26 Feb Participant Profile – Keith and Jen Johnson Family

How does Rice & Beans Month work for families with kids? Many families in the U.S. and other parts of the world have been figuring this out for the past five years, with meaningful and positive results! Here is one example:

Hoping to make Rice & Beans Month an annual family event, we didn’t want our kids to hate it the first year. When our girls were four and five, we started with one dinner of rice and beans per week, and focused more on the concepts than the food. As the kids have grown, so has our participation and passion. Last year’s plan: simple breakfasts of oatmeal, regular stuff in kid lunches (minus any chips or treats), and rice and beans dinners. We kept our weekly “Waffle Night” as an inexpensive monotony-breaker.

The Johnsons are ready for Year Six of Rice & Beans!

Although it’s not a fun chore, creating a weekly meal plan is vital to our success. We cook in large quantities to maximize leftovers for lunches. Go-to meals include soups, lentil salads, and anything Mexican-themed that includes corn tortillas. Using the daily devotions found in A Common Meal directs our focus to God, and prominently displaying photos of our sponsored kids reminds us that we do this for children we love.

We have survived complaints and tears, and some skipped dinners. (Hey, talk about solidarity with the hungry!) Those discouragements certainly get us down in the moment. However, it is worth it for the increased compassion and gratitude that results, followed by the sheer joy of turning in our saved money and knowing that it makes a difference.

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Article adapted from Hope Is Alive, a quarterly magazine publication of Lahash International. You can sign-up online to receive this free magazine.