Basis

Some of you might be wondering what compelled me to start the 1000 Pounds of Meat project. Here is the basis of this effort.

Part A: Job Loss

For the last 4 or 5 years (we started the madness prior to the economic down turn) the Fortune 100 computer company I worked for (EDS) had been laying off a large number of people.

I often considered the fact that many Americans, even people who are well paid, more or less live paycheck to paycheck. For a few years it wasn't as big an issue because even though the computer industry was shrinking (most of our jobs are going off shore) there was work in other sectors of the economy.

Then the housing bubble popped, the stock market auggered in and HP bought EDS. Suddenly HP was laying off 40,000 of my co-workers (maybe me) and the prospect of these folks finding another job quickly wasn't good.

Part B: The Pig

I have a neighbor 3 doors down, let's call him Robbie (because that's really his name and all) that we have known since he was born. Robbie is currently a High School Junior and has been raising a hog as an FFA project.

The hog (tipping the scales close to 300 pounds) reached an age where it was starting to get mean as the school year was reaching a point where FFA projects needed to come to an end. Robbie stopped by our house to tell us he needed to sell his pig and asked if we would be interested in buying half.

Part C: The Interview.

A few days later there was a radio expose' going into how many families in North Texas are struggling. It was exploring these difficult times from the prospective of a young professional couple who had both lost their jobs. He had a bachelor's degree and got laid off by MCI. She had a master's degree and got laid off by HP as a result of the EDS acquisition (one of the 40,000).

The interview took place in a line at a food pantry. They had been out of work long enough that all the severance was gone. The unemployment checks weren't enough to pay for housing, utilities, transportation and kid expenses. There wasn't enough money left for food and these folks needed some help.

The Basis formula: A+B+C > Self Focus

I expect the radio story would have touched me even if the woman didn't recently work in the same building as me. Michelle and I have been quite blessed throughout our lives and our kids are now all grown. We're done paying for college. We're done paying for weddings. Our money is ours again (that's right - hard to comprehend for some of you, but someday it actually comes back home). I'm still close enough to raising children that I can emphathize with the stress of being capable of providing yet not having the necessary opportunities.

Michelle and I had talked about the pig earlier and already decided we didn't need that much pork so we were inclined to pass.

Suddenly the pieces were falling into place - but in a different puzzle. I contacted the North Texas Food Bank (to ensure they could take that much meat) and when I got a green light from them I contacted Robbie and told him I was in.

I started out trying to decide if I should donate half the pig (about 120 pounds), or the whole thing.

Then I started thinking about what God has given me. Sure, I've got some extra money now that the kids are raised, but I've also been blessed with pretty decent communication and organization skills (and I still know a bit about making computers do some work for me).
From there I quickly asked myself if the "donate 120 vs 240 pounds of meat" question was the right one. Why not 500 pounds of meat. Why not 1000?

Well the rest is history. I called Robbie and told him I would take the whole pig. I started the 1000 pounds of meat blog. I started writing these articles...