WORLD FOOD DAY

Today, October 16, 2010 is World Food Day. I CAN TALK ABOUT HUNGER, at the local, national, and international levels. Every Saturday, my church hosts a luncheon for those in the community in need of food or comfort. We typically serve close to fifty people. We also give out between 30 and 45 bags of food a week. People are hopeful that they will get peanut butter or spaghetti with sauce. Fresh sweet potatoes or oranges are a talked about treat.
Recently, I was on the websites of three hundred faith-based institutions. Almost everyone of these sites described programs or projects designed to provide food to those in need across our country. Depending on where you live in the US at least 1in 7 and in some states 1in 5 people are dependent on the SNAP program which replaced the food stamp program. Half of those dependent are children. We know our children are becoming increasingly obese and although this can be blamed in part on lack of exercise, it is also due to limited or poor food choices. While we know fresh fruits and vegetables are part of the healthy diet,  because of their cost many children get at best a sugary fruit drink or a salty vegetable one. The pockets of our country usually thought of as poverty-stricken such as some Native American reservations and Appalachia are now competing for the food bank resource with communities across the country. The elderly and aging population is also at risk.
As bleak as this picture appears, the global financial crisis and rising food prices have left more and more families struggling to put nutritrious food on the table. The number of children dying of malnutrition is increasing.
As the holiday season approaches, there are things you can do.
Talk to those on your gift list about receiving a "gift" of livestock, bees, or seeds to help others.
Give a percentage of what you spend on a holiday meal or match the tip if you eat out to a food pantry or Feeding America.
Write to Congress on Bread For the World Sunday, OCTOBER 17, 2010. Visit the Doctors Without Borders website and learn how you can host an event to change the way food aid is given to other countries.