Here, let me adjust my soap box before I get started today. This is a very important subject and one that has really been on my heart lately. What I'm about to say here, may not make complete sense to you, but trust me - I get it. ;)
Da Boy has been growing lately. I know this because he's been eating us out of house and home, sleeping weird and crazy hours, and has been almost physically attached to me whenever I walk around the house. Now, none of this is new or different, he's always like this when he's growing. His favorite thing to eat is cereal. His second fave is peanut butter... on a spoon. Everyday I hear "Mom, can I had eenut bu'r ona boon? Pthweeze?" (still workin' on the speech delay, but getting better all the time).
Nothing wrong with peanut butter. I love it, I grew up with it and I love that my kid can eat it whenever he wants to. However... (Oh boy, I'm about to turn into my mother and I can't even believe it)... there are children in this world that don't have peanut butter. They don't even know what it tastes like, because they've never heard of it. They don't have pink lemonade or fish sticks or even toilet paper. They are poor and toyless, starving and homeless, sick and scared and dying. And what am I doing about it? Typing? My family sponsors a child in Africa through our church. One child.
Here are some stats for the city my family lives in. You might be interested to look up your city's statistics for hungry/homeless also.
- Every weekend almost 400 children in Carson City will go to bed hungry.
- Almost 20% of all children living in Carson City under the age of 5 live in poverty.
- The average age of a homeless person is...9!
- Our community has approximately 500 homeless children enrolled in its schools at any given time.
- Many of our homeless children have little or no food on the weekends, often going to bed hungry!
This is JUST IN CARSON CITY, NV! A small town of about 60,000 people. You want a bigger picture? Here are a few National statistics from
FeedingAmerica
- Feeding America is annually providing food to 37 million Americans, including 14 million children. This is an increase of 46 percent over 2006, when we were feeding 25 million Americans, including 9 million children, each year.
- That means one in eight Americans now rely on Feeding America for food and groceries.
- Feeding America's nationwide network of food banks is feeding 1 million more Americans each week than we did in 2006.
- Thirty-six percent of the households we serve have at least one person working.
- More than one-third of client households report having to choose between food and other basic necessities, such as rent, utilities and medical care.
- The number of children the Feeding America network serves has increased by 50 percent since 2006.
That's just the US - now think about the rest of the world. It's a scary thought. When I think about it I get a very anxious, panicky feeling in my body... I need to do something about this - NOW!
But what to do? I can't afford to sponsor anymore children. I can't open a shelter or soup kitchen. I can (and do) donate food to our church's food pantry, but it's shelves are still bare. Why? Because we feed a lot of families through our food pantry. But it's not enough. It's never going to be enough. Not unless we ALL pour our hearts and souls into it.
I am taking an oath. I promise to tell people about this. I promise to up my food donations to our local pantries and ask my friends/neighbors/co-workers/associates to do the same. I promise to explain to my child about hunger, and why it's important to fight it. I promise not to condemn him for wanting fruit snacks or peanut butter but to be grateful to God for providing us with them. I promise to pray vigilantly for those that are hungry, homeless and hurting. I promise to not forget about this in a few days, when life gets complicated or stressful, but to focus on doing my part to help.
Will you take this oath with me? Will you do your part and stand with me as a soldier in the fight against hunger? Will you help change the world?
Feel free to take this badge and put it up wherever you want people to see. Your blog, your email, your Facebook/Twitter - whatever. Take the Oath, take the badge, and take charge!
