All who practice at Empty Hand Zen Center are invited to join in a new Community Outreach Opportunity.  In a recent New Rochelle Interreligious Council meeting there was a strong request that all Houses of Worship help to stock local food banks and soup kitchens. With unemployment growing, the shelves are bare.
 
In response, the Board of Directors of Empty Hand is now launching a Serious Cereal Drive, inviting everyone to bring a box of healthy cereal when they come to practice. The reasons for this choice are twofold: 1)  a nutritious breakfast is fundamental to everyone's health and can also help with problems of childhood (and adult) obesity; 2) boxes of cereal are lightweight and easy to store and transport, even for those with some disability. Cereals higher in whole grains and lower in sugar are the more seriously nutritious cereals.
 
Donations will be delivered weekly to New Rochelle CAP Food Pantry (where we have been donating our Hungry Ghost collection) and HOPE Community Services at St. Gabriel's Church.  We will be organizing volunteers for transport of donations.
 
If you are able, an additional gift of a non-plastic reusable grocery bag will be useful for delivery and for clients to "shop" at the food pantry. Many supermarkets carry them for about $1.
 
Donations can be placed in the bags and/or boxes under the library table. Certainly feels like the right time for an empty-handed outreach project given the reality of pervasive economic hardship.