‘One’ by one : Farmington man’s charity organization seeks to feed the world’s starving children
Posted on Sunday, February 17, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Living/62337/
Like many college students, Dallas Harris doesn’t exactly have loads of money to spend, especially on charitable causes.
But after seeing programs such as “ Invisible Children” and “ The Lost Boys of Sudan, ” he knew he needed to do something. There were children starving throughout the world, but joining an adopt-a-child program was not going to be an option.
“ I wanted to do more than donate what little I had each month, ” said the Farmington resident.
So in February 2007, Harris founded Feed Just One, an organization that seeks to raise money — cent by cent, dollar by dollar — to provide shipping for food to Africa, Haiti, Cambodia and dozens of other countries where children are malnourished.
Feed Just One finds its name and inspiration from Mother Teresa, who once said “ If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one. ”
It was a perfect fit for Harris’ organization, as his target supporters are those much like himself, a 26-year-old college student. The majority of the donations for the organization come from high school- and collegeaged students who might not have the resources to give large sums of money. Networking and concerts
To reach that demographic, Harris uses two tools: social networking site MySpace. com and rock concerts.
Through MySpace — where nearly 9, 000 people are considered friends of the organization — Harris and several other volunteers have established networks of friends that sell the organization’s merchandise, which serves as its primary fundraising tool. Harris designs all of the merchandise, and from each T-shirt sale, the organization profits about $ 4, which provides enough money to ship 100 meals, Harris said.
The organization also makes its presence known at concerts, where local bands have allowed the group to set up information tables. The concerts are ideal, Harris said, because they are attended primarily by the demographic the group is seeking.
The connection between the local music scene and Feed Just One will be furthered during a Friday concert at George’s Majestic Lounge, where a benefit concert for the organization will take place. Participating bands include Matt Jones, Will Gunselman, Jonathan Taylor Rose, The. Radio. Sky, Jarris, Thanks for Nothing, The Whigs and A Good Fight. Details have not been finalized, but Harris is hopeful $ 4 from each $ 7 admission ticket will go directly toward shipping costs.
Feed Just One does not personally prepare any of the meals, instead partnering with Feed My Starving Children, a Minneapolisbased organization that has been providing food to the needy since 1991.
Harris said he chose Feed My Starving Children because only 5 percent of donations are spent on overhead. The remainder, according to the group’s Web site, goes toward the distribution of a specialized formula of nutrients designated for the world’s poorest children. The meal costs the organization just 15 cents to produce, and just 4 cents to ship. Feed Just One sends its money directly to Feed My Starving Children. “ Very small amounts of money can make a big difference for someone, ” Harris said.
Goal almost realized Feed Just One’s first fundraising goal is to gather $ 8, 000, which would allow for the shipment of a 40-foot container carrying more than 270, 000 meals.
So far the local charity has collected about $ 5, 000, which has allowed them to ship about 130, 000 meals. Harris hopes the upcoming benefit concert will net his organization enough to ship another 70, 000 meals.
Such a number would be a big achievement for Feed Just One, which was slow to catch on, Harris said. He bought the first batch of shirts with his own funds, hoping the concept would resonate. After moving to Farmington from Springfield, Mo., in August, he established contact with bands here and increased the efforts on MySpace.
The amount of money raised has grown rapidly in the past few months, Harris said. But even with the recent relocation to Northwest Arkansas, many of the T-shirt purchases come from out of state. Feed Just One has, through the Internet, sold merchandise to almost every state and to several countries.
People who haven’t discovered the charity’s MySpace page or seen them at a show probably don’t know the group exists, Harris said, and still others wonder about benefits.
“ A lot of people have the conception we’re making money off this, ” Harris said. “ That just isn’t the case. ”
The money raised at the benefit concert will allow the group to buy more advertising and further its efforts. Harris hopes Feed Just One will grow into a charity of the size and scope of Invisible Children Inc., an organization inspired by the documentary of the same name.
Feed Just One has a long way to go, but it’s already gone so much farther than Harris ever dreamed.
One meal at a time.