Wednesday, August 22, 2018

The Great American Food Challenge



Hunger, holiday season on  the horizon touching hearts to reach out and embrace love…turkey love…cranberry craziness…sweets insanity...empty stomachs teased…cupboards bare...hearts ache. Hungry people everywhere…poverty across America…no money for the basics…soup kitchens and pantries addressing the need to a degree. That time of year once again has descended upon the economically challenged to emphasize and make them even more aware of this acute condition.
Soup kitchen aromas tantalize famished palates waiting to be pleased on this day out of the year set aside to give thanks for thoughtful souls. Hunger a year around concern yearns for means to keep refrigerators full, and cupboards complete with the ABC’s of nutrition. Hungry children, hungry adults, hungry seniors plead for relief from this chronic condition.
The House of Love Soup Kitchen, a faith based organization, located in Newark, NJ served a pre-Thanksgiving meal to over 80 people on the 15th of November. What a meal! What a meal! Praises floated up to the heavens as blessings of turkey with all the trimmings came down and filled plate after plate…God bless the hands that prepared the meal...fried chicken, mac ‘n cheese, stuffing, baked beans…it seemed as if the choices of food would never end...God bless all those who were able to partake of this scrumptious meal…candied yams, tuna noodle salad, pasta salad, green salad and mixed vegetables for the healthy minded... God bless all those trying to make a difference in their communities... ice tea to wash the feast down and yes, pies and cakes galore. Lord we thank you for this day to ward off hunger…this day for the community to engage in an all you can eat treat with camaraderie and the love of God filling the air.
Where do we go from here? What does the future hold in store for feeding hungry Americans? Should there even be a scarcity of food in America?
  • Feeding America Statistics:  42.2 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including 29.1 million adults and 13.1 million children.
  • Households that had higher rates of food insecurity than the national average included households with children (17%), especially households with children headed by single women (30%) or single men (22%), Black non-Hispanic households (22%) and Hispanic households (19%).
  • In 2014, 5.4 million seniors (over age 60), or 9 percent of all seniors were food insecure.
  • http://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/impact-of-hunger/hunger-and-poverty/hunger-and-poverty-fact-sheet.html
Praying and asking God to guide, to protect, and to direct those involved in battling hunger…please God fill the stomachs everyday of those suffering from the great American food challenge and please God strengthen all involved in the fight against hunger not allowing us to “grow weary in well doing”.

                                                                                                                  

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