For Christ's sake as you rush about buying last miute gifts in the consumer frenzy of our modern Christmas, please give to No Kids Hungry and food pantries in your local area.
Showing posts with label hunger in America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hunger in America. Show all posts
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Jeff Gordon Drives to End Hunger
[Through his support of Drive to End Hunger, Jeff Gordon has helped raise awareness of the plight of nearly 9 million older Americans at risk of hunger – and with that increased awareness comes more donations of food and funds to help solve the hunger problem.
Taking a “see for yourself” stance to help communicate the reality of hunger among older Americans, the Drive to End Hunger at-track display provides an opportunity for NASCAR fans to learn about these important facts and make a difference by donating to the cause. Through hunger-related games and trivia, fans gain a better understanding of how their donations can impact the social problem Drive to End Hunger was set up to solve.
At the May 27 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Charlotte, some of these generous fans shared their personal motivations for donating to Drive to End Hunger. For Angela Dolan, the cause touched close to home. “As a child, I was raised by my grandparents. I witnessed firsthand how often they struggled to put food on the table and pay their bills.”]
http://www.drivetoendhunger.org/press-center/why-fans-back-drive-to-end-hunger/?cmp=NLC-FDN-
07102012-DTEH_Newsltr
Taking a “see for yourself” stance to help communicate the reality of hunger among older Americans, the Drive to End Hunger at-track display provides an opportunity for NASCAR fans to learn about these important facts and make a difference by donating to the cause. Through hunger-related games and trivia, fans gain a better understanding of how their donations can impact the social problem Drive to End Hunger was set up to solve.
At the May 27 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Charlotte, some of these generous fans shared their personal motivations for donating to Drive to End Hunger. For Angela Dolan, the cause touched close to home. “As a child, I was raised by my grandparents. I witnessed firsthand how often they struggled to put food on the table and pay their bills.”]
http://www.drivetoendhunger.org/press-center/why-fans-back-drive-to-end-hunger/?cmp=NLC-FDN-
07102012-DTEH_Newsltr
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Hunger in America
[More than 1 in 4 families with children did not have enough money to buy food in the past 12 months, according to a report released yesterday. That compares with about 1 in 6 for childless households.
Not having enough money for food has been a frequent worry for Ezell Johnson of the North Side since he began looking after his three young grandchildren about a year ago.
“We get by,” he said. “It’s scary.”
Johnson, 58, was injured on a construction job about six years ago and has been living on disability assistance. On a recent afternoon, he was among dozens who came to a Columbus park for free melons, peaches and fresh produce at a farmers market hosted by a Clintonville-area food pantry.
“We’re happy to see something like this out here. It helps.”
The report found that Ohio ranked 20th in the nation for food hardship and was home to seven of the 100 most troubled metropolitan areas; only California and Florida had more.]
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/12/hunger-stalks-ohio-families.html
Not having enough money for food has been a frequent worry for Ezell Johnson of the North Side since he began looking after his three young grandchildren about a year ago.
“We get by,” he said. “It’s scary.”
Johnson, 58, was injured on a construction job about six years ago and has been living on disability assistance. On a recent afternoon, he was among dozens who came to a Columbus park for free melons, peaches and fresh produce at a farmers market hosted by a Clintonville-area food pantry.
“We’re happy to see something like this out here. It helps.”
The report found that Ohio ranked 20th in the nation for food hardship and was home to seven of the 100 most troubled metropolitan areas; only California and Florida had more.]
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/08/12/hunger-stalks-ohio-families.html
Saturday, November 27, 2010
"Hunger Endures Despite Our Bounty "
[Good news.
An average of 17.7 percent of all Americans were at times unable to feed themselves in the 12 months prior to September of this year. That’s according to an analysis of data from the Gallup-Healthways Index, conducted and newly released by the Food Resource and Action Center, an advocacy group.
You may be wondering: In what universe does a 17.7 percent hunger rate qualify as good news?
In this one, actually.
That figure, after all, represents a slight drop from the average 18.5 percent rate recorded at the end of 2009. But even the smaller figure is hardly reassuring, given that it means just under 55 million Americans had to do without food at least occasionally.
Hunger endures. It seems a timely point to make as we enter upon that season wherein we express profound thankfulness by gorging on turkeys and hams and yams and greens, potatoes by the mound, dressing by the mountain, and groaning tables full of puddings, pies, cookies and cakes.
Hunger endures.
The point also seems salient given an often niggardly political environment in which it is common to hear people speak of poverty as a defect of birth or character, and an Andre Bauer — lieutenant governor of South Carolina — can get away with likening children who receive free and reduced price lunches to stray animals you feed at the back door.
Hunger endures.
And maybe, as your humble correspondent did once, you respond to that by spending some part of Thanksgiving at a shelter, ladling food onto paper plates held forth by less fortunate people. It makes you feel good — or at least, not so guilty about your relative plenitude. Just don’t think too hard about them, about where they will go when they leave this place, and how they will eat tomorrow.
Hunger endures.
“It’s great that people at this time of year make donations to food emergency charities,” said FRAC president Jim Weill. “But that’s ultimately not going to solve the problem. What will solve the problem is a better food-stamp program, better school lunch programs and a more robust economy which shares the prosperity more with struggling families.”
Hunger, said Weill, “existed unnecessarily before the recession and has gotten worse unnecessarily since the recession. As Congressman Jim McGovern says, hunger in America is a political condition. It’s not something that exists because of lack of food or lack of resources.”
And yes, some of us still view poverty as a sign of laziness. But as recent victims of the Great Recession will no doubt testify, reality does not conform to that stereotype.
People are poor because of untreated mental conditions or lack of education. They are poor because there are no jobs. They are poor because the jobs they do find don’t pay enough to live on.
You and I are often asked to care about the plight of people who are not like us. But this is different. After all, if you are not a member of some mistreated racial, religious or sexual subset, you can be reasonably certain you never will be.
But any of us can be poor. Some of us already are or have been. And any of us can be hungry. Some of us are just a crisis away. So while it’s all well and good to spend Thanksgiving ladling food at a soup kitchen and breathing that well-worn prayer about the grace of God, it might not be a bad idea to also drop a line to your elected representative and let her or him know you consider it unacceptable that children — and even their working parents — hunger in the richest nation on Earth.
To draw that line in the sand is to take the critical first step in becoming a nation where everybody eats.
And that would be very good news, indeed.
Pitts is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132. Readers may contact him via e-mail at lpitts@miamiherald.com.] emphasis added
An average of 17.7 percent of all Americans were at times unable to feed themselves in the 12 months prior to September of this year. That’s according to an analysis of data from the Gallup-Healthways Index, conducted and newly released by the Food Resource and Action Center, an advocacy group.
You may be wondering: In what universe does a 17.7 percent hunger rate qualify as good news?
In this one, actually.
That figure, after all, represents a slight drop from the average 18.5 percent rate recorded at the end of 2009. But even the smaller figure is hardly reassuring, given that it means just under 55 million Americans had to do without food at least occasionally.
Hunger endures. It seems a timely point to make as we enter upon that season wherein we express profound thankfulness by gorging on turkeys and hams and yams and greens, potatoes by the mound, dressing by the mountain, and groaning tables full of puddings, pies, cookies and cakes.
Hunger endures.
The point also seems salient given an often niggardly political environment in which it is common to hear people speak of poverty as a defect of birth or character, and an Andre Bauer — lieutenant governor of South Carolina — can get away with likening children who receive free and reduced price lunches to stray animals you feed at the back door.
Hunger endures.
And maybe, as your humble correspondent did once, you respond to that by spending some part of Thanksgiving at a shelter, ladling food onto paper plates held forth by less fortunate people. It makes you feel good — or at least, not so guilty about your relative plenitude. Just don’t think too hard about them, about where they will go when they leave this place, and how they will eat tomorrow.
Hunger endures.
“It’s great that people at this time of year make donations to food emergency charities,” said FRAC president Jim Weill. “But that’s ultimately not going to solve the problem. What will solve the problem is a better food-stamp program, better school lunch programs and a more robust economy which shares the prosperity more with struggling families.”
Hunger, said Weill, “existed unnecessarily before the recession and has gotten worse unnecessarily since the recession. As Congressman Jim McGovern says, hunger in America is a political condition. It’s not something that exists because of lack of food or lack of resources.”
And yes, some of us still view poverty as a sign of laziness. But as recent victims of the Great Recession will no doubt testify, reality does not conform to that stereotype.
People are poor because of untreated mental conditions or lack of education. They are poor because there are no jobs. They are poor because the jobs they do find don’t pay enough to live on.
You and I are often asked to care about the plight of people who are not like us. But this is different. After all, if you are not a member of some mistreated racial, religious or sexual subset, you can be reasonably certain you never will be.
But any of us can be poor. Some of us already are or have been. And any of us can be hungry. Some of us are just a crisis away. So while it’s all well and good to spend Thanksgiving ladling food at a soup kitchen and breathing that well-worn prayer about the grace of God, it might not be a bad idea to also drop a line to your elected representative and let her or him know you consider it unacceptable that children — and even their working parents — hunger in the richest nation on Earth.
To draw that line in the sand is to take the critical first step in becoming a nation where everybody eats.
And that would be very good news, indeed.
Pitts is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132. Readers may contact him via e-mail at lpitts@miamiherald.com.] emphasis added
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