Hungry? Really hungry?

How hungry have you ever been? Missed any meals lately? Cupboards bare? I would wager that like many here in B-N, you have never been truly hungry. I know I haven't ever been without a meal. I have no idea how hard it is to go to bed each night with very little to eat. It's one thing to skip breakfast, not have lunch because of a work crisis, be running around too much for much of dinner. My kids complain all the time that they are "starving". They conveniently forget that they just had a chunk of cheese or a bowl of cereal. In keeping with my mom contract, I remind them that they are far from withering away. Even though I keep the junk & candy to a minimum, they feel they are deprived, but really the don't know how lucky they are.

It really surprises me that here in our fairly affluent appearing Mid-western community that there are any families that have to go without. Talk to any school principal or food service director in the area and they can give example after example of the numbers of children that come to school hungry, not because they skip breakfast (like some lazy Mitchell kids), but because there simply isn't any food in the home.

This problem of people going hungry in this country just stupefies me. Even with the cheap food choices, some people still don't get enough to eat, not to mention not enough good, healthy food. Often times in the summer, driving down one of main streets in town, I go past the Clare House. Twice a week, there is a line of people waiting for a bag of groceries. One time, I actually slowed down and LOOKED at the people in line. There were a few senior citizens and mothers with children. These folks I expected to see and wasn't too surprised. What bothered me were the well dressed folks. This I wasn't expecting. They looked like me, dressed for the office. I don't care why they need free food; they just do. I don't want to address some of the issues as to why some people go hungry. Many of us are just a personal disaster away from being in that line.

I don't want to get into why seemingly prosperous persons are standing in line for a sack of groceries. There are a thousand reasons why, good, bad and otherwise. But for the grace of God, it could be me in that line.


So, what is the point of all my rambling? Simple. In a few weeks, as Americans we will be celebrating our national holiday of gluttony and over-eating. It's the only day where food is the object of the holiday (ok, Halloween is a close second) and so far, retailers haven't convinced us that Thanksgiving gifts are necessary.

As you think about this holiday and how it started by giving thanks for NOT starving to death, think about what you can do for others that are not as fortunate as you. Both of our workplaces, District 87 and 1St Farm Credit, are gathering non-perishable goods to give to Clare House and the Midwest Food Bank. If you are a late comer to the Saturday Bloomington Farmer's market, this year, the MFB collected produce that wasn't sold. Many of the vendors happily filled the boxes that the men from MFB provided. After the first week, they brought the BIG truck--farmers are a generous bunch. As a family, Bill & the kids took flyers around our neighborhood to collect for the MFB.

This is my challege to you: if you live in Bloomington-Normal, donate time, food or money to one of these operations. If your work place doesn't have a food drive, start one. Many churches have a donation box as well. If you are in our neck of the woods, drop off a donation on our porch. Bill will take the donations to MFB on 11/13.

Since I deal with food, the thought of someone going hungry, especially on a holiday dedicated to over-eating, really bothers me. I live in the richest country on the planet; I wish I could feed everyone that is hungry.

Info on Clare House:
http://directory.ic.org/records/?action=view&page=view&record_id=4213

www.midwestfoodbank.org