Rice for dinner At Minneapolis congregation, families can count on this ... When Dick and Rita Juhl’s four children were young, family dinner once a month was rice only. “We’d tell them this is what a huge portion of the world eats every day, hoping to teach them empathy and concern for hunger in the world. The money we saved we’d send to a charitable organization,” Rita Juhl said.
So Juhl went to her pastor, Julie A. Ebbesen of St. Peder Lutheran, Minneapolis, who encouraged her to make an announcement at church inviting others to commit to once-a-month rice dinners. Dick Juhl stood at the back of the church signing folks up and distributing starter rice, information sheets and address labels so members could donate the money they would have spent on a more extensive and expensive meal. The labels were for the ELCA World Hunger Appeal and Feed My Starving Children, a nonprofit Christian organization started in Minnesota. Since giving her pitch prior to last Thanksgiving, 145 members (64 family units) have joined the yearlong commitment to the Rice Dinner Project and send at least $10 monthly to an organization working to eradicate hunger. Rita Juhl calls it “a simple idea with no administrative costs that produces gratifying results.” Rice for seven Julie and Barry McMahon think the same thing. Earlier this year their blended family of seven, including Lucas, 16, and Jack, 12, Thoresen; and Chloe, 15, Jack, 14, and Violet, 5, McMahon, started a monthly meal of rice. Julie McMahon said the older four, who have all packaged food at a Feed My Starving Children event, are fine with the rice dinner. “The 5-year-old wants to know what we’re doing,” her mother said. “She’s been the toughest customer.” Ebbesen said having the idea come from a member, not the pastor, has been key. “Rita has a passion for this. She felt a calling to do this,” Ebbeson said. “She speaks from her own experience, and the Sunday school was already giving their offering to World Hunger so it was a natural link.” Juhl’s goal is still big, of course. When a paragraph about Rice Dinner Project appeared in the March-April Seeds for the Parish, an ELCA resource newsletter, she received e-mails from all over the country, from Pennsylvania to New Mexico, asking how to start something similar. Now, she’s ready for The Lutheran’s readers. |
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| Erik Juhl - 10/17/2008 |
My mother, Rita, who is featured in this article, has just launched an informational website about her Rice Dinner Project. It's at http://www.ricedinner.org and I hope you'll visit it if you are interested in checking up on her efforts or learning more about participating! Peace, Erik |
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