Help the pantries feed the hungry
When most of us are hungry, it is by choice.
Too busy for breakfast. Or we skip lunch. Maybe in the interest of losing weight, we take the hunger pangs for a little while longer
But for others, hunger isn't intentional. It is a painful part of a life that has been made difficult by dire economic circumstances. There is not enough food in the house because a job that brought in money to buy groceries was lost in the economic downturn. Or the job is there, but does not pay well enough to buy all that is needed to feed a family. And it has become even more difficult to buy food on those low wages, given the sharp increase in the cost of food.
Over 158,000 households suffered hunger in Illinois in 2005, according to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.
Many of the hungry are here in the suburbs. And in increasing numbers, they are turning to local food pantries to feed themselves and their families.
The pantries, in turn, can find it very difficult to keep up with the demand. Requests for food from area pantries is up about 20 percent this year - at a time when there is less food on the shelves to begin with. Donations from traditional sources, such as goods from school food drives, tend to come in at a lower volume in the summer months. But hundreds - in some cases thousands - of people are still coming in for help in feeding their families
Your local food pantries, and the people they serve, can use our help. Just a few donated items or a cash donation from a good number of people will help keep food on the shelves.
The Daily Herald's Giving Garden program also provides food to the hungry by encouraging gardeners to drop off fresh produce at one of the participating food pantries and agencies. In the eight years the program has been in existence, suburban gardeners have donated tens of thousands of pounds of produce to area pantries. To inquire about donating to the Giving Garden, e-mail us at givinggarden@dailyherald.com
Assistance is also forthcoming from the federal government. Durbin's Hunger Free Communities Act, which is included in the new federal farm bill, will provide support to local food pantries. That same farm bill also dedicates $10 billion in new funding for nutrition programs that assist the hungry.
The great majority of us leave work looking forward to a good dinner with the family around the dining room table.
But too many others either struggle to put the right amount food on their tables, or go without dinner altogether. If they aren't at the dining room table, they're out looking for food.
Hunger is a real problem in the suburbs. And it is getting worse with each new round of layoffs.
Do what you can to help the pantries give what so many of us take for granted - good meals on the table everyday.