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Tribute to John Hickernell

I knew so little about John, but what I knew I truly relish.  I only knew him for 2 years, in fact we never met in real life but I think about him and remember specific things about him often.  We’ve only spoke a few times, most of our communications were via instant message or email.  Nearly 2 years after passing I find myself thinking about him and our friendship often.  What’s funny is our friendship was very situational, meaning we always discussed what was going on, very rarely did we discuss how we arrived where we were at this moment in time.

What little I knew was what impressed me, he wanted to do or at least try nearly everything before ruling it out as a possibility.  I think a small taste of this is evident from this blog, some of his posts were not the sort of glamorous things that most food blogs write about, a great example of this is his Baking Powder Experiment.  Sure I may have been curious about if there really was a difference but there’s no way I would have gone through the testing he did!

I look back to how we met and I have to chuckle, we met through a Craigslist ad that I had run for a business that was a total flop.  John and I kept in touch and kept working on little projects here and there and we happened to create this blog.  I always enjoyed John’s comments and his ambition, he was always looking for the next project or task.  Not the sort of guy who liked to sit still, though I think he made time for that as well.

Thank you for your friendship, contributions to this site and for being a man I’ll cherish knowing for the rest of my life – here’s to you John!

Launch a Virtual Food Drive as part of your Thanksgiving activities

Virtual Food Drive

As many of our readers know, we at Lukewarm Legumes are supporters of the nonprofit organization Feeding America and are members of its bloggers council.

As such we urge you, your family, friends, and neighbors to join Chef Mario Batali by participating in a Virtual Food Drive as part of your Thanksgiving activities. It’s an easy way to help fight hunger in America by raising funds for families facing hunger around the country.

Chef Mario Batali

To read his letter and learn more about his initiative, please click here.

One in six people in America — working families, children, and seniors struggle with hunger. Starting your own Virtual Food Drive is an easy thing you can do to help. Simply complete the two-step online registration and then tell your friends and family how they can help Americans facing hunger by donating directly to your personal Virtual Food Drive.

This is something both individuals and organizations can participate in. Consider asking your employer along with places where you worship and do business to start a drive as well.

Even though times have been difficult for many of us, we still have a lot to be thankful for. Helping others can be an encouragement by helping take the focus off  of our own issues, trials & troubles.

We wish all of our readers a blessed holiday season with many joyous gatherings of family and friends — along with good food, of course!

Take the Tough Choices Challenge and Help Feeding America

Heat or Eat - Take the tough choices challenge

What Would You Choose?

What if you had to choose between heating your home or paying for food? This is an impossible decision. Fortunately, thanks to support from people like you, Feeding America is helping to make sure more individuals and families won’t have to decide. And yet, in these cold winter months, millions of Americans continue to face tough choices like this every day.

What would you choose? Take the Tough Choices Challenge from Feeding America — for every question you answer, thanks to a matching challenge grant from Snickers®, you’ll help unlock one meal for a person struggling with hunger.

We at Lukewarm Legumes support the efforts of Feeding America to fulfill their mission:

FEEDING AMERICA MISSION AND VALUES (from their website)

Our mission is to feed America’s hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger.

Feeding America has adopted the following Statement of Values, which guides all of our actions and planning.

Respect

We respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person and treat all with justice, equity and compassion. We honor the lives, concerns and stories of people in need and expect our partners to do the same. We accept one another and encourage diversity of thoughts and ideas.

Stewardship and Accountability

We keep faith with the public trust through the efficient and compassionate use of resources entrusted to us and are mindful that our mission is accomplished through the generosity of others. We maintain and communicate accurate and timely information on hunger research, education, advocacy and service. We evaluate and account regularly for how resources are used to implement and achieve our mission.

Collaboration

We believe in the power of community. We collaborate and build strong relationships, based on trust, with and among those who share our vision of creating a hunger-free America. We work together to accomplish the vision at the national and local levels, valuing each other’s roles and using an open process and honest communication. We seek out and are responsive to the input and counsel of our partners.

Urgency

We operate with an acute sense of urgency that reflects the immediate needs of people struggling with hunger. We challenge our employees, volunteers and partners to embrace the same sense of urgency to accomplish our shared vision.

Service

We believe service to others is fundamental to creating a hunger-free America. We serve with excellence, compassion and responsiveness to meet the needs of those with whom we work, internally and externally. The better we serve, the more people we bring together in commitment to our vision.

Integrity

We act with honesty, trust and openness and deliver on commitments. We act within the spirit of agreements, contracts and the law. Our intentions and actions will be transparent and above reproach.

Diversity

We believe that the ethnic, cultural and social diversity of our nation should be reflected in our staff, Board and network.