Stan Curtis, Founder USA Harvest:
Tops Volunteer Appreciation Day Event
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USA Harvest
founder, Stan Curtis, spoke to Palm Beach Harvest volunteers during
our Volunteer Appreciation Day activities on April 28th. Today USA
Harvest, which began in Louisville, Kentucky more than 15 years ago,
is an international organization with more than 118 chapters helping
feed the hungry throughout the world.
Curtis is a self-described fanatic, which he defines as “ someone who
won’t change their mind and can’t change the subject.” His seemingly
endless enthusiasm is contagious. Though we didn’t catch his every
word, we hope you enjoy the excerpts from his talk we have included
below:
Somebody said that the greatest of all evil and the worst of any crime in America
is poverty, and going about this country as I do, I have never met
anyone who volunteered to be poor.
Speaking to a third grade class of children some 16½ years ago - not
knowing that you could not keep their attention very long - I panicked
when I saw after 8½ minutes that they were not going to listen to me
anymore and I said, "does anybody in the room know what the word poverty
means?" And it calmed them for a second and they froze and looked at
each other and then they went back to putting their fingers into every
orifice they had and I said , "Does anyone know what the word poor
means?" And a young girl stood up almost instantly and said, "doesn't
that mean not having something you're supposed to have?"
Folks, you know the inspiration that you give --- You know, 1.7
million pounds of food is over eight 747s full of food. You can envision
that a whole lot quicker than 1.7 million unless you say 1.7 million
dollars -- we can all envision that or at least feel something good
about it. Far too many people these days live on the outskirts of hope.
some because of their poverty, some even because of their color, but now
a days all too many because of their birth. And I will tell you that the
children of this nation, the mothers and fathers of this country and the
people who came to this country as the country of opportunity are
looking for something that you and I grew up with--and that is something
called "We the People." Harvest has never been anything but "we the
people." That's all its ever been. That's what we're designed to be.
We are in 122 cities in America. We have 114,000 wonderful volunteers--
the backbone of this organization. We are in seven foreign countries.
..Thank you for filling me with pride, thank you for filling me with
emotion, thank you for filling me with the determination to keep going.
Also allow me to say thank you for inspiring me because when I started
this journey I knew that somebody would be with me, I didn't know how
many some bodies would be with me. I just knew that somebody would be
with me and each time that I come down to Palm Beach Harvest and to
Collier County Harvest, and to Ocala and Gainesville and to Jacksonville
and to Daytona where there are two Harvest chapters the only think I can
feel is pride when I land at that airport knowing that there are a group
of people in here 20 strong, 200 strong, 2000 strong, two million strong
who know what it's like to give to somebody.
With Palm Beach Harvest, each of you are the essence of Harvest everyday.
Each one of you who has a name tag on, each one of you who has a Palm
Beach Harvest shirt on-- you are the essence of what this organization
is. We don't feed black people, we don't feed White people. We feed
Americans. We don't feed democrats, we don't feed republicans, we don't
feed communists. We feed Americans.
And I will tell you that I have been on been on for the past 17½ years is
a journey. For a story will be told one day -- not about me - but about
the people who were on that journey with me and you guys are on that
journey. So, in your everyday life it is your responsibility, it is the
responsibility of your ability to lead, to tell somebody else about the
journey of Harvest, to ask them if they know where there's some food
being thrown away, to ask them if they've got an hour or two hours or a
half hour that they can spend taking food from where it is to where it
isn't.
You know the little boy that Deborah just mentioned about it not being
his day to eat? Some things that might interest you:
Nationally, public schools serve more food on Fridays and on Mondays
than any other day of the week. That's because in the public schools in
America 49% of the children are on assisted lunch programs. So, where do
you think they eat when there is no school? Well, it wasn't his turn to
eat. There's more need for food in the summer than in the holidays, than
in winter. There is no school.. But the thing that really confuses me is
those 49% and the 51% are supposed to be our future. You guys were all
kids at one time or another. Well, maybe Walt wasn't, but the rest of
you were. Those are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow but I would
suggest that nobody deserves to go hungry in this country.
And the funny thing about what you are doing everyday is that you are
doing exactly what the bureaucratic system has not been able to do and
that is to deliver food everyday. The bureaucracy has gotten to the
point where they have created a hesitation in getting food from the
donor to the recipient being the person who runs the mission the
recipient being the person who has to eat the food. Because there is
plenty of food in America for those less fortunate. You've never seen a
bureaucracy dissolve itself. George Herbert Walker Bush, the first
President Bush, said once that any definition of a successful life in
America today includes service to others. George Walker Bush, the second
President Bush, said, "where there are poor in need there is duty." I
doesn't matter what's in front of you nor what's behind you. It only
matters what's within you. And, everyday, my friends, you have a
responsibility to ask that next person, "Hey, could you help us deliver
some food?" Cause you know what it's like when you give it to people who
need it.
Today we're blessed with the rain that I understand you need in south
Florida. you're blessed with a mission you care about everyday, your
blessed with Leigh and Debbie and Gerry, Suzanne, Susie, and Chris and
the leadership of Palm Beach Harvest has, and I am blessed to be here.
www.USAHarvest.com
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