Shooting Donations

Hunger happens all around the world. Even though hunger is not violent, it's still a type of violence. Hunger is structural violence because many people are don’t have food and starve. Structural violence is people getting their basic needs met but when they don't get food there not getting their needs met. Statistics show that one in eight people on the earth goes to sleep hungry. There are many things that cause hunger but the main causes are poverty, not a lot of investment in agriculture, and weather/ climate. If I put myself on the Ladder of Tolerance (a tool that is used to see two groups position on an issue), I would be at Mutual Learner because I'm higher than awareness because I’m giving to the hunger cause. Other people I know would be at awareness because they’re exposed to it, but they are not doing anything to help starving people around the world. People usually don't give homeless people money because they think they’re going to use it for something other than food like drugs. This would be called the tip of the Iceberg because it's what everyone sees. The bottom of the iceberg would be that most people don't know the situation these people can be in and they could actually be begging for money to get themselves some food. This is called the bottom of the iceberg because people can't actually see the issue/problem or also called the bottom of the iceberg.

The Greater Food Depository is Chicago's food bank. “We do this in partnership with 700 agencies and programs including pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and responses for children, older adults and veterans. This network distributes food where it is needed most throughout Cook County.” They are one of the leading Charities in Chicago.

For this Action Project, I shot ten basketballs from the three-point line, This was my nonviolent action. For each shot, I missed I had to donate one dollar to the Greater Food Depository. I missed five out of ten shots, so I had to donate five dollars to this organization. Afterward, I nominated my friend Nakiyah to do the same thing as a challenge so others can help hunger in our city and possibly our world. Starting this challenge was relevant because that five dollar goes to people in need of food. If they can't shoot or do not want to, they could donate all ten dollars. This can really make a difference if this challenge catches on, so the people that receive food from the Greater Food Depository can live their lives without being hungry.

My action/challenge is very much like Gandhi's method called Sarvodaya. Sarvodaya means the welfare or uplift. By doing this action I am uplifting others to partake in my challenge so they could donate money to the Greater Food Depository. When I first given this project, I wasn't very interested in the topic and thought it was boring. But through researching and becoming more aware of this issue, I learned alot about hunger and what I could do to help out and really enjoyed this project in the end. If lots of people donate a little to The Greater Food Depository, a multitude of people can get food. I also found that this organization is a very big and important one in Chicago.