my good friend andy

This is my very good friend Andy Soper.

Please read his letter and consider helping him raise some money for this amazing cause.

Thanks!

It isn’t that I didn’t know that the poorest of the poor in our world are in desperate need. Perhaps, it just never was so visual as when I read that our most poor brothers and sisters live on less than a cup of rice a day. I’m a big, fat guy. A cup of rice wouldn’t quite fill the “snack” portion of my day. Yet, while I go on and on about the oppressed and forgotten with one side of my mouth, I stuff the other side with unhealthy food for an ungrateful body. In doing so, in ignoring an empty rice bowl, I fill a bowl of wrath. A bowl of wrath ready to pour out exile on a forgetful and self-indulgent church.

So, I’ve decided to do what so many who’ve come before me have done: rip off an idea. I will be the Michael Bolton of Food Relief. In a recent article, I read about a man who decided to draw attention and money to the plight of the world’s most hungry. He ate just a cup of rice a day, for one month. In that time, he asked his friends (and their friends, and their friends’ friends) to donate money toward ending hunger. In one month, he raised $6,000!

On August 2, 2009, I will begin my month of only a cup of rice a day. I want to begin on the Sabbath. I am asking that you pray, searching your heart and mind. Pray for those whom we have forgotten. Pray for the church, who has forgotten her children, opting instead for the government to feed the nations. Pray earnestly for those without food and clean water. And then, be the answer God intends. Be the body of Christ on this earth.

It is my goal to raise $2,000 for OXFAM International (Oxfam.org … if you want to look it up). I’m asking that you give a little bit for, if nothing else, a cup of rice for our brothers and sisters around the world. You can do this any way you like – write them a check, send me the money, or some other way you can think of. I’m not the blogging type, but I will keep everyone updated with the progress of my month as well as how much we have put together to send. Just a cup of rice. I’ve been told there will be no butter allowed (thanks, Marcy), no Uncle Ben’s ‘Nawlin’s Surprise, and no fun of any kind. I know that doing this won’t end all of the world’s hunger issues – but it might solve it for a family or two. Think it over and get back to me.

Love, Peace, and Hair Grease.

Andy

ajsoper@gmail.com

http://cupofrice.wordpress.com

Andy Soper

1310 Bemis SE

Grand Rapids MI 49506