Hunger in America: Let's Do More

I know it's been a couple of months since I've sat down to blog, but I just wanted to take a few minutes and share something with you that I came across on Share Our Strength's website late last week: "1 in 5 Americans Unable to Afford Enough Food for Their Families."

The article talks about a report-Food Hardship in America 2010- just published by The Food Research & Action Center that gives us the cold, harsh facts about hunger here in our country: in 2010 food harship was at an unbelievable 18%. 18% of Americans couldn't afford to put enough food on the table...

Growing up in Camden, I experienced hunger first hand...I also watched my friends and their families struggle with it-I wouldn't want that experience for anyone, but the stats are saying it's still a daily reality for us here in the US.

Having worked with Share Our Strength during the Great American Dine Out and knowing the passion that Billy Shore and Debbie Shore have for this cause, I know how dedicated they are to reducing-no, ELIMINATING-statistics like those. Working with the No Kid Hungry campaign has opened my eyes to how big a problem hunger is, but reading that article left me feeling challenged to do even more. We can help Share Our Strength and other organizations by donating and spreading the word, but we can't just leave it up to them. We have to do more ourselves to get food to people. We have to work not just with Share Our Strength, but with any available resource within our communities to help feed people. Whether it's through food banks, starting a food drive at your kid's school or local grocery store...even reaching out to churches, any church-my church in Pennsauken has a food program once a month and I try my best to be there every month, just passing out bags of food to people in the surrounding community.

Reading reports such as this one can seem overwhelming and like it's too big of a problem to solve, but I know and believe that if we make an increased effort to work together locally through our neighborhoods & communities, we'll see our start to see our efforts make a difference nationally.

I hope this challenges you and makes you think harder about what you can do to help, like it did for me.

For more info on Share Our Strength, you can stop by their website. If you live in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area, I've also listed some links to food pantries & food banks you can donate to.

Until next time, take care and God Bless! Let's make NO KID HUNGRY a reality!

SJ Food Banks/Pantries:

Food Bank of South Jersey

New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition

Greater Philadelphia Coalition Against Hunger