Hunger Nextdoor

Do you know a family who is hungry? I will bet your first response is, “No, I don’t think so.” But, according to the USDA’s latest Household Food Insecurity Study, more than 35 million people in the United States struggle with hunger. Most recently, due to the effects of the Corona-virus pandemic, more than 54 million people may experience food insecurity this year. With potentially 18 million children in our communities impacted, hunger in America is closer than we think; our neighbor, co-worker, or child’s classmate may be at risk, and we don’t even know it.¹

I bring this up following a conversation I recently had with a neighbor (sharing with her permission).  She is newly separated from her husband.  She has gone back to work full-time but is struggling to keep up with all the household bills and childcare costs.  Her desire to keep life as normal for her kids as possible was putting a lot of stress and anxiety on her.  As we talked I began to realize that one of her biggest struggles was keeping enough food in the house to feed herself and her children. To be honest, the conversation felt a little like a sucker punch.  I had just cleaned out our refrigerator and thrown away leftovers that we had never gotten around to eating, dumping out spoiled milk and moldy cheese.

• Americans throw away enough food in a year to feed over 50,000,000 people.²
• 25% of the food products in North America is thrown away.²

For too long I had felt that food pantries, SNAP food programs, and food donations drives were to help people in other places. But, every community in the country is home to families who struggle with food insecurity including rural and suburban communities, not just the inner cities.

I have heard this term “food insecurity” many times, but what does it mean? Food insecurity describes a household’s inability to provide enough food for every person to live an active and healthy life.  In the United State, the number one food producing country in the world, 1 in 9 people suffer with hunger. 1 in 6 North Texans is food insecure.¹ For most people, one “Bad Month” can be enough to plunge a household into food insecurity.³ Lay-offs at work, unexpected car repairs, or an illness requiring expensive medication can suddenly force a family to choose between buying food and paying the bills.  Surprisingly, it is usually a working family, my neighbors, your neighbors that faces this situation, and are the least likely to be noticed or helped by traditional community programs.

John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” (Luke 3:11, NIV)

So what can you and your family do?

1. Awareness. Knowing the problem is right next door is the first step in reaching out and helping your neighbor.  Spend time getting to know your neighbors, the families on your child’s sports teams, the families of the kids in your child’s class. These families that are the closest to you and are also the least served by traditional feed-the-hungry programs.
2. Training. Train the heart and mind of your family to serve those in your community that need help.  Show them how to help by your own example. This can be as simple as dropping off a few bags of groceries to a neighbor or buying a friend lunch in the cafeteria. Consider starting a family donation jar, where your kids can drop a portion of their allowance, birthday money, etc. to be used to buy groceries when they here of a family in need.
3. Action. Enroll as a regular volunteer with your local food pantry. In my small town, Gracebridge does a great job with regular food collection and food distribution, and working with the community to supply the needs of families in the community.³ They also have a Families Supporting Families program where you can sign up to sponsor a family for as little as $45 per month in your community.  You can also connect with the counselor at your child’s school, so they know as needs arise that they can reach out to you for assistance.

If you are in the North Texas Area, join our Community Care Ministry that is part of our Missional Living Team. They are actively involved with local food banks and agencies including Feed My Sheep in Little Elm, Cornerstone Baptist Church in Dallas, as well as Frisco and Little Elm ISD supplying weekend family meal packs.  This month is the kick off of our Season of Giving, when we will collect enough food to make Thanksgiving Meal Kits for 600 families across the Dallas Metroplex. To get more information about how you and your family can help, go to stonebriar.org/events.