Each Friday, the another jennifer blog shares stories of those who incorporate philanthropy into their everyday lives – personally and professionally – in a creative and unique way. If you have a story you’d like to share, please contact Jennifer. You can view past posts from the series here.
When Love With Food was launched in January 2012, it was important to founder Aihui (pronounced i-we) Ong for the company to have a “giving back component”.
Aihui grew up in Singapore. She explained to me that she comes from a middle class family that never struggled with food. While they were very frugal, they were not at the poverty level.
Growing up, Aihui was taught that no matter how much you have, it is always good to give back. That even small acts of kindness can make an impact.
When she came to the United States and had the opportunity to travel the world, she realized just how many people are living in poverty, particularly in the outskirts of China and in the Middle East. Over the phone, we both wondered aloud why some people still can’t get clean water or food in the twenty-first century.
As a self-described logical person, Aihui was not satisfied with the suffering she witnessed in the world while she lived a comfortable life with a good salary. Aihui noted, “Children should never have to suffer because of mistakes made by adults.”
Aihui did some research and learned that one in five children live in hunger in America. This statistic was shocking to her since she had always pictured hunger being a problem in other parts of the world. That’s when she decided to bring awareness to this problem while also supporting companies who make food that is good for you.
The Love with Food August box had a barbecue theme to it. Yum!
Love With Food helps you discover new organic, all-natural snacks delivered to your door every month. A subscription membership starts as low as $10/month. For every box sold, a meal is donated to food banks around the United States.
There are four requirements for food to make it into the Love With Food box. 1) The food has to taste good. 2) It cannot have any artificial ingredients. 3) The food must be unique and not found in the mainstream supermarkets. 4) The snacks in the box fit a different theme for each month.
The third requirement helps Love With Food support those small, passionate companies who make delicious food but have a problem with distribution because they can’t compete with the large food manufacturers.
More than 100,000 meals have been served at food banks through Love With Food subscriptions. The company will often pick an area to serve each month. In June and July, for example, they gave to food banks in Oklahoma after the devastating tornadoes.
As Aihui points out, it doesn’t take a lot of money to provide a meal at a food bank. It only makes sense to use Love With Food’s profit to help fight hunger.
Aihui sent me the August box with a barbecue theme, and I loved everything in it. But don’t take my word for it. Try one out for free! Just sign up for a monthly subscription and use the code ANOTHERJENVIP. The first month of your subscription will be FREE. You will only have to pay $2 shipping. The code is only valid for the monthly plan.
Do you love with food?
Full disclosure: There are a couple of referral links at the end of this post. If you sign up for a box, I may earn points towards Love With Food products.
This article was also published on pplkind
Wow. “Children should never have to suffer because of mistakes made by adults.” That is the quote of the day. I hear it resounding in my ears. I love that this organization also gives smaller manufacturers the chance, because of how hard it is to compete with large food manufacturers. I would love to try this with your code.
Tamara recently posted..Fall Is In The Air!
The boxes are great, Tamara. Definitely worth a try. You’ll get hooked!
And she stopped me in my tracks when she said that quote. So true, isn’t it?
I gave my parents a 6 month “Love with Food” subscription box last Christmas. It’s great for them to get a gift that keeps on giving to them AND to others.
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life recently posted..NYC Chocolate Tour Review
Everyone wins with a gift like that. It’s nice to know you can make an impact so easily!
anotherjennifer recently posted..Wordless Wednesday: Social Good Summit #2030NOW
I love this! I can’t quite wrap my mind around people still not having access to clean water either. Hopefully the people of the world can fix this problem sooner rather than later.
MomChalant recently posted..The Time I Forgot The Diaper Bag
It’s hard to fathom because it’s an easy problem to solve. We need more action. It was interesting to hear these type of discussions while at the Social Good Summit. There’s just no reason for kids to die because they don’t have clean water!
anotherjennifer recently posted..Philanthropy Friday: Do the KIND Thing
Oh wow- that statistic really got me. I can’t believe our country is the richest country in the freaking WORLD and our children are starving… I am baffled and angry.
I will look into this. What a GEM you brought to us again, Jen. Amazing people are doing amazing things, and we get to meet them and learn about it all through you. SO grateful. 🙂
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I’m grateful that you (and others) read these posts!
It also angers me that we have children going to bed hungry in my own backyard. There’s a new backpack program in my town that provides kids backpacks full of food to take home over the weekend. The teachers in town identify the kids that could benefit from the program. There are some kids that rely on school to get food during the week! It just breaks my heart.
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WOW! This is a company who is making a difference, both to it’s own customers by introducing them to fantastic foods they might not otherwise know about, to the thousands and thousands of meals they have provided for those who need them. What could be better than that?! –Lisa
Exactly, Lisa! So good in so many ways.
anotherjennifer recently posted..Wordless Wednesday: A Child’s Perspective
This is an awesome organization! It is appalling how many suffer in our own backyards.
Leah.Davidson recently posted..5K – Yay us!
It is, Leah. It saddens me that people don’t have enough to eat here or anywhere.
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Fist of all, I can’t tell you how much I love that quote that it’s not right for children to have to pay for the mistakes that adults make. Truth, lady! Also, I love love love this concept of my subscription paying for a meal for someone else. Love it. I’m in.
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Wouldn’t it be great if all our purchase decisions could be this easy and impactful?
You always share the best companies Jen! I love reading about companies that are doing good to help those around them! Thank you for sharing this!
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I love finding and sharing these stories, Michelle. It’s such a pleasure!
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