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Health & Fitness

Ending Hunger in America

One in four children in the United States does not know where there next meal will come from. Do you know a child who is hungry?

According to the newly released documentary, A Place at the Table, there are 48 million people in the United States who do not know where their next meal will come from.  Of this 48 million, 17 million are children.  In other words, one out of every four children in the United States do not know where or when they will receive their next meal.

In 1968, CBS News showed a documentary called Hunger in America.  It was this ground-breaking show that led to awareness and activism toward solving the issue of hunger for 10 million Americans.   In the 1970s, the United States government heard the call of those working for change and began to make a difference in the lives of the hungry by creating programs like: Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), elderly feeding programs, increased funding for the food stamp program, and the National School Breakfast and Lunch programs.  Because of programs like these, by the late 1970s, hunger was nearly eliminated from America.

However, hunger is on the rise once again.  With tax cuts and reallocations toward other budgetary priorities like defense spending, social programs, like those to end hunger, have been systematically cut.  As the sequester cuts come into effect, it is estimated that:

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  • WIC, the nutrition program for women and children, will have to turn away 600,000 to 775,000 women, many of whom have young children.
  • 3.8 million currently unemployed workers will have their support cut by 11 percent.
  • 100,000 low-income families will lose their housing vouchers.
  • 125,000 individuals and families are now at risk of homelessness.

The impact of the sequester could be devastating for those who were already struggling, stretching the already thin resources of groups and agencies designed to help.

Hunger has costs beyond actual dollar amounts.  Children who are hungry in the first three years of their lives can suffer from illness and developmental delays that can significantly affect them for the rest of their lives.  Children and youth who are hungry have a difficult time staying focused during school.  In addition, the cost of one’s health is in jeopardy when processed foods are cheaper and more readily available than their more healthy counterparts, fruits and vegetables.

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As the number of hungry people have risen in our country and government resources have declined, the private sector, mainly charities, have picked up the slack. For example, in 1980 there were 200 food banks in the entire United States. In 2012, there are 40,000 food banks, pantries, and soup kitchens. This number includes non-profit organizations like Pantry Packs, which collects and distributes 350+ to almost 500 packs of food to our children across the Lake Washington School district; complementing the work of uncounted groups like Hawks for Hunger at Redmond Elementary, who pack another 20-30 packs of food. 

As a pastor and a Christian, I believe that God calls us all to act with justice and love kindness (Micah 6:8).  As an U.S. citizen, I think we are all entitled to the American dream and should work together to remove common barriers.  As a mother, I know that any system that allows a child to go to bed hungry is simply wrong.  It is our job to fix this and to ensure that everyone has enough to eat.

While it is not exhaustive in detail, I would encourage you to watch, A Place At the Table, which is available now on iTunes and VOD. But more importantly, I would invite you to get involved in organizations like Pantry Packs, Hopelink, and others in our community that seek to make a difference today.  Finally, I’d encourage you write your congressperson, letting them know that it is important to retain support for anti-hunger programs.  Perhaps, if we work together, we can achieve President Obama’s goal of ending hunger by 2015.

 

 

 

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