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About Hunger "I'm starving!" How many times have you heard people casually say these words as they consider their next meal? Access to food just seems so inevitable, as dinner follows lunch and lunch follows breakfast. But what if there is no guaranteed "next meal"? Too many of us take food for granted. We only think of hunger in vague and abstract terms, believing it to be the province of children with swollen bellies in sweltering places a world away. Hunger is indeed a global epidemic, but it is also an American epidemic. The nature of hunger is different in the United States than it is in the rest of the world. Hunger is a silent epidemic in this country. Millions of Americans are hungry or at risk of hunger. In 2005, more than 25 million Americans sought food assistance from America's Second Harvest—The Nation's Food Bank Network. Hunger is also epidemic in our community. In 2005, more than 320,000 people sought food assistance in eastern Massachusetts alone. They are the most vulnerable among us: children and seniors. They are people we know: our friends, neighbors, and colleagues. They are poor people, but they are also working and middle-class people. And they live in each and every one of our communities. Indeed, 52 percent of people at risk in eastern Massachusetts live in suburban or rural communities. The signs of hunger can be hard to detect. That's because your hungry friends, neighbors, and colleagues are too proud to tell you. They are, nonetheless, quietly seeking assistance from the hundreds of hunger-relief agencies that receive food from The Greater Boston Food Bank. Their need for help may have been triggered by the death of a loved one or the loss of a job. Indeed, many of us are just one "bad break" away from hunger's devastating reach. There's plenty of food available. But we need help from many sources—individuals, corporations, community organizations, and government programs—to get it to the people who need it. |
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