Use Your Power.

Today's Marketing Cookie is focused on using the remarkable power you have to care for others who desperately need a helping hand.

I want to tell you about an organization called No Kid Hungry that has made it their first priority to end childhood hunger in America. The truth is that one in five American children struggles with hunger, which adds up to sixteen million kids. If you don't believe me, just ask a school teacher who sees these kids every day.

Let's do the math. A child who doesn’t have enough to eat isn’t going to do as well in school and is likely to get sick more often. A hungry kid is less likely to graduate from high school and go on to college, which will have a negative impact on their economic future. Makes sense, right? Okay, let's fast forward to twenty years from now, when that kid is much less likely to be able to earn enough to feed their family, and the tragic cycle continues.

I would like you to please Dine Out and help end childhood hunger. This September, thousands of restaurants across the country are supporting the No Kid Hungry campaign with creative promotions that raise funds to support their work. With this money, No Kid Hungry will connect kids in need with nutritious food and teach their families how to cook healthy, affordable meals. You can get involved by dining out and doing good at the same time.

Do you know what it feels like to struggle with hunger? I do.

When I was a kid, my father was a social worker who counseled troubled Vietnam veterans every day, who had endured unspeakable mental and emotional trauma while in service to their country. In the 1980s, the State of Massachusetts chose to cut the budget and terminate the program. For many troubled veterans, cutting the program also meant cutting their lifeline for a chance to find peace after having experienced the ugly realities of fighting a war. The budget cut also put my father out of work at a time when there weren't any openings in his field and nearly put our family on the street.

My father resorted to going door to door, selling encyclopedias, vacuum cleaners, kitchen knives, and any other odd job he could find to make ends meet. I can remember my mother clipping coupons, using food stamps, and doing what she could to make the food we had stretch as far as possible. There were many meals where there was not enough to feed the four of us and she would set the table for three, insisting that she "wasn't hungry." One week, our car broke down and the cost of the repairs depleted the money we needed for groceries. By the time the weekend arrived, we literally had nothing in the house to eat. Absolutely nothing.

On Saturday, we didn't have anything to eat and it was the first time I went to bed hungry. That night, my stomach was literally in pain. I cried and I prayed. I prayed that God would help my dad find work, and that we would have enough food to eat. The next morning, a miracle happened! Some people from our community came to our house with armfuls of groceries. I don't know how they knew that we desperately needed food that day, but they just knew. I don't know why they chose to buy groceries for us at a time when we desperately needed it most, but they just did. I will always remember the feeling of gratitude I felt, knowing that God heard me crying and praying for my family.

Too many kids around us know the feeling of hunger as I did. Today's fortune says, "You have remarkable power which you are not using." I encourage you to use your power today and help spread the word for kids in your community. Please find one of the 8,000 restaurants in your area today that is participating in the Dine Out For No Kid Hungry campaign to help end childhood hunger in America.