-provided more than three million meals this year, nearly half of which went to children?
-rescued more than 500 thousand pounds of food this year?
-maintained 90 community gardens featuring more than one million square feet of space?
-entered its 31st year of helping feed the hungry?
-can feed a family of four for six days with just a $60 donation?
-collected, purchased, and distributed food through 22 Ingham County pantries, as well as 36 human resource agencies, including community kitchens, shelters, and other food pantries?

For some, daily life serves as a stark reminder of the challenges found in society; specifically, the threat of hunger. The right to food is a basic human need.  Fortunately, there are local organizations that are doing their best to wipe out hunger year-round, such as the Greater Lansing Food Bank.

The GLFB has been in existence since 1981. Originally known as the Greater Lansing Food Alliance, the organization has expanded to become not just a food pantry, but now includes services such as the Garden Project and Food Movers. The former began in 1983 and quickly established numerous community gardens and backyard gardens for low-income residents, while the latter specializes in rescuing perishable but wholesome food from restaurants, commercial kitchens, bakeries, grocery stores and delivers this food to pantries, agencies and subsidized housing complexes.

None of the GLFB’s efforts could be accomplished without the generous giving of local citizens, coming together to provide support by donating and volunteering to sustain this worthy cause.

Do your part this year and help eliminate hunger. Visit www.greaterlansingfoodbank.org for more information, or contact their offices directly at (517) 853-7800.

Listen to Joe Wald, interim executive director of the GLFB, explain just what the food bank means to the community at Spartan Podcast (www.spartanpodcast.com/russ/JoeWald.mp3).

Dustin was recently “drafted” to Dribbble, a private beta internet community of designers created by Dan Cederholm and Rich Thornett. Dribbble “players”–who work in a variety of graphic design-related areas, but are mostly web and interface designers–post tiny screenshots of work in progress. Other players can then comment on the “shots” (are you sensing a theme here?). It’s a great way for designers to get high-quality feedback from top people in the industry. And we obviously agree that Dustin should be included in that group!

As Dustin puts it, “The cool thing is that they limit the number of drafted players, so the quality is ultra-high and the feedback is really good.”

It works like Twitter in that players can follow other players to keep up with their latest work. Players can also “like” individual posted pieces–basically like voting for their favorites–if they choose.

We all know that critiques from respected members of our industry sharpen our skills and make our work better. But in the end, clients benefit too–from work that is fresh, innovative, and reflective of some of the best creative thinking in the country.

(Note to clients: As important as feedback is, it’s trumped by client confidentiality. If you own the rights to a work in progress, we won’t post a “shot” of it without your permission.)