Hunger

I went to a briefing on hunger this past week. This was a gathering of church folks mostly, organized by United Way. The intent was to talk about the face of hunger in our community and talk about the available sources of support and what we can do to help. With the recession, more and more people are affected. The Salvation Army captain said that some of the people who used to give to the Salvation Army are now some of the ones receiving help. The irony of this is that we met at Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury over breakfast! We ate our scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, sausage and sweet rolls while talking about hungry people. I did not eat much. My breakfast did not go down well that morning.
The other irony I thought about is that I am, let say, pleasantly plump. I work out at the Y several times a week to try to slow down the passage of time and the hold that gravity has gotten on me and tone everything up. I also work out because doing so clears my head and relaxes me and I am hopefully a nicer, calmer person because I do this. While I do that, some in this world starve to death. One could get real cynical here. This world has enough ills and suffering in it. Getting cynical and sarcastic would be really easy. I choose not to go that route.
Instead, I find myself giving thanks for the fact that I am healthy, that I have plenty of food, the fact that I am loved and I am also reminded and encouraged greatly to find ways to help those who have less than I do. Starving myself will not help these folks get food but out of my wealth and blessings I can give and for that I find myself very grateful. Life is a great gift not to be wasted but to be lived to the full and I don’t believe that can happen without love, serving others and sharing.
The gathering of representatives for about 50 local churches is a miracle, one of the speakers pointed out. Together we can find solutions. Feed the hungry and clothe the naked are some of the things Jesus admonished us to do (Matthew 25). What I also want to do is find ways of dealing with the system which allows such things to happen. Nobody in the world should go hungry but to hear of hunger in America, the richest country in the world, is crazy. So I want to find effective ways of helping. I can’t feed everybody on my own but God has a way of multiplying a little food (remember the story of the feeding of the multitude with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish?) into a lot if we all work together. I want to be part of that! I hope you join me! One way is to fill up a grocery bag on May 9 and leave it by your mailbox for the mail carrier to pick up. There will be volunteer opportunities that day. You will hear more about it soon.