Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz challenged Congress and the President to put aside the partisan politics and take action for the good of the country and the American people. In an open letter, Schultz called upon the leadership of the United States to put aside political differences and work together to return the confidence of the American people to its government. In a letter published in the New York Times, the CEO demanded that the leadership of both political parties sit up and take notice to the demands of its citizenry. Schultz and 100 other business leaders have a signed two-part accord to withhold campaign contributions to either party until transparency and bipartisanship is made apparent with a fair and well rounded debt and deficit package. The group also pledged to take necessary steps to accelerate investments in jobs and hiring. The written pledge is a significant move on the part of top business leaders to invest in America and help put an end to the economic uncertainty.

The President’s speech was well written and focused on creating jobs, but not on reducing debt. 60 % of the cost of the $447 billion dollar jobs bill comes from tax cuts, credits and programs targeting the support of Republicans. The funding needed to pay for it came from spending cuts and closing tax loopholes. The Republican Party must act on creating jobs and being fiscally responsible according to Shultz. If they fail to put citizenship ahead of partisanship, there could be a different party leading the country in the next election. Congressional leaders have been in gridlock over raising the debt ceiling, spending cuts and taxes, but the needs of the American people have gotten lost in the politics. Howard Schultz and the business leaders of America that signed with him know that their businesses depend upon the spending of the American consumer and the consumer depends upon American businesses for jobs.

Shultz and Starbucks represent a business model that is overlooked by the Republican and Democratic Parties; they represent a mixture of fiscal responsibility, progressive social policy and cultural tolerance. Starbucks provided health insurance for all its employees at a time when the business was losing money. Now all workers receive basic health care coverage for only a modest contribution. Starbucks provides a pension and profit sharing program to all employees as well. The call to action to Congress by Starbucks and the other business leaders will certainly demand similar concessions of bipartisanship for the same values demonstrated by Starbucks.

The Business leaders of our country are willing to take the risks needed to bolster our flagging economy and President Obama’s speech reflected that he is embracing the bipartisanship necessary to effect the same change. This is great news for people needing jobs and for the economy.

Source - lovekitchen.org

In Knoxville Tennessee, a large community center equipped with a kitchen is run by two sisters that have a mission. That mission is to feed the hungry, the homeless, the hopeless and the homebound states Helen Ashe.

Ashe and her twin sister Ellen founded the Love Kitchen in 1986 and have provided more than one million free meals to the needy of Knoxville. The Love Kitchen makes about 2000 meals per week from the community center facilities and distributes around 1500 of these meals to the homebound residents of Knoxville. The remaining 500 is distributed on Wednesdays and Thursdays at lunchtime for anyone who needs food.

Helen and Ellen get a weekly list of homebound or hospitalized people in the area and prepare a nutritious box meal of an entrée, vegetable, bread and dessert that is distributed to each needy recipient by a volunteer. The Love Kitchen sends out seven of these box meals to each person so that they have food to eat for an entire week. The volunteers take the food to the people and provide companionship and encouragement that according to Helen, feeds the body and the soul at the same time. Helen Ashe grew up in tough times in Abbeville, South Carolina in the 30’s and 40’s with her twin sister. The family lived in a home with no lights or running water and experienced many hardships growing up. The two sisters reflect that they were taught even in those hard times to consider others and to leave something in the pot in case someone came by hungry.

Helen states that this tradition of giving has become a theme for their lives and is the foundation of the mission to feed the hungry. The twins graduated as nurses in and began work at what now is the University Of Tennessee Medical Center. At the time, segregation was widespread and many of the black patients often struggled just to eat. Ashe said that she was inspired by the suffering to do something to help with this situation. Ashe used her own money to begin her mission and in 1986 a local pastor offered her the basement of his church as a base of operations.

The first day the Love Kitchen opened its doors, it served 22 meals. As the number of recipients has grown, so has the size of the building and two decades later, the ladies are still serving home cooked meals to those in need. The food is now donated by local grocery stores, farmers and specialty shops and the meals are served fresh. Volunteers range in age, and many local professionals report being inspired by Ashe’s vision and work regularly to help out the mission of the Love Kitchen.