While most of us were enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner, the USDA released a very disturbing report. One in six of us in the United States did not have enough food in the cupboard to eat Thanksgiving dinner. One in four American children lives in a home that experiences food shortages and regularly goes to bed hungry. It’s pretty startling that out of a country of about 290 million people, nearly 50 million struggled for food in 2008, with 17 million of those being children. This was an almost 30 percent jump from 2007 figures.
The picture most of us have in our head of what the hungry look like usually involve someone who is homeless or destitute, but that is not the case. They could very well be your neighbor. While unemployment and underemployment played a role in reducing the available income in a large number of households last year, most of those families in the report who experienced food scarcity were members of the working poor, with at least one full-time wage earner in the household. Only about half of these households were getting federal help from programs like WIC, food stamps or free school lunches.
Everyone in this country knows things are tough. Many of us have had to cut back, but how many of us have had to cut back on the most basic nutrition? Food pantries are experiencing record numbers of requests for aid and the number of soup kitchen meals served increased by 600 percent. When you see a canned food drive or a call for donations and volunteers for food pantries, do not just keep going and do nothing. If you have enough to feed yourself plus a little extra, you have enough to make a difference for one in six Americans.
Here are some things you can do to help:
When you clean out your pantry, give what you would want a member of your family to receive. You would be amazed how many people donate food that isn’t any good anymore, junk food that is not healthy or nutritious, or packages that are half used up or broken.
If you can’t give money, give your time. Some have the means to give, but don’t have the time to give the extra help that is needed right now to stack, store and distribute much needed aid.
Talk to others you know who are in a position to help, or take up a collection, even if it is only change. Dinner for a family can be had for only $5, so every little bit makes a difference.
Find the families in need in your neighborhood through local churches, social service organizations, hospitals, and shelters. You may be able to give hope and much needed nourishment to members of your own community who would be too proud to ask for your help.
No matter what your religious faith, this is the time of year for giving and to be thankful for the many good things in our lives. Share that spirit of giving and help others to have things to be thankful for as well. We are all family; the family called the human race.
Related Posts:
Bill Collectors: From Breaking Laws to Breaking Legs
CNN vs. Fox: A Media Bias Case Study
Supreme Court Hands Power to Corporations
Troubling Travels: Reconciling Safe Skies with Personal Privacy
Laura Bramble is a Yankee freelance writer living in Atlanta. She is inspired by the courage shown by everyday people in making the world a better place and believes that courage is in every one of us. It is her belief that just as we have inalienable rights, we also have an inalienable responsibility to look out for our fellow man and to use our rights responsibly.
Food Stamps are nice and handy if you want some fast meals.’,”
Insightful?:
0 
0
Food Stamps are great and i wish that there were more of them.-’,
Insightful?:
0 
0