Well, the cast of Parks and Recreation has nailed it yet again with their group rendition of “5,000 Candles in the Wind” during their reunion special. The last time we were graced with such an awesome performance was half a decade ago when the group sang “Bye, Bye Li’l Sebastian” as part of their emotional series finale farewell on the “Late Night with Seth Meyers” show. Check out the video of the song cover below:
Through social distancing, the cast banded together to raise money and awareness for Feeding America — a nonprofit organization that feeds more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies via a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks. According to their website, the origin of Feeding America is as follows:
For more than 35 years, Feeding America has responded to the hunger crisis in America by providing food to people in need through a nationwide network of food banks.
The concept of food banking was developed by John van Hengel in Phoenix, AZ in the late 1960s. Van Hengel, a retired businessman, had been volunteering at a soup kitchen trying to find food to serve the hungry. One day, he met a desperate mother who regularly rummaged through grocery store garbage bins to find food for her children. She suggested that there should be a place where, instead of being thrown out, discarded food could be stored for people to pick up—similar to the way ‘banks’ store money for future use. With that, an industry was born.
…Today, Feeding America is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization—a powerful and efficient network of 200 food banks across the country. As food insecurity rates hold steady at the highest levels ever, the Feeding America network of food banks has risen to meet the need. We feed 40 million people at risk of hunger, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors. Learn more about how we get food to people in need in our “How We Work” section. Support Feeding America and help solve hunger. Donate. Volunteer. Advocate. Educate.
Quote via Feeding America “Our History”
A noble cause, indeed. If you’re interested, you can donate to Feeding America here. Thank you to the cast of Parks and Recreation for raising awareness for such an awesome organization. You can watch Parks and Recreation streaming on Hulu or Netflix now.