All Saints’ Youth
What a beautiful
morning. A bit of
extra sleep. A
tasty and wonderful breakfast of French toast and bacon. And we were ready to greet our visitor – Ruban from the Capitol Area Food Bank, here to share the
“Face of Hunger”.
“Who are the hungry?” we
were asked. What would you answer?
The
homeless.
The poor.
The
developing nations.
Single
moms.
The
unemployed.
Our eyes were about to be
opened! Ruban
taught us all about the working poor. People who earn over $40,000 in good, respectable jobs who aren’t
able to feed their families.
People who own homes and can’t keep the pantry and fridge filled. Elderly who work their whole lives to put
away enough money to get by in retirement and end up eating cat food. Not just one or two people in a housing
complex, but all of them. It’s the
hunger that no one sees. We all expect
the homeless to be hungry – that’s why there are food banks and soup
kitchens. But what about the hidden
faces of hunger?
Once he’d shared his
thoughts and a video we were all given new identities and the task for the
day. As our new selves, we were to buy
enough food at the store to feed our families for one day. Seems a simple enough thing
to do. We were told that the
average success rate, in a group our size, was two people would be able to feed
their families. Our grocer sold food to
two individuals. No one was able to
navigate the Greek and red tape of Emergency Funds to get money. No one was able to receive Food Stamps. In the end only two managed to feed their
families, one by following rules – get food!
One by stealing a wad of money left by the banker no where near the
bank. Creative? You bet!
But it worked. He could feed his
family.
It was a good lesson. You see, the reality of life says that this
is how people have to live. Faced with
no food to feed your family it can take 4 weeks to wade through the red tape
and actually receive food stamps. In an
emergency that process can be expedited and you can get your stamps in two
weeks. But what do you do in the
meanwhile?
All this
being said, hunger is not the problem. It’s only a symptom. The problem goes much deeper. The problem is malnutrition, access and
availability. Healthy foods are simply
too expensive. In many communities
access to groceries is severely limited.
Availability of resources is confusing at best and difficult to
navigate. Although food banks and
various programs are important, they will not solve the problem on their
own. They will simply address the
symptom.
Until we can get better
education and political support for changing the system, the problems simply
won’t go away. How can we help? Be informed and VOTE, VOTE, VOTE. Not just for the President but at every level
of government.
God has certainly been
sharing with us some important life lessons.
Once we return home we will need to talk about how our learnings will affect our ministry in Marysville. One of the comments we’ve often heard is that
there is no need in Marysville. Having heard
Ruban’s comments, that is a bit hard to swallow. The need is very likely there; hidden but
very present.
Tomorrow we will be back on
the mission site – the Community Center for Non-Violence. We don’t know how God will be using us but we
are open and willing to serve!
Love and God’s Blessings,
All Saints 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007