According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 15 percent of U.S. households, 17.4 million families, or approximately 50 million people, were too poor to buy enough food for themselves last year, 2009. More than one-third of these families, with as many as a million children, were missing meals on a regular basis. These numbers have TRIPLED since 2006.. The poverty rate in THIS COUNTRY -OUR COUNTRY - has increased greatly over the last three years. Now in OUR COUNTRY, over 50 million people live below the official poverty line.
In some cases, people have caused this to happen to themselves by their own greed, laziness, and ignorance. Yet, the children involved did NOT choose to be hungry. Any of you reading this, can get up, walk over to your refrigerator or pantry, and get more than enough to eat. All of us will enjoy good, healthy, and plentiful food this holiday season. I encourage you to do something this week about hungry children:
a) Contribute to your local food pantry;
b) Contribute to FEED AMERICA;
c) When you shop, take advantage of whatever programs that store has (add money to your bill; buy extra items then put in a food box);
d) Contact the Governor of your state and tell him/her that you want him/her to make the issue of child hunger a priority.
There is something that everyone of us can do this week - THIS WEEK! - to feed those who are hungry in our midst.