Victor Hartman

Bradley Bleck

English Composition 1

17 May, 2010

Seeking Donations

There is no country in history that is more charitable than the United States. We make personal effort to donate our individual time and resources to help others in need because as Americans, charity is an essential part of our moral foundation. Although it is often understated, in Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle, individual charity and people’s desire to help others in need is evident. Half starving of hunger and without a penny in his pocket, Jurgis went to a saloon to wait while his wife Ona was in labor. After hearing Jurgis’s story, the saloon-keeper fed Jurgis and gave him a place to sleep. “Don’t be afraid,” said the saloon-keeper; “fill her up!” “So Jurgis drank a huge glass of whiskey and then turned to the lunch counter.” (Sinclair 206). On one occasion in the novel, the family was so broke and hungry that little Juozapas resorted to digging through the dump for food. Juozapas was returning home with some food he had collected from the dump when he had a chance encounter with a charitable young woman who cried when she heard the family’s story. “..the young lady sent them a basket of things to eat, and left a letter that Jurgis was to take to a gentleman who was superintendent in one of the mills.”(Sinclair 226). Today it is common for Americans to demonstrate their charity by volunteering, making private donations and advocating reputable organizations such as the hunger-relief charity Feeding America. Feeding America.org is a reputable organization that requires a network of support through general public participation, donation and advocating in order to meet their goal of feeding America’s hungry.

Before giving to charity it is common for donors to want more information about the charity and what their donations go towards. Feeding America.org provides visitors and potential donors with real stories of the people they have helped as well as current research study data on hunger in America. Some of the grateful recipients of Feeding America’s services give us a real story of their situation and a testimony of how they benefited from the charity. The real stories are accompanied by a photo of the person or family, allowing visitors to comfortably put a face with the story. The real stories page also creates a sense of involvement by encouraging visitors to share their real stories by submitting them via a link on each page or by forwarding the link to a friend(real-stories). To further satisfy viewers and potential donors, the site provides hunger data and fact sheet information that dispels common misconceptions about hunger as well as specific data on local regions and demographics(hunger-101). The real stories testimonies and data in the hunger 101 page helps give potential donors peace of mind about the services Feeding America provides and what their essential donations are going towards.

The simple layout of the Feeding America.org website provides immediate navigation to information about the organization network, their mission, and their partners. Directly from the home page you can link to information explaining that the structure of the organization is made up of a large network of individuals, local food banks, national offices, as well as corporate and government partners. Here they not only explain the process of how the organization works to provide to the hungry, they also use their resources to advocate the needs of the hungry to our Government and raise public awareness. (how-we-work). This explanation helps validate the integrity of the charity by creating a sense of transparency in the way they operate. The logo for the Better Business Bureau is used multiple times as well as links to the BBB.org web site.The site displays a flash image of the names of its many partners and provides a link for further information about the categories of partners and specific information about its leading partners. The logo for the Better Business Bureau is used multiple times as well as links to the BBB.org web site. It is also worth noting that Feeding America has partnered with the Ad Council to raise awareness of domestic hunger and our network of food banks through public service announcement campaigns(psa-campaigns). This further demonstrates the organizations commitment to feeding the hungry while raising public awareness of hunger and the organization itself.

Feeding America’s reliance on donations is apparent by the many “donate now” images and links that can be found throughout the site. Several large “donate now” images occupy many of the sites pages as a simple suggestion for visitors who are ready to make a donation. If a visitor chooses to click a “donate now” link they are directed to a secure site outsourced from Feeding America.org where they can choose from several credit card donation options. Donors can choose a one-time donation or a monthly amount and choose to opt-out from receiving communications from the organization. Feeding America.org is a reputable organization that requires a network of support through general public participation, donation and advocation in order to meet their goal of feeding America’s hungry.

Works Cited

Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. Modern Library, 2002

Real Stories. Feeding America. 2010. Viewed May 10, 2010. http://feedingamerica.org/faces-of-hunger/real-stories.aspx

Hunger 101. Feeding America. 2010. Viewed May 10, 2010. http://feedingamerica.org/faces-of-hunger/hunger-101.aspx

How We Work. Feeding America. 2010. Viewed May 10, 2010. http://feedingamerica.org/our-network/how-we-work.aspx

PSA Campaigns. Feeding America. 2010. Viewed May 10, 2010. http://feedingamerica.org/faces-of-hunger/psa-campaigns.aspx

secure2.convio.net/a2h/site/Donation2. Feeding America. 2010. Viewed May 10, 2010. https://secure2.convio.net/a2h/site/Donation2?df_id=1560&1560.donation=form1&s_src=WXXOGLOB&s_subsrc=http%253A//feedingamerica.org/&__utma=1.551406134.1273632136.1273815518.1274073499.7&__utmb=1.2.10.1274073499&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1274073499.7.3.utmcsr=google|utmccn=%28organic%29|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=feeding%20america&__utmv=-&__utmk=6551346