How many of you held a cup this morning? How often do you think about what you pour into that cup?
For me, a cup symbolizes the joy of a hot cafecito con leche to start my day. It’s one of the few rituals I always adhere to in my day. I’m also picky about my cups. I like them more like mugs than a standard cup because I love feeling the weight in my hands and the warmth of the liquid in it.
I have a new cup. It’s red and it feels so huge and so small at the same time. What fills it isn’t my glorious coffee, but the promise of relieving the pain of hunger for a child. This red cup I now fill with my daughter with any change we find in our pockets, my handbag, around the house or get from a bill is a symbol of hope.
The World Food Program USA uses these red cups to feed a child a healthy, nutritious school meal. Just 25 cents fills a red cup just like the one I have with porridge, rice or beans and gives girls a monthly ration to take home.
Through their school meals program the WFP reaches 20 million school children in 75 countries each year. It’s important to feed these children who would otherwise attend school in an empty stomach to give them a chance at academic success and life fulfillment. A guaranteed nutritious meal served each day is the greatest incentive for families to send and keep kids in school — particularly girls —giving these kids a chance to realize their full potential and achieve their dreams.
We’ve decorated and placed our red cup in a place in our house where we can always be reminded of the blessings we have. It’s a constant reminder for my girl to not only request to always have her cup filled, but to fill that of others. A basic lesson of it’s better to give than to receive that really hits the mark. No need for me to nag her with the all-too-common phrase of “Finish your food. There are so many children starving in the world.” Instead, now we can take a small, but decisive action towards actually helping feed these kids.
Once the cup is full, we’ll send it off to the WFP with the satisfaction that many children will be fed out of us intentionally filling our red cup.
Will you fill the red cup with us?
I’m tagging bloggers of the SpanglishBaby familia to join the #fillthecup movement and contribute either a pin, photo, blog post, tweet, Facebook update or whatever feels right about what the red cup symbolizes to them. And then, tag another person to do the same, in effect, a digital passing of the red cup from person to person (using the tag #fillthecup).
Tracy López of Latinaish.com
Vanessa Bell of DeSuMamá.com
Becky Morales of KidWorldCitizen.com
Ericka Sánchez of NibblesandFeasts.com
Mari of InspiredbyFamilyMag.com
Ruby Wright of Growingupblackxican.com
This is also an open invitation for you to join our #FilltheCup movement any way you can! Check out this one-pager with simple ways you can #FilltheCup with us and WFP USA.
The World Food Program USA on Facebook and on Twitter.
Disclosure: I’ve partnered with the Mission List and the World Food Program USA to share about this program.
{Photo credit: WFP/Alejandro Chicheri}
I love that the #fillthecup mission and the symbol of the red cup is something you are doing with your daughter. As the mother of girls, too, it is very special to feel so connected to those other girls across the world, working hard in school and nourishing their bodies. Your words nourished *me* today.
This is so, so beautiful Ana.