You may have seen the Tennessean article last week that the State of Tennessee has amassed a historically high amount of surplus money in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families fund, which is now at $741 million.
This is awesome, right? What perfect timing for this money in an economic crisis?
But, later, the article mentions that the state is just sitting on the money, with no clear plan in sight to use it to help people. In fact, the fund serves a smaller number of households in 2020 than it did in 2019. Some good news is that, maybe next year, the state will decide what to do with all this money.
Until then, though, I want to tell you about somebody who is doing something to help. She’s Samaria Leach, and she created the Window of Love.
It all started with a Facebook post on March 16, when she realized that the Metro school shut-down meant that there’d be no school lunches for the kids in her North Nashville neighborhood. That school lunch might be the only consistent source of food for some kids. So, from her own pantry, she put together food boxes, which she’d distribute out of her window a few days a week.
At first, she fed 25-35 hungry kids from her neighborhood with food from her own pantry.
Now, 8 months later, she’s still feeding hungry kids, but the number has tripled.
As you’re considering donations of time, money, or even food this holiday season, please consider donating to Windows Of Love. Her Facebook page frequently includes requests for grocery items that she needs for that week, including this post for Thanksgiving baskets for the families she serves.
If the state we live in isn’t going to help our kids, maybe we have to be like Samaria and recognize that we have to look out for each other sometimes.
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