Read the "Hunger Stories" from your state

http://www.secondharvest.org/hunger_by_state.asp?s=44

I have been thinking about hungry children all day, weeping off and on all day, after reading the story posted in this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1410209. The article is called "Schools Give Hungry Children Backpacks Filled With Food To Help Them Get Through Weekend"

Please go to the link above and read America's Second Harvest's "Hunger Stories" from your state. If there aren't many, read some from another state. Read them all. There are stories from the hungry and stories from community workers who feed the hungry. Here's one from DC:

"I work for a community development organization and am responsible for maintaining its food bank. When I began this job 7 years ago, most of my clients were unemployed or on low fixed incomes. In recent years, I have become disheartened by the number of full-time working parents unable to sustain their families for the entire month. The demand for emergency food in the ward 7 area has tripled and our resources seem to be dwindling by the year. I have seen the face of hunger more times than I can count. Big strong men bursting into tears because they aren't able to feed their families for the first time in their lives; children eating handfuls of the breath mints I keep on my desk while their parents fill out paperwork, because they are so hungry: a mother of four who is so ashamed to ask for food assistance that she promises me that if I feed her children, she won't ask for any food for herself. With all our organization does, it just doesn't seem to be enough. Hunger is real in our community. I know because I look into its sad eyes everyday."

"I am six years old. I go to first grade at St. Linus School. I go and help with my Lola and the students at Madonna University.

"I went to Gleaners' two times already to help put the food in boxes for the hungry children. I put a lot of cookies, chips and juice in my boxes. Kids like that stuff.

"I get really hungry after school and get treats when I come home. And I get cookies and milk before I go to bed because I get hungry and thirsty at night,too. Hungry kids probably don't get treats.

"I also worked in Brother Rick's garden. We picked tomatoes. It was yuccky! I also pulled radishes from the ground. Kids don't like tomatoes too much but I like radishes. I like it best when the worms came out when I pulled radishes.

"I worked with Regina in the greenhouse. Regina is one of the students from Madonna University. It was hot in there so I went back to pulling radishes.

"Hungry people at the soup kitchen eat the food from Brother Rick's garden.

"I can't wait for summer so I can go again. It was fun because there were lots of bugs."

Dominic Elliott Oro Rankine
Kid helping hungry kids
Dearborn Heights, MI

to your local, State, and Congressional Reps. Ask them why they are not sponsoring/voting for Living Wage legislation and/or raising the Mimimum Wage when working people have to beg for food? Ask them why children in their communities are going hungry because "welfare" doesn't provide even enough food stamps to feed children whose parents are unfortunate enough to need them?

Thanks for posting the link.

that thread touched someone else besides me. I was sitting at dinner, as usual fussing with the 3 yr old to eat her food...then I really, really felt lucky that I have to go through that every night. :(

here at DU. It's another valuable resource here.

Thanks for the thread Bertha Venation! :hi:

However, I'm mad as hell, that my country, the richest ever on the face of the earth, treats it's citizens this way.

There should be NO need for food banks! It's just one more way to divide between the "superior" and "inferior".

I'd like to know how many here have every tried to make a meal from the scramble of stuff that is in most bags from a food bank? In many cases, it's almost impossible to find a way to make an actual meal.

I'd also like to know how many who are really upset with these stories of hunger thought Clinton's "No more welfare as we knew it" was a great idea?

Kanary

has caused inordinate suffering and hardship. It was a blatant "blame the poor" sop to the Right. I agree completely: "There should be NO need for food banks! It's just one more way to divide between the "superior" and "inferior"." That we don't care enough as a society to even assure that people have enough to eat while we subsidize corporations for polluting and paying "wages" that won't sustain a single adult speaks volumes about our social priorities.

If you don't have time to read it, bookmark it. :kick: :hi:

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