When You Know Better, You Do Better
Maya Angelou image by Casey Hagerman
I used to offer my leftovers to someone I’d pass on the street without understanding the health risks and indignity of partially eaten food. And many well-meaning people volunteer their time preparing bagged filled with PB&J, potato chips, and candy to hand out to the hungry. Feeding the homeless is a generous and important act of community service. A Meal With Dignity (AMWD) offers a fresh view on how to go about it with more attention to health and service.
As Maya Angelou said, “do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” AWMD takes the bagged lunch a step further, knowing that most unhoused people suffer from at least one chronic health condition like diabetes. Soup kitchens and front-line food suppliers tend to offer meals to houseless people–often the only meal they will have in a day–that are high in preservatives, salt, fat, and sugar due to a lack of resources and understanding.
AMWD aims to educate and support volunteers and food providers with information, recipes, and ideas to offer a healthy, dignified meal. Our digestible, doctor-approved model is based on decades of experience feeding the unhoused. AMWD inspires volunteers to hand-deliver lunches filled with fresh, medicinal, thoughtful ingredients to their neighbors suffering on the streets, wherever they are, using our downloadable Toolkit. AMWD’s grassroots approach makes a difference in the lives of individual volunteers and homeless recipients. We hope you will join us!
Operations Manager, Bradley Golden, connects with a meal recipient in San Francisco at the AMWD monthly event.