food pantries providing regular, free food to veterans & their families
• Urge Congress to adopt a Renters Tax Credit to keep veterans and other Americans in their homes. Here's a link to help you call Congress. (It's the last action on the page about Housing)
• Donate to the Wounded Warrior Project. Among it's valuable programs, it has services for mental wellness, physical wellness, and career and VA benefits counseling.