Hunger Awareness

Each Thursday at the the noon meal, Holden observes what has come to be known as the Hunger Awareness meal. It is a simple meal consisting of potatoes, or rice, or quinoa. (Quinoa is a grain from South America, reportedly high in nutrients and in protein.) That is it, all that is served for that one meal.

There is plenty of whatever is served, but the idea is to eat simply and to foster the awareness that for many people, that one simple meal would be an extravagant amount of food. Holden calculates what it has saved in terms of not providing a full meal, and that amount of money is sent to local food banks and soup kitchens to help in their efforts to feed those without the resources to provide for themselves. The money provided to those agencies amounts to thousands of dollars each year.

The observance of a Hunger Awareness meal dates back to Holden's earliest years. In the late '50's Holden had just taken over a mining village and had begun work on the clean-up and the repair to make it a suitable place for guests. Ignoring reality and operating on faith, those in leadership positions forged ahead despite the lack of any substantial income for either the village itself or for those who volunteered to come to this remote location and to do whatever was required of them. Times were difficult, and the dream was a big one..

Meanwhile, local farmers, over the course of the initial months, donated tons of potatoes to the effort to feed those who were here working on the clean-up. In a grateful response to that gift, Holden, in turn, elected to donate the money saved on those meals to efforts to feed those in the local population who were hungry.

That effort continues to this day...a Thursday. We had brown rice...all we could eat.