It's time to start planning now for our second Eat In To Help Out week - Sat. Oct. 13 - Sunday Oct. 21 -- coinciding with:

*The end of the Jubilee Cancel Debt Fast - Oct. 15
*The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty - Oct. 17
*The Millennium Campaign's Stand Up Against Poverty - Oct. 16/17 (Click here for resources to make your dinner a Stand Up event)

Eat In to Help Out is when you host a dinner (or lunch or some meal) for your friends and then everyone puts the amount of money they would have spent "eating out" and you all decide where to send it to "help out" against global extreme poverty (send it to ERD, make a microloan through Kiva, support something in your companion diocese relationship, etc.).

It’s this easy:

STEP 1 - Instead of going out to eat, invite your friends to come over to your apartment or house. Ask them to bring the money they would normally spend going out to eat.

Resources 

*Use E-vite or Sendomatic to invite your friends and track their participation

STEP 2 - Once you have set the date, go to our online map and register your party so we can track all the different places that are hosting. Or just click on the "Add Yourself" button on the map above.

STEP 3 – Enjoy a great meal together, using some simple resources EGR will provide to have a discussion about global poverty and the MDGs.

Resources

*For some simple recipes for your party try Recipezaar and WhatsCookingAmerica. For recipes from around the world go to World-Recipes.

*Here are some simple handouts

-Table cards on each MDG with examples of What One Person, Congregation and Diocese Can Do

-Global Poverty Fact Sheet from Catholic Relief Services

-A Millennium Development Goals Factsheet

-Questions for table discussion about the MDGs and global poverty.

-Table graces from around the world 

-Online MDG maps from DATA, PovertyMap.net and WorldMapper.org.

STEP 4 – Take the money you would have spent "eating out" and “help out” – give it somewhere to help make the MDGs happen. You can give online to Episcopal Relief & Development, find a microfinance project on Kiva, give to something you’re already involved in – it’s your choice.

Resources

-Find a MDG-related nonprofit using CharityNavigator or JustGive

-Learn about giving through Episcopal/Anglican Communion partners.

-See the guidelines St. Bart's Church in New York City has set for their MDG giving

STEP 5 – Get on the map again. Log into our second online map (click on map below) and record:-Where the dinner was (San Francisco)-How many attended (7)-How much money was raised ($120)-Where the money was given (through Kiva to a project in Kenya)

STEP 6 - Reflect on what you learned. Did you learn something new? Share it with a new group of friends! Maybe even host another dinner...When we’re all done we’ll have a big map of all the places that “ate in,” all the places in the world that were “helped out” and a running total of diners and how much money we raised. Not a bad night’s work! If you'd like to, write a short article (500 words or less) about what it was like ... not the nuts and bolts of how you did it, but what the experience as like and what (if anything) you all are doing next. Send it (with any photos you have) to us at MKinman@gmail.com -- and then look for it on this page and in our e-newsletter, What One Can Do.

The idea is for these dinners is to be a low key way to engage people one on one with the MDGs. They don’t have to be huge, or a big deal – invite 3 or 4 folks over, or 8, whatever works for you and your friends. You can invite friends who are already working with the MDGs, or people who have never heard of them before. Sound like fun? Great!

If you still have questions or have other resoures you'd like shared on this page, email us.