Half Meal. Full Karma
Want to fight obesity and the hunger crisis? Go Halfsies for a change
Hunger is a worldwide crisis. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, as of 2010 there are an estimated 925 million people who, due to anything from food shortages to crushing poverty, are dangerously undernourished.
While it’s an issue that cripples the developing world, it’s also not hard to find plenty of people in our own backyard who suffer from the same problem. According to preliminary data from Feeding America, 442, 263 or nearly 18 percent of Central Texans are food insecure.
They can be sobering numbers for individuals who have never known the physical pain of hunger and wondered how they can help to end this plight. Starting this spring, hope will be provided by going Halfsies.
Halfsies is a new social initiative that works around a simple, and yet innovative, idea. Eat less. Give more. It’s a concept that hopes to solve one problem by alleviating another.
When patrons go into restaurants that have partnered with Halfsies, they will have optional meals on the menu marked with the Halfsies icon. These are simply meals that are half portions. The customer still pays full price for that meal, but half of that payment goes towards helping Halfsies and their non-profit partners to fight hunger.
Halfsies is a new social initiative that works around a simple, and yet innovative, idea. Eat less. Give more. It’s a concept that hopes to solve one problem by alleviating another.
It’s simply a system that works to lessen a shortage by tapping into an unhealthy and wasteful overabundance. Inspiration for the initiative came courtesy of co-founder Rachel Smith. Having to travel a lot due to work, Smith became unnerved over the waste that she saw while eating out, much of which that can be blamed on growing portions offered by eateries.
When she mentioned the idea of using that surplus to help those who lacked so much to her friend and fellow co-founder, Sydney Berry Ling, the vision of Halfsies was born.
Now the anti-hunger movement is set to launch here in Austin sometime this spring, while plans are already in the works to begin work in New York City sometime later this year. The organization has already heard from many other cities wishing to partner with Halfsies to tackle hunger together once the program gets off the ground. Anyone from outside of the covered areas is encouraged to talk with local restaurants and to motivate them to partner with Halfsies.
Hopefully, the Halfsies Meals should just be the springboard that can launch regular folks to start helping out more with assisting those less fortunate and ending a worldwide crisis while also living a healthier life. To find out more ways to help out Halfsies, email them directly to learn more and to maybe meet with the team at the first Halfsies House Party on Feb. 8.
You can become part of a movement that seeks show the world that problems can’t be solved with half-measures, but only with full commitments.
What, haven't you ever seen a French onion dip before?Photo by Tyler Hansen