This being the harvest time of year, culminating with Thanksgiving, it is of course very natural to think of the cornucopia of fruits and vegetables that have or are being collected from the gardens and farms in the area. As I reported in my previous post, though the weather was atypical most of the year, there were still many wonderful crops to gather.
It has also been a particularly great autumn for the fall garden, and it’s clear there will be a nice supply of cold-weather vegetables for months.
For me, it’s also a great time to reflect on those who can’t celebrate abundance at this or any time of year.
Nearly 17% of people in America experience hunger, or food insecurity, including 23% of all children in the country without enough to eat.
According to the Redwood Empire Food Bank, in Sonoma County, 78,000 people face the threat of hunger every month:
- 34,000 are children
- 11,300 are seniors
- 13,500 are working families
- The median monthly household income of food recipients is $930
And they continue: “children make up the largest group of those at risk of hunger in our community. There are 9,762 children living in poverty in Sonoma County according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. Seniors living on fixed incomes represent another large segment of the population the REFB serves. For 61.4% of our senior clients, Social Security is their primary source of income.”
It is a common reaction to be astonished that so many people go hungry in a country with such abundance—but people can’t eat a reaction.
I recall vividly the times in my life that I have worried where my next meal would be coming from and had to make limited dollars stretch. In fact, growing up our family was briefly on welfare and food stamps, and, looking back, it is clear that our single mother had to get creative in how she was going to get food on the table. (Ask me about the joys of “green spaghetti”—a truly fun & entertaining experience for us kids, but a creative attempt to combine cheap bags of pasta, powered pesto and cooking oil to feed 8 hungry kids.) But I’ve never had the thought that I would not be eating for an extended period of time or that I would have to regularly skip a number of meals.
Try not eating for a day and see how you feel.
You may get a sense where this is going and already feel that, as bad as the situation may be, you just couldn’t possibly face yet another appeal to make a donation. And, if you simply can’t give cash, food, or time, I understand and that’s OK. However, if you can give, I’m asking you to take the time to give as much or as little as you can.
You would be AMAZED how well food banks can use donated dollars—it is truly spectacularly efficient.
A donation of just $25 helps food banks provide 100 meals, so a child could eat for a month, or a family of 4 could eat for over a week. Alternatively, you could drop a food donation in a food barrel or volunteer 4 hours to help a food bank or other organization pack food boxes. In the last month, I downloaded $25 of music from iTunes, drank $25 in diet Coke, and spent that much the last time I put gas in my car.
The Redwood Empire Food Bank has the most amazing set-up allowing you to shop online for a large variety of food items at their wholesale cost. You literally can choose and calculate any amount of a donation.
If a family came to your door and told you their kids had not eaten for 2 days, asking if you could spare anything, wouldn’t you give them a box of pasta or cereal? Well, now you can do that virtually through the link below.
You can really count on your donation making a difference.
Feeding America fights hunger nationwide:
Happy Abundant Harvest!
~Timothy
