This is a follow-up to the blog I wrote introducing #OccupyNorthPole, and the launch video. 

Yesterday I had the honor of speaking live with radio talk show host Nicole Sandler of Radioornot.com, while she was filling in for Randi Rhodes, host of The Randi Rhodes Show. We discussed some of the ways people can help. With time so short before the holiday season, I want to provide y’all a list of things you can do to help Santa get children their basic requests before Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa.

As I told listeners yesterday, I’ve been doing tours to find out what is going on with holiday donations this year. This past weekend I spoke with a representative of the Salvation Army, volunteers at a corner community feed, and more and found that my suspicions were confirmed; holiday giving is down for the 4th year in a row. Giving by the wealthy was down 15% in 2009, 35% in 2010 and it looks like things are worse this year with increases in demand ranging from 10%-30%, depending on the region of the country. We need all Elfs on deck! With 25% of our nation’s children enduring hunger and poverty, we can’t afford not to get involved to protect our/their future and national security.

Last weekend I stopped by the Toys for Tots Drive at the Fox 31/KDVR studios in Denver and found a Pepsi semi sparsely supplied with toy donations. The Salvation Army rep reported that donations at this location were down over last year but that donations were up at the eight Sam’s Club’s locations. While she was trying to put a positive face on the situation, she reported that “in-kind” donations, i.e., socks, shoes, jackets, food, etc. are DOWN this year and that the requests by families has increased by 10% over last year. The rep was encouraged that giving is up a bit at the Red Kettles over last year, when the Denver Salvation Army experienced a 48% drop in donations and 33% nationally. Tonight KUSA 9News Denver reported that Toys for Tots is SHORT 60,000 toys in the Denver area alone!  A few minutes later, CBS Denver reported that the Boys & Girls Club Toy Drive is also drastically short of donations. And, this doesn’t even speak to the clothing and food shortages/requests of Santa!

Then, I traveled just a few blocks from downtown Denver, to the blocks around the Denver Rescue Mission & Samaritan House, where I saw over 1000 men, women, and children roaming the streets, looking for a place to sit, lay down, go to the bathroom, etc., with police lurking near by, arresting them for what should be basic human rights. I happened upon a group of volunteers from Evangelist Temple Church, feeding over 400 hungry people on a street corner, also under the watchful eye of the police. Pastor Betty Patterson told me that she’s been feeding the hungry on this same corner for 23 years, whether in a blizzard, or a nice day as I happened upon. Pastor Patterson further stated that the needs are increasing daily, she’s seeing many more children, seniors, and victims of foreclosures, that she has five volunteer cooks that are ready to go full-time in preparing meals and that her parish is seeking a nearby indoor facility to be able to prepare and serve the meals in warmth and comfort for the recipients.

Of course, toys and age appropriate gifts are always great and appreciated but, kids are requesting BASIC needs the past two years which are NOT being met! If you could donate any of the following top 4 Santa requests, kids and parents alike would be grateful! (And, the kids could feel like other kids at school that don’t have to wear socks/shoes/underwear with holes in them!)
1. socks (if they need socks, they need underwear! They’re just too embarrassed to ask.)
2. shoes/boots
3. jackets
4. food for families (please remember to donate Kosher foods)

Connect with children & Santa via the United States Post Office:
RandiRhodes.com: Letters to Santa
BeAnElf (great organization w/*excellent* resources): How To Be An Elf, and Other Great Ways To Be An Elf

Organizations you can donate to and/or find locations for:
Feeding America ($1=7 meals)
Salvation Army Rock the Red Kettle Drive
Marines Toys for Tots
Angel Tree

Things you can do:

Sign the Change.org petition, urging national news media to begin coverage immediately of the donations shortages across the nation.
•    Donate $$ and/or buy extra socks, shoes, boots, underwear, food, toys, clean gently-used jackets, etc. and drop them by your local:
⁃    food pantry
⁃    homeless shelter
⁃    organization(s) working with impoverished families
⁃    school(s)
⁃    collection box
⁃    Social Services office (contact to ask)
⁃    Health & Human Services office (contact to ask)
⁃    Big Brother/Big Sister
⁃    Boys & Girls Clubs
⁃    Scouts organizations
•    Adopt a local family and provide their list of needs
•    Organize a drive with your church, book, gardening, etc. club
•    Call your local radio, TV, and news media and ask them to cover the donations shortages
•    Write letters to the editor(s) of your local paper(s)
•    Convince local musicians to hold drives at their concerts like The Supreme Action League did at their album release party where they raised $65, two cans of soup and a new game, this past Saturday night. Every little bit helps. (SAL sings our #OccupyNorthPole theme song; It’s Up To Us.) 
•    Put your extra change in each Red Kettle you see
•    Get involved in social media; Tweet & post to celebrities, news media, banks, corporations, etc.
•    Participate in the <National Days of Action>: (I’ll post this in just a bit!)
•    Sign/send on the <Change.org petition> re: (I’ll post this here in just a bit!)

Thanks for anything you can do to help our children and their struggling parents.

Friday I head back to Denver to document the distribution of gifts by the Christmas Toy Distribution by the United Way Denver Inner City Parish and visiting several food pantries and Santas over the next two days.

Feeding America & Nielsen embarked on a two year project, mapping the hunger, poverty and many other interesting statistics of EVERY county in the United States, resulting in this Map the Meal Gap map. All data is now updated regularly to provide fresh data to elected leaders, organizations, etc.

Announcement of the Launch of #OccupyNorthPole:

To honor of all our impoverished children, youth, and families, we hereby launch #OccupyNorthPole, a call to action and movement to Occupy the hearts and minds of all, to participate in giving our special children, the 4 top requests of Santa in 2010:
1.    Socks
2.    Shoes/boots
3.    Jackets
4.    Food for their families

Additionally, we are endeavoring to provide the following:
5.    Underwear (PLEASE NOTE: From personal experience,
if these children are asking for socks, they also need underwear!)
6.    Toy or age appropriate/desirable gift
7.    Toothbrush & toothpaste
8.    A backpack or similar item to hold/distribute gifts/items
9.    Thin colorful fleece blanket for homeless children
10.  Subscription to Highlights or Scholastic magazine or age appropriate book

Our children need us. The are falling through the cracks of a severely cracked
foundation and they deserve a holiday. We have one month until Hanukkah,
Christmas, and Kwanzaa, to coordinate a nationally televised Telethon, donations,
transportation, assembly, volunteers, distribution, media, celebrity, etc. contacts,
and a lot more! WE CAN DO IT! We have achievable goals, the technology,
innovation, resources and a deadline. All we need do is engage our collective
moral compass, volunteer, request, donate, and convince those who have not paid
their fair share, to make a meaningful token payment, donation, contribution, etc.,
NOW. My friend John Haldane, was a Santa for 17 years and has beautifully written stories
of some of the underprivileged children, in his site.

Several tools, resources, etc. have been established as a base guideline for
people to understand the mission,organize their community, organization, etc. to
achieve the goals of Operation Joy Rising, (#OpJoyRising), the collective mission
of #OccupyNorthPole.

This video synopsis of the 4-video #OccupyNorthPole launch, complete with bad-elf behavior, call outs, announcement of National Days of Action, etc., will give you an overview of what this movement will endeavor to achieve. (My young friend Isaac Carlson did some great editing and my son, and his band, The Supreme Action League, provided their new song, ‘It’s Up To Us’.)
Four part video launch series:
Pt. 1: Launch of #OccupyNorthPole & Bad-Elf Rant
Pt. 2: #OccupyNorthPole Calling-Out Companies
Pt. 3: #OccupyNorthPole Call-Outs of Corporations & More
Pt. 4: #OccupyNorthPole National Days of Action & More

Organize an #OccupyNorthPole MeetUp in your community & invite your
friends:
http://www.meetup.com/Occupy-North-Pole/

Please ‘Like’ the Occupy North Pole Community page on Facebook.

Please read the Occupy North Pole Statement of Intent

Flow Chart of Actions, Proposed Work Groups, National Days of Action, etc.

OR download this PDF:  Work Groups.Flow Chart

#OccupyNorthPole National Days of Action

Preliminary list of who calling out for donations, contributions, etc.

Resources:
•    How to conduct peaceful assemblies
•    Resources for small town occupations
•    New York General Assembly Guide
•    The General Assembly Guide (hand gestures, etc.)
•    Declaration of Occupation: #OWS movement’s statement of purpose

I am *thrilled* I was selected last Thursday for a scholarship to the Democracy for America ‘Take Back the American Dream’ conference in Washington, D.C., October 3-5! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to connect with other activists, leaders and sponsors and will be a great launch pad for my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours. (I actually had to add two days to my trip because of the short notice which added a substantial cost because of how expensive D.C. hotels, meals, etc. are.)

Because time is so short and my funds so few, (since all my work thus far is unpaid), and what I have is already tied up in launching my tours the week after my return from D.C., I have launched a crowdfund at GoFundMe. I understand people are very low on funds in this economy but would appreciate anything you could donate, if you can. (Even $1.00 is great!) Please know I am trying to liquidate any valuables I have to achieve getting to this conference but with time so short, (I leave THIS Friday, Sept. 30!), and it being “off-season” in the Aspen area, where I live, I had to cover my bases and try all avenues to achieve this. Thus, this crowdfund.

I wanted to make sure that you know how much I appreciate your donation so I’ve set up “rewards” for different levels of giving. IF I were to surpass my goal, any remaining funds will be put toward my tours of food pantries, schools, senior & vet centers, etc., giving hungry, homeless, unemployed, etc. a voice/face through videos, photos, and blogs. The rewards are as follows:

$10:        Email photo file of any photo from my photography website OR a future photo from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
$25:        Your name will appear in form of co-producer on an upcoming video from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
Email photo file of any photo from my photography website OR a future photo from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
$50:        Your name will appear as a donor in FeedTheUS.com & will link to/promote your website/business through a brief blog/blogroll.
Your name will appear in form of co-producer on an upcoming video from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
Email photo file of any photo from my photography website OR a future photo from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
$75:        I’ll send you my world famous Lemon Bars!
Your name will appear as a donor in FeedTheUS.com & will link to/promote your website/business through a brief blog/blogroll.
Your name will appear in form of co-producer on an upcoming video from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
Email photo file of any photo from my photography website OR a future photo from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
$100:       Your name will be listed as an original founding donor of my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours, on a dedicated Sponsor page.
I’ll send you my world famous Lemon Bars!
Your name will appear as a donor in FeedTheUS.com & will link to/promote your website/business through a brief blog/blogroll.
Your name will appear in form of co-producer on an upcoming video from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
Email photo file of any photo from my photography website OR a future photo from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
$250:     I’ll send you 10 of my most popular recipes, (as determined by prior catering, events, etc.).
AND a cool memento from the ‘Rebuild the American Dream’ conference.
Your name will appear as a donor in FeedTheUS.com & will link to/promote your website/business through a brief blog/blogroll.
Your name will appear in form of co-producer on an upcoming video from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
Email photo file of any photo from my photography website OR a future photo from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
$500:     Your name will appear as ‘Producer’ on an upcoming video.
I’ll send you 20 of my most popular recipes, (as determined by prior catering, events, etc.).
AND a TWO cool mementos from the ‘Rebuild the American Dream’ conference.
Your name will appear as a donor in FeedTheUS.com & will link to/promote your website/business through a brief blog/blogroll.
Your name will appear in form of co-producer on an upcoming video from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
Email photo file of any photo from my photography website OR a future photo from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
$1000:  Aspen artist Tom W. Benton original poster in pristine condition, signed with his gold thumbprint. Value: $1200.
(One of the last posters he created before his passing in 2007.) (Photo of artwork posted at the end of this post!)
I’ll send you 20 of my most popular recipes, (as determined by prior catering, events, etc.).
AND a TWO cool mementos from the ‘Rebuild the American Dream’conference.
Your name will appear as a donor in FeedTheUS.com & will link to/promote your website/business through a brief blog/blogroll.
Your name will appear in form of co-producer on an upcoming video from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.
Email photo file of any photo from my photography website OR a future photo from my U.S. Hunger Issues & Solutions tours.

Thank you all for any help you can provide. It is truly appreciated.  <3

Empty shelves at the Arvada Community Food Bank, Colorado

Welcome to my website, which obviously, is under construction!

I’m working as fast as possible to load all the sections and hope you’ll return soon and/or bookmark this site!

In the meantime, you can view photos I’ve taken at food banks/pantries and mobile food pantries, (and blogs), in the galleries of my photography website. OR, view videos of Lori Meyer, volunteer at the Western Slope Food Bank of the Rockies mobile food pantry and Suzanne Thurston, single mother of Max with a lot to convey to President Obama and America.

Thanks and many blessings of abundance to you and yours!

“If you can’t feed one hundred people, feed just one.”  ~ Mother Theresa