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Helping obama win
President Barack Obama’s campaign was fully organized, even in Oklahoma.
I volunteered in Obama’s Oklahoma City headquarters and experienced this organized effort. I feel satisfied that even we volunteers, living in this bloodred state, had a tiny part in helping with Obama’s win.
First, to identify the “yes” voters in Florida, we volunteers called those voters to ask if the president could count on their vote.
To get out the vote, we called “yes” voters to make sure they got to the polls.
How satisfying that President Obama’s campaign was so well organized that it reached out even to me and others like me.
That campaign enabled us volunteers to give more than money — it enabled us to give ourselves in this satisfying effort.
—Wanda Jo Stapleton Oklahoma City
Fighting hunger this season
As you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner this upcoming holiday, take a moment to remember the more than 675,000 Oklahomans who wake up daily wondering where their next meal will come from.
One in six Oklahomans struggles daily to find food to put on the table for their family, including during the holiday season.
These alarming statistics affect real people and families in our community — individuals who have fallen on hardship due to unemployment, low wages, or even unexpected medical expenses.
Hungry Oklahomans aren’t strangers; they are colleagues, neighbors and friends. In today’s economy, they are also the newly unemployed — finding themselves suddenly out of work and no longer able to afford the same lifestyle they had been living. Unfortunately, more families than ever are in need of food, with more children falling behind in the classroom due to poor nutrition and senior citizens struggling to get through each day without means to buy groceries.
Responding to the need, Chesapeake Energy has once again pledged a $1 million community match to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Through Jan. 15, 2013, Chesapeake will match donations, dollar for dollar, to the food bank — up to $1 million — and each dollar donated will provide 10 meals to hungry Oklahomans! We are humbled by and grateful for Chesapeake’s gift — a true testimony of the Oklahoma spirit of giving back to the community.
For more than two decades, Chesapeake has been a loyal and committed partner of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma in our efforts to fight hunger across our state. More than 90,000 Oklahomans receive food assistance every week from our network of nearly 1,000 schools and partner agencies.
I am reminded of a child who recently joined our Food for Kids Backpack Program. He was so hungry that he was licking crumbs off the classroom floor. Now he receives a backpack full of balanced, kid-friendly food to sustain him over the weekend. Through funds raised during this campaign, the food bank will be able to support more children who are struggling to survive.
Be part of the solution, and make a donation by visiting regionalfoodbank. org or calling 604-7111. Thank you, Chesapeake, for your generosity, and thank you, fellow Oklahomans, for thinking of those in need this holiday season. Together, we can solve hunger in Oklahoma.
—Rodney W. Bivens Oklahoma City
Bivens is executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.
