So not only does it seem logical that a Salty Waffle would be friends with a tasty grilled cheese sandwich, but the people behind all the cheesy goodness have a love for entrepreneurship and social media too. FeelGood World is an organization that started at the University of Texas with the simple idea of taking donations toward ending hunger in exchange for grilled cheese sandwiches served on campus.

They believe that everyone has the ability to do something, even its small, to start affecting change on a global scale. FeelGood is the vehicle they have built to empower members to get started and it is awesome not just for the obviously noble mission, but for some of the ways they are working toward it.

FeelGood World has developed a strong network to support the spread of chapters from college campus to college campus. This network is powered by their website and a strong social media effort that includes a Causes page, a YouTube channel, a Facebook page, and Twitter account. Chapter leaders connect with FeelGood leaders via Skype and Facebook and the website itself has a sort of social network that allows member to earn funding for their chapters through tasks and competitions.

In addition to the overall mission of ending world hunger in our lifetime, FeelGood also hopes to give students valuable entrepreneurial experience and influence a generation of social entrepreneurs. Running a chapter is like running a business and 100% of the profits are put into organizations that work to end world hunger.

A great mission, a tasty food, and love for the entrepreneurial all in one place wasn’t something we could pass up telling you about. It’s just another great example how the power of social media and the power of strong networking can create some awesome possibilities and save start-ups like these (especially non-profits) a ton of money.

Social media is becoming the home of charities and non-profits and it makes sense. The power there is obvious and nothing is a more social matter than banning together to end the ills so many in the world suffer from.

Since my move to Pittsburgh I have had a wealth of opportunities! I get be a student member of Feelgood again, at the University of Pittsburgh*

(* side-note I highly recommend including Feelgood as a reason to pick a grad school, it makes a new campus feel like home - or start a feelgood at your grad school if there isn't one -props to Leah Grossman - she just accomplished this at the University of Washington)

and a few weekends ago I was able to attend the Feelgood/Hunger Project Hunger Summit in New York City.  It was an incredibly inspiring weekend, and I wish everyone involved in Feelgood, no actually anyone in the least bit interested in Feelgood, attend.
One thing that works about the summit, is that it is a chance for Feelgooders from different schools to hang out with each other. The online community movement is ever growing, but there is something different and unique to be said about face to face interaction.
I realized most of all that The Wombat is right!!! 'we are one!' Kevin Salwen and his daughter (www.thepowerofhalf.com) communicate much like my dad and I do, one of the heads of THP India was sitting in front of us and was so excited to hear that the 3 rows of people behind her at the investor meeting were all under 30- just like her!!!
And that the Vice President of the Hunger Project, loves to break it to down to Bhangra music just as much as me, or Talis or Allysa from Pitt.
The sense of the world in one room was so apparent. This organization is not just about a few American staff members in New York spending our money.  There were investors and staff members at this event from the US, Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa, all committed to this organization and to each other as siblings in a even more interconnected world.

If you have not attended this weekend before, start thinking about it now! Bring some discount Halloween candy to the person in your Student Government Budget office, and a thanksgiving ham, and a holiday grilled cheese and so you can build these trips into your budget. It would be so great to see someone from EVERY Feelgood campus next year!!!

We have raised over 1 million dollars through FeelGood, but some campuses are struggling to continue. If you are a senior Feelgood member and are concerned that Feelgood may cease to exist without you, know that it doesn’t have to be that way! Give Sarah the new Changemaker Ignitor a call! Or if you are wanting to get more involved but don't feel you have enough knowledge or connection to the cause, plan on Cheesecamp this summer, and the Hunger Summit next October. Think about what you have done with and for Feelgood.  By attending Cheesecamp and The Hunger Summit your connection to this human family can only be deepened (which is always a good thing)

Love
Tricia “Big Dreamer” Selin

I just starting reading this book for my study abroad semester in Uganda called "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" by Paulo Freire. If ya'll haven't read it yet DO IT. There was soooo much about what we learned at the Big Cheese Summer Camp just in the first chapter of the book. I literally couldn't put it down. It talked about how oppression (or in feel goods case, hunger) diminishes our humanity and how we have to work with one another not for one another in order to reinstate the humanity in those who are oppressed and when that happens we increase EVERYONE'S humanity. They constantly touched on the theme of how we are one, we are not separate. They also talked about intention and how those who are oppressed (in poverty and/or hungry) are taught the idea that they don't know anything or that they are inferior or have no rights, but once they realize they do, they can literally change the world on their own terms, which is aaaaaweessome. Oh my lord it was just so incredible to read after the big cheese camp, it literally filled my heart, which is how I felt at the end of the Summer Camp. SO try it out! Its awesome and I'm only half way through! 

"...a pedagogy which must be forged with, not for, the oppressed (whether individuals or peoples) in the insessant struggle to regain their humanity.

"In order for the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation they must perceive the reality of opression not as a closed world from which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation which they can transform."

"The oppressors do not perceive their monopoly on having more as a privilege which dehumanizes others and themselves. They cannot see that, in the epoistic pursuit of having as  a possessing class, they suffocate in their own possessions and no longer are; they merely have.

" The oppressed...must find through their struggle the way to life-affirming humanization, which noes not lie simply in having more to eat...they must cease to be things and fight as men and women."

"...love is an act of courage, not of fear, love is commitment to others...to their cause...and this commitment, because it is loving, is dialogical."

"If I do not love the world-if I do not love life-if I do not love people-I cannot enter into dialogue."

Those were just some quotes that really stood out for me and what Feel Good and THP is all about.

At UVM we are trying to reach out further to staff/faculty on campus. Our Public Relations Chair, Dani, asked us to write a brief blurb of what ending world hunger means to us as a way to further the education of staff/faculty. Maybe my response will work as a blog post/portion of one?

What does ending world hunger mean to me?

When I think of an end to world hunger, I think of what hunger means. We tend to separate hunger and abject poverty from other social, political, and environmental problems. I believe that in order to eradicate chronic persistent hunger we must address all of these problems in a succinct and direct way. While the combination of all societal issues may seem entirely overwhelming, I believe that it is possible. That’s one key ingredient in the end of world hunger: passionate optimism.

Possessing the conviction that there is an end to world hunger will be convincing to others. I believe in partnership. It is key that we, as a global community—a human family—work together. We each have something to bring to the table. To me, ending world hunger requires gender equity, working with local democracy, and self reliance. It requires us all to realize our full human potential.

Lastly, I believe it is necessary to live a committed life. To take action. In my case, that has manifested itself through volunteering with FeelGood. FeelGood has helped me create and maintain a vision that the end of abject poverty will happen in our lifetime.