Adding Your Two Cents’ Worth

Terry McCoy

The term “two cents” is solidly ensconced in our language—as in “Let me put my two cents worth into this discussion.”  However, for others, those words have a somewhat different and very special meaning when they refer to a spiritual discipline that many follow.  (On the one hand, “spiritual discipline” may be too lofty a term, for the discipline involved is so simple.  But on the other hand, maybe not, for the benefits can be immense).

First, the discipline.  People who practice the Two Cents a Meal spiritual discipline commit to setting aside a moment or two to think about those who are poor, pray for their well-being and set aside two cents during each meal.  That is really almost all there is to it.

And the benefits?  First of all, there is the learning that takes place over time.  One old lesson to be reinforced is that an individual can make a difference.  The program was started by one woman, a Presbyterian, who was so concerned about a famine in Africa that she decided she needed to make a personal response.  Knowing that hunger was not going to disappear quickly, she decided to make a commitment she could maintain over time.  In a sense, her decision was rather like the decision to have a child.  Parents may think, at the beginning, that they are making a commitment for 18, perhaps 21, years.  But they eventually learn they have made a commitment for their lifetime.  And this is what this woman has done.

A second learning can perhaps be best described as you are what you think about.  When people think about and pray for the poor, say, three times a day, they begin to look at the world differently.  In my case, I read the daily newspaper differently.  Now I pay attention to those stories on unemployment statistics, on the rate of poverty in the state, the number of children in school districts on free or reduced lunches; the list goes on and on.

Another learning, and probably the most important one, is that those few moments of stopping the flow of daily life for reflection and prayer will eventually help people find their niche in the fight against hunger.  Most, if not all, people have compassion for those who struggle with poverty, but many don’t know how they can help.  Everyone has different talents, but everyone can work on poverty in some way.

There are the obvious ways.  Some people devote their career to working on poverty.  They become social workers.  They work for nonprofits dedicated to helping those in need.  Others may lend their professional skills on a pro bono basis to help the poor, such as medical personnel, lawyers, counselors and so on.  For others, giving time, money or food to pantries may be the way they do their part.

There are also other less obvious niches.  I think about the treasurer of Hunger Network, Fritz Rauschenberg.  He takes his lunch hour to write checks and gives evenings to lend his skill with numbers to keep our books accurate.  Tutoring children who need more help and whose parents are unable to supply that help may be another’s niche.  Two Cents a Meal is a beginning step to finding one’s niche, whatever it might be.

But other interesting pieces flow from Two Cents a Meal.  One is what happens to all those pennies.  The Presbyterian woman, who has asked to be anonymous, eventually took her pennies to her church.  This then meant that the Elders of the congregation needed to evaluate the congregation’s hunger ministry to see how the money could be used faithfully for the cause for which it had been set aside.

Other members of the congregation learned what she was doing and began to follow suit.  She had begun a “movement” which eventually led to Ohio and participation by members of other denominations.  One person made a difference by her example.  One person asking questions or expressing a concern frees others to share their values and concerns.

Another interesting question is why two cents?  Why not one—or five?  The two pennies teach another lesson about the need for both charity and justice when facing the question of poverty.  A common charitable response to hunger is to provide food for a food pantry or to fix a peanut butter sandwich for someone at your door who is hungry.  Charity is of immediate importance.  But if something doesn’t change in that person’s life, chances are he or she will be back again tomorrow.  Helping that change occur is a justice response.

This is why, after the pennies pile up and are collected in church, the church uses the first penny for its own hunger ministry, the charitable response, and sends the second penny to Hunger Network in Ohio to support its work, a justice response.

Parents have found that Two Cents is of value to them as they try to pass on their values to their children.  Using Two Cents as a teaching tool to describe why they are doing this and for whom provides a visual, concrete teaching moment.  Older children appreciate rolling the coins, providing another teaching moment.  Participating in a concrete way gives people of all ages a way to start on the way to their own hunger ministry.

Finally, joining with others to make change is powerful.  Even though one person’s contribution may seem small, when joined with others, there is a strong impact.  At the next level, even though a congregation’s contribution to Hunger Network in Ohio may seem small, joined with others, it is significant.  Over a third of Hunger Network’s budget is derived from people, one by one, participating in Two Cents a Meal.  We are grateful.

Terry McCoy is director of the Hunger Network in Ohio and a Hunger Notes editorial board member.  The Hunger Network in Ohio may be reached at 82 East 16^th Avenue, Columbus, Ohio, 43201.

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