If you have ever worked in an inner city soup kitchen, or volunteered your time to the less fortunate, you understand that proper nutrition is not a priority for the very poor.  Trash trumps homegrown organic veggies for survival.  If you are concerned for the quality of food you are able to provide for your children, yourself and your family, imagine the anguish a homeless mother feels for her children.

The food that you donate provides life.  The compassion that you donate provides hope.  The knowledge that you donate provides progress.  The next time you donate a can can of food for a discount ticket to a theme park or professional athletic event, the next time you see that barrel at the front of the local grocery for the community food pantry, the next time your church takes up a collection for the needy, I challenge you to donate a reusable canvas bag with your food.

Donate a tool for progress along with the basic needs for survival.  The woman who needs a food pantry has more urgent concerns than the current "go green" trend.  She must provide for her children today so she will have a chance to do so tomorrow.  You can help raise her vision beyond today by providing her a tangible reminder of the future.  You can provide a symbol of hope and progress.  You can encourage another human being to think beyond themselves and their current circumstances and join a human family that is not contributing to ecological destruction by using a canvas bag rather than "paper or plastic".  You can put in their hands a tool for the future.