Does giving up Starbucks Coffee make a difference?

If you know me, you know that I LOVE Starbucks, whether it’s a Tall Cappuccino with an extra shot of espresso or a Grande Caramel Macchiato. I have trekked through snowstorms to get my fix and found a Starbucks in almost every international destination. Addiction was an understatement. I DEFINITELY have a Starbucks caffeine problem! But, when the Covid-19 lockdown started in March 2020, it became difficult to get Starbucks. I had no choice but to make a change in my caffeine consumption. I bought a Nespresso machine and started making coffee at home. After making this change, I began to think about making the best of this forced change in my life.

I enjoy doing community service at least once per month, but due to Covid-19 restrictions and personal concerns, I was not able to volunteer. So, I decided to research something that I could do without being physically present. My research led to a soup kitchen that needed fruits delivered daily — easy enough — just buy fruits and drop them off. So, in October 2020 I started to deliver 50 bananas every Monday to Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen and Social Center located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Like clockwork, on Sundays, I would go to the grocery store and buy the bananas. The prices for bananas ranged from $0.39 to $0.69 per pound depending on the grocery store. Buying the 50 bananas became a normal habit for me, and I was not thinking of the impact, just buying fruits for the Soup Kitchen. Then, in January, as I was reviewing my goals for 2020 and writing my “goals list for 2021” and began thinking about community service programs. I decided to take a deeper look at my ‘Starbucks’ vs. ‘bananas’ and what I found was not what I expected.

I am donating bananas, and I gave up Starbucks — so what? What I discovered is the money I stopped paying for Starbucks, about $29.75 to $34.65 per week, can pay for about 100 bananas per week, or in 52 weeks I can pay for around 5000 to 6000 bananas. That really starts to sound like a lot of bananas!

So, I contacted our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen and Social Center and inquired what happens to the ‘bananas’? Here is what I found out:

1. Does each person get an average of 1–2 bananas per day (Monday-Friday)? 1 banana per snack bag, but many of our guests will ask for more than one bag.
2. Are the bananas also used as an ingredient to make other meals? The fresh fruit that is donated goes directly into the snack bags that are assembled. On average we hand out 200-300 bags per day.
3. Does the homeless population include some Veterans?We distribute the food “no questions asked,” so we don’t have any data on veterans. Perhaps you could contact the VA on their statistics regarding homeless veterans. According to Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition: In January 2014, communities across America identified 49,933 veterans experiencing homelessness during a point-in-time count (PIT Count). Veterans are about 8.5% of the total homeless population. This represents a substantial decrease (67.4%) in the number of homeless veterans counted only five years previously in 2009. Still, it represents a large number of potentially hungry people.

Sometimes, you may think that one small action, such as donating a banana, will not have an impact; but this has shown me that especially during challenging times, a simple piece of fruit can have a larger impact. Since April 2021 is National Volunteer Month in the United States and many individuals many are not able to volunteer due to Covid-19, I urge everyone to donate to a Soup Kitchen or other charity, because one banana can make a difference.

And to answer my own question, YES giving up my daily Starbucks and donating that money does make a difference!

More Information about Our Daily Bread can be found on their website at: https://ourdailybread.us/about/