Making The World Better One Can Of Chili At A Time

Dressing up like a zombie and stumbling around is a frivolous bit of fun that we here at the SLG Art Boutiki truly get behind. Yes, hard as it is to admit the SLG braintrust are one of those Halloween every day type of folks and we keep a jack-o-lantern at out front counter 365 days a year.

But what isn't fun is going to bed  hungry and while the big kahuna at SLG has never been accused of missing a meal there are many many people living here in the Silicon Valley who do, many of them children and seniors.

And that, as they say, is just plain wrong.

So as you prepare for zombie-o-rama tonight, don't forget that one of the primary activities of the evening is collecting canned food for one of the truly great charities in the valley, The Second Harvest Food Bank, an organization that literally puts food directly into people's mouths. 

Life is never easy and seldom fair and you would probably be surprised to know that many many people in this day and age are maybe one bad month or a layoff notice away from literally starving. Our social safety net has become so threadbare that one more jump on it threatens to make the entire thing snap. 

The thing is that if you want to live in a better place, a place that is safe for both the living and the walking dead, you have to be willing to do something to help. Grand gestures are always great, but seriously if everyone did one small thing, like grab a can of soup out of the cupboard and bring it down to Zombie-O-Rama, you will take a huge step towards cleaning your own karma and making the world a better place. 

That single can of soup might be the thing that gets someone through the day somewhere down the line. Think about that as you drop a donation of food into one of those bins, a donation of that sort is the most direct contribution you can make to a needy person or family and you get a chance to make an impact on the life of a total stranger.

Then maybe THAT person will turn around and help someone else later on down the line. Next thing you know, we're ALL living in a better place and all it took was a can of food.

If you can't make it down to Zombie-O-Rama, or if zombies just aren't your thing, then you can bring your donation down to the Art Boutiki because right next to that Jack-O-lantern at the counter is a Second Harvest food bin which also lives there 365 days a year and we will gladly take your canned food items and give you a free comic book for your troubles.

And if you are one of those legions of people who read the various SLG blogs who do not live anywhere near our space, please consider making a cash donation to Second Harvest at their virtual food drive page found here http://linktrack.info/.7xih . Or, do an internet search and look for a similar local charity in your area because if there was ever a time to get involved in something positive, this is it.

Then go out and eat some brains, because that's cool too.

Dan Vado

SLG Publishing/Art Boutiki