Faces


undreds of boxes of expired macaroni and cheese— combined with the bitter Iowa winter cold—may sound like a terrible combination. Instead, those two


items were the source of inspiration for Maria Belding to start two projects to more effectively provide food for those in need. A few winters ago, Belding was throwing out unused


pasta from the food shelf at her congregation, Peace Lutheran in Pella, Iowa, and thought there had to be a way to avoid doing this again. She phoned her friend Tariro Makoni in North Dakota, who also spent her teen years combating hunger issues, and they brainstormed a data- base concept for area food pantries. “We wanted to make things easier for people who run


food shelves, a large percentage of whom are unpaid,” Beld- ing said. “What came next was a lot of teenage girl insecu- rity because I’m not technologically savvy.” Belding and Makoni formed a team, which includes


Grant Nelson, who for no pay built—and continues to run—www.meansdatabase.com, which serves as a beta test for two communities. The Pella vicinity and the Dayton, Ohio, community,


which includes St. Paul Lutheran Church, are the test grounds. All food shelves in those areas can log in and input overage items along with easy contact information. Then other locations that need that item can pick it up. This keeps food shelf volunteers from trying to call land- line phones, hoping to contact someone instead of playing phone tag. But Belding and Makoni didn’t stop there. The pair had


run successful high school food drives and wanted to pass along their knowledge to others before they left for col- lege. “We learned through trial and error, emphasis on the error,” Belding said. “We tried to find information on how to run successful drives, but we only found bullet points or 400-word articles.” So they created a 19-page document, with Makoni providing much of the research and Belding handling the


100 + birthdays


By Jeff Favre


Fed up & doing something for food banks H


Maria Belding delivers remarks at the 2014 Sodexo Foundation annual dinner in Washington, D.C. Her work to combat hunger earned her the foun- dation’s 2014 Heroes of Everyday Life award and a Prudential Spirit of Community honor.


writing. “Fighting for Food: A Guide to Running Successful Food Drives in High Schools” is available at www.ysa.org/ fighting_for_food. Belding, who is starting a three-year public health pro-


gram at American University, Washington, D.C., and works at Alliance to End Hunger, hopes to run a medical clinic at a homeless shelter or work in the emergency room of the Washington, D.C., county hospital. “I like working with the marginalized,” she said. “It’s not


giving a voice to the voiceless, which is a term I don’t like because they have a voice. It’s giving someone who needs it a microphone so other people can hear them.” Belding said the database and the food drive guide are


both for secular and reli- gious communities. For her, though, faith is a guiding force. “I know I can’t save the world,” she said. “But I can’t stand before my God and say I didn’t try.” 


Author bio: Favre is an assistant professor at Pierce College in Los Angeles and a freelance theater critic.


106: Arlene Dietrich, First, Dows, Iowa. 105: Alice Garlock, Zion, Ferndale, Mich. 102: Alice Erickson, North Coon Prairie, Cashton, Wis.; Helen Hoffnagle, Messiah, South Williamsport,


Pa.; Gladys Hubert, New Life, Rothsay, Minn.; Frieda Rowell, Concordia, Watertown, N.Y.; Iola Stark, Calvary, Alexandria, Minn.; Lolly Walker, First English, Ortonville, Minn.; Herbert Wolding, Nelsonville, Nelsonville, Wis. 101: Ruth Lauritsen, St. John, Poughkeepsie, N.Y. 100: Eldora Clark, Calvary, Alexandria, Minn.; Ruth Kartheiser, Our Savior, Aurora, Ill; Jessie Kines, Trinity, Niles, Ohio; Isabel Kopp, Grace, La Grange, Ill.; Irene Maurer, Trinity, Pottsville, Pa; Marcella Tayek, St. Paul, Monona, Iowa; Elsie Terry, Trinity, Rocky Mount, N.C.


October 2014 43


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