Hunger in the USA or Linton, Indiana

I was in Terre Haute shopping. It was a bright sunny day and lunch time. One of my favorite places to eat was Fazoli’s. I noticed a man and his son was in line. He said that he did have any money. The manager at Fazoli’s told the man that they did not operate that away and could not feed them. I noticed the man sitting on a bench in front of the Government building looking at his son concerned and hungry. That was a number of years ago. Why did I not offer them something to eat? Although this scene of the hungry man looking at his son happened over a decade ago it still haunts to me to this day.

Are we a Christian nation or are we hypocrites? The Bible, Chapter 25 verse 45 from the book of Mathew, says: “Then shall he (Christ) answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto me.”

Lord, I am sorry for not feeding you in the time of need and I promise that I will not do it again.

The following statistics taken from (http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/homeless/hhsummary.html) state the following:

· On average, 21 percent of the requests for emergency food assistance are estimated to have gone unmet during the last year. For families alone, 18 percent of the requests for assistance are estimated to have gone unmet. In 47 percent of the cities, emergency food assistance facilities may have to turn away people in need due to lack of resources.
· Sixty-one percent of the people requesting emergency food assistance were members of families -- children and their parents. Thirty-seven percent of the adults requesting food assistance were employed.
· The overall level of resources available to emergency food assistance facilities increased by 24 percent during the last year. Forty-seven percent of the survey cities reported that emergency food assistance facilities are able to provide an adequate quantity of food. In 60 percent of the cities emergency food assistance facilities have had to decrease the number of bags of food provided and/or the number of times people can receive food. Of these cities, 50 percent have had to increase the limit on food provided. Seventy-seven percent of the survey cities reported that the food provided is nutritionally balanced.
· In 92 percent of the cities, emergency food assistance facilities were relied on by families and individuals both in emergencies and as a steady source of food over long periods of time.
· Low-paying jobs lead the list of causes of hunger identified by the city officials. Other causes cited, in order of frequency, include high housing costs, unemployment and other employment-related problems, food stamp cuts, poverty or lack of income, low benefits in public assistance programs and substance abuse.
· During the last year, 67 percent of the survey cities supported local emergency food assistance efforts. Twenty-three percent used locally generated revenues; two percent used Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act funds; 14 percent used state grants; four percent used Community Services Block Grant Funds and 27 percent used Community Development Block Grant funds.

Food is life. Lack of food causes illnesses, which causes unnecessary deaths. In the United States, 11.7 million children live in households where people have to skip meals or eat less to make ends meet. That means one in ten households in the U.S. are living with hunger or are at risk of hunger.
What are we doing in Linton Indiana to remedy the hunger situation? How many homeless do we serve? Do people in our area go hungry? How may we improve? How may we serve Christ, which in turn is the least? I was told of a story about some college students made peanut butter sandwiches and passed them out in the poor part of the city. They reported that these people said they appreciated this very much. Why do we not pass out peanut butter sandwiches in Linton, Terre Haute, Indianapolis Indiana or any other city between 12 and 1 every day and collect donations to be used 100% for purchasing additional peanut butter sandwiches?