In high school I was teased a lot for being on welfare. No one knew for sure if I was or not. They just assumed that I was. It was probably because I never had clothes that were of the latest fashion. Most of my clothes were hand me downs (Which I now think are the best thing ever!) At the beginning of the school year I would get one new outfit for school, usually bought at K-Mart. When I got older I tried to hide this stigma. When I was old enough, I got a job at the state fair, so that I would have money to get fashionable clothes for the new school year. I wanted to erase this stigma of being poor. It kind of worked. I found that even the most popular kids commented on how nice my clothes were.
Regardless of how poor I was or wasn’t, I never felt as though I went hungry. We even had a social worker come to the house because someone turned my mom in for not having food in the house and not feeding us. I thought that was absurd. I very quickly opened the cupboards to show how it was stocked full of food. I even had free breakfast and lunch in school. Hunger was NEVER a problem for me, despite how “poor” we were considered. We always had options. Food stamps, food pantries, free school meal program. I am even certain that if all of those things failed, I would still have had food, because people are kind enough to make sure people are fed.
I am an adult now and things haven’t changed much. I have worked hard on supporting myself with working and going to school. That isn’t a quick fix answer to keeping one from being poor though. At least not by the standards of America. I lost my job last February due to conflicts with work and my required practicum hours for school. I had a difficult time finding a job that worked with those required hours and the time I needed for school two nights a week. I didn’t have much luck when summer came either. When the fall came around, I wasn’t able to work due to student teaching. Since I graduated in December I have turned in several applications and had a few interviews, all turning out no job. I was blessed with a short term sub position, but then went back to having nothing. I no longer have school loans to help pay the bills and put food in the pantry. I applied for snap benefits (the new term for food stamps) and was told it would take a long time for a decision to be made.
With all of these factors working against me, I still have not gone hungry. Once a month I have the opportunity to a local church for a fresh food give away. I have the opportunity to go to one of several food pantries in the area. I even had a woman give me food from her home to help hold me over for a bit. People invite me to their homes for meals and even invite me out to eat. No matter how poor I may be here in America, I know I will never go hungry…
But for so many people around the world, they are not as lucky. Food is not as readily available for them as it is for someone like me. People are literally dying of hunger and lack of nutrition. It isn’t because there is a lack of food in the world. No, there is enough food to feed the 7 billion people who live in the world. What separates me from other people in the world is access. They lack access to food.
Tonight I went to a church event put on by the youth called the Hunger banquet. It cost $5 per person and all money to the 30 hour famine project through World Vision, as a means to raise money to end World Hunger. They even collected food items to help feed people here in America. When we arrived they handed us a little piece of paper, that indicated our social status- low income, middle income and high income. I was given high income. Along with this status, there was the name of someone and their background information. I had a man from Botswana, who was a banker who worked in Washington D.C but decided to return to his home land to help it to prosper. He wasn’t making nearly as much money as in America, but according to his country’s standards, he was living very comfortably.
I was taken to some tables that were set up like a fancy restaurant. In the middle of the room there were huge tarps where many people sat. There were also white tables set up on the side of the room. The low income people sat on the tarps and the middle income at the white tables. The high income had waiters, with fancy menus and three courses to the meals, appetizer, dinner and desert. There was even live music being played. The middle income had a buffet to choose from. Not nearly as fancy of foods to choose from, but enough to feed every one present. The low income was given PBJs and water from a pot which they had to scoop with a ladle. There wasn’t enough food for everyone to eat. There were few high income people, more middle income and the majority of the people were at the low income level. This was done to show a representation of the world. The people living in the low income group survive on less than $1000 a year and do not always have food to eat.
I had a difficult time with being in the high income group. How could I eat well knowing there were people who were not? Sure those people weren’t really hungry or poor, but I still didn’t feel right. I even tried sneaking them some of my food (the bread was homemade and especially good). They talked about some of the very countries that I will be visiting on the World Race. One being Swaziland. They shared with us how many people were going hungry there in that country and how the government does little or nothing to help it’s people. That struck me. I was going to be living 11 months surrounded by people who are literally dying from lack of food. I have little doubt that the Adventures in missions organization is going to allow us to go hungry. If my experiences to Puerto Rico and Haiti are any indication, we will be eating very well. I’m not sure what we will be doing in each of these countries, but if feeding those who of dying from hunger is not on the list, then I am not sure I will survive emotionally while I am there. If I am surrounded by hungry people and feast on food every day and do nothing to feed those same people, then I would rather join them in their hunger than to eat even one morsel of food.
How blessed I consider myself to be, that being poor by my country’s standards, that I would be considered rich in yet another, all because I have never had to experience true hunger. The only hunger that I know of is a hunger to seek after my God, to love on his people, and bless those who are in need. There are many of you who know, that if you ever need anything, I wouldn’t hesitate to give it to you. Sometimes even if you don’t need it but want it, I still would give it. That is the heart of Christ living in me. Please, if this has touched your heart, find a way to bless someone with the gift of food today. There are so many programs out there that enable you to do so. Don’t enjoy the bounty of good food and do nothing to help those who are literally starving to death.
Matthew 25:31-46
