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It's Your Week: Roast or toast our columnist and your community wins

Sallee Ann Harrison   | Paste BN

'Tis the season to be jolly... or critical. Whichever mood you're feeling, you can do some good.

I'm Sallee Ann and this is Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers.

This week, we're joined by columnist Rex Huppke to tell us about his campaign to take the power of reader feedback and use it to help others.

But first, don't miss these stories made possible with your subscription:

Everyone has an opinion, use yours for good

From Paste BN columnist Rex Huppke:

As a columnist, I’m used to insults. They come at me every day and from every which way, ranging from a simple “You jerk!” to a profane “You (expletive, expletive, expletive)!”

It’s to be expected when your job is sharing an opinion. People are bound to disagree, and sometimes they disagree forcefully.

I moved to Paste BN in February, but before that, as a columnist at the Chicago Tribune, I wondered if it might be possible to channel some of that negative reader energy in a more positive direction. So I launched the Insult-A-Columnist Holiday Food Drive, a fundraiser aimed at helping people facing food insecurity.

If a reader liked me, they could donate under the team name RexRocks. If they disliked me, they could donate under RexStinks. Whichever team raised the most money would determine whether I’m delightful or horrendous. The free market at work!

Making the transition to Paste BN, I wondered if there was a way to take that annual Chicago food drive and make it national.

Turns out there was! I partnered with the fine folks at Feeding America, a nonprofit that provides food to 200 food banks across the country, and launched the 2022 Insult-A-Columnist Holiday Food Drive earlier this month. The drive gives Paste BN readers a chance to donate money that will help people facing food insecurity right where they live.

The Feeding America donation page allows donations to be sorted by ZIP code, so if a person from San Diego donates, the money goes to a food bank in the San Diego area. Live in Tampa, Florida? That money goes to the food bank nearest you. You get the idea.

Donors still get to choose a team — RexRocks or RexStinks. As of Dec. 14, the food drive had raised more than $17,000, which translates to more than 170,000 meals for people across the country struggling to make ends meet. (Every $1 donated provides 10 meals.)

There’s still plenty of time to get involved. You can make a donation here: feedingamerica.org/USATodayRex. And you can help spread the word by sharing that link with friends and family and on your various social media accounts.

If the RexStinks team wins, I’ll write a column brutally making fun of myself. If the RexRocks team wins, I’ll write a column about how wonderful and handsome I am.

My fate is in your hands. And whatever the outcome, you’ll be making the world a better place for people in your community.

Read more from Rex Huppke:

Thank you

Thank you for subscribing to Paste BN. Your support allows us to present a variety of perspectives and the journalism that matters to you.

A little holiday programming: I'm off for the rest of the year (still have a lot of family gifts I have to crochet!) and Your Week will take a break next week for Christmas Day. Nicole Fallert will ring in the New Year with y'all in the Jan. 1, 2023 edition of Your Week.  After that, I'm back in the saddle to keep sharing with you the best work of our newsroom.

May your days be full of joy and peace.

-Sallee Ann

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