Hunger for the Holidays

The holiday season is here again and most people are making plans for their holiday fest. However there is a growing segment of America’s population that is just trying to get to keep enough nutrition to keep alive.  The USDA defines food security as households having access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. According to the USDA report “Household Food Security in the United States, 2008”, 14.6 percent of American households were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 5.7 percent with very low food security—meaning that the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food. What that also means is that the parents aren’t eating so the kids can eat what little food they can buy or the elderly are missing meals.  14.6% of American households are about 50 million Americans or another way to express this enormous number of hungry people is that for every six people you see one is probably not getting enough to eat. 50 million hungry Americans are more people than live in South Korea. At the time of the 1880 census, there were 50 million people in the USA. 50 million is too many. This should not happen in the United States of America, or anywhere else in the world.

When I was in the “States” a few weeks ago, I saw a program for the organization “Feeding America”. This was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. It was like one of those TV shows I watched when I was a kid about starving children in Africa, asking you to be a human and donate to help feed children, but now the shows are about starving American children. Who would have ever thought this was possible; how far “the mighty” have fallen. They told the stories of people they had helped; families who were doing fine until they lost their jobs and their savings were gone, then they lost their electricity and other utilities and couldn’t pay their rent. The children and the parents did not get enough to eat. Mothers were expressing how hard it was to explain to the children that there was no more food and fathers doing what they could to get some food. People living in their cars until someone, strangers took them in. This was one of the saddest things I have ever seen; I watched this show for at least 30 minutes. Afterward I vowed to do whatever I could to feed people.

Watching that show made me think even more about why people are going hungry and why Americans are letting their fellow citizens go hungry. Are we so mean spirited? Are we so selfish? Where are all the Christians? Why are they not helping the poor and demanding that government take care of poor, hungry and homeless Americans?   Where are all the Right-to-Life people? Or do they only care about the unborn? Why isn’t this subject in the news all the time? What the hell is wrong with people? Is America poised to turn into Sub-Saharan African? The more I think about people going hungry in America, the angrier I get.

There are a lot of Americans who say they are for upholding the constitution; however I am in doubt that they have really read it. To read the constitution yourself, go to http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html

The preamble of the United States Constitution states: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Making sure everyone has a place to live and has enough to eat is a part of promoting the general welfare. If you want to uphold the constitution start with ensuring the government (that would be us, we the people) takes care for its 50 million starving people.

 What will American look like when it there are 100 million people hungry? Will the other 200 million people feel safe? Will there be riots and gun battles in the street? What will all the “Patriots” do? Take up arms against their fellow citizens to stop them from eating? My point is what kind of country do we want America to be in the future? If you want to live in a dystopian version of America where the hungry fight for scrapes, we are on the right path. If you need a sample of what that might look like, watch the film Soylent Green.  If you want to live in a world where people help each other and civilization continues to progress, help the hungry.  Don’t turn your back on people in need.

Ways to help:

Donate to Feeding America http://feedingamerica.org/

Donate to No Hungry Kid http://nokidhungry.org/

“Like” Kraft Foods on Facebook and join the huddle for hunger. Kraft will donate one meal when you "like" Kraft on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/KraftFoods

Tweet about @kraftfoods/huddle-to-fight-hunger or text the word meals and your zip code to 71717; Kraft will donate one meal to a food bank for each tweet, fan and text.

Visit the huddle for hunger website for more quick and easy ways to help the hungry. http://www.kraftrecipes.com/huddleforhunger/home.aspx

Support your local food bank. Locate one between home and your grocery store at feedingamerica.org or strength.org, and then make it a habit to buy a few extra items and drop them off on your way. Most-needed items include canned meat and fish, rice, pasta, soup, and personal items such as toothpaste and soap.

Get Active! Hold a food drive at your local school, church or other location. Here’s information on how to do it: http://www.strength.org/get_involved/

Shop at Kroger. In 2009, Kroger contributed 50 million pounds of food and other product to Feeding America food banks, to assist hungry families in the communities they serve. Valued at more than $75 million, those donations translate to roughly 60 million meals. Shopping at stores that help feed the hunger, helps them to get helping.

Don’t let anyone you know starve! Make sure the people in your family or your neighbors have enough to eat. And if they don’t take them shopping, give them food or grocery store gift cards or just invite them for a meal once a week. 

Write or call your elected officials and demand they do something about hunger and the underlying causes of poverty, under employment and unemployment in America.

The President: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

House of Representatives: http://www.house.gov/

The Senate: http://www.house.gov/

There are many ways to help; Google “help the hungry America” to find more ways to help.

All these are temporary solutions because the cause of hunger is not lack food, it is lack of money. As with any emergency situation, you need to do triage to stop the bleeding and stabilize the patient before you can really fix the problem.  I will write more on the causes of poverty at a later time. Right now, please help the hungry. Hurry, people are starving right now!

Ciao for now,

Fobbsie