The legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers- Vince Lombardi- would gather his players around, hold up a football, and say, “This, gentleman, is a football.”
I have a woodworking shop full of mechanized equipment, but nothing feels quite as good as grabbing a jack plane with a razor edge and smoothing a piece of oak. Every once in a while, I have to get back to the basics.
I made a promise to a starving girl and myself many years ago that I would spend the rest of my life feeding hungry people. I started out doing it in-person as a direct service; taking truckloads of supplies into some of the hungriest villages in Central America and Africa.
I don’t do any direct service anymore, but I work for an amazing organization, Outreach, Inc., that in the last ten years has facilitated the packaging of over 260 MILLION meals for the hungry. I also serve on the Executive Board of the Alliance to End Hunger in D.C. and co-chair their Advocacy Committee.
I’m incredibly involved- indirectly.
To make sure I keep my focus, I frequently open my photo library and look at the places I’ve been and the people whom I indirectly serve.
For me, I have to know the why before I can fully engage in the what.
Reminding myself of why I do what I do keeps me the bullseye in the center of my sights. This photograph is of a child in the largest refugee camp in the world, Dedaab, Kenya. I took this in 2012.
This is why I do what I do.
What do you do to get back to the basics?
If you’d ever like to get involved in the fight against hunger, please let me know what I can do to help! Email me: rick.mcnary@gmail.com