April Food Day

Today there will be no pretty pictures of privileged lives.

Most of us here in this corner of the blogosphere enjoy some level of comfort and choice. Blog posts more often than not reflect one's own enviable possessions or homes, or those of others.  We cannot imagine the desperate circumstances of those who cannot meet the basic demands of food and shelter.

In this part of Maine, one sees the extremes of American society up close, from sleek yachts moored off  private docks,  to homes that would not be out of place in depression-era Appalachia, the two often not even a mile apart.  Even in a down economy, expensive restaurants are filled with diners, while food pantries struggle to fill  need.  For many up here, the choice is not between dining in with a good bottle of wine or dining out with a good bottle of wine, but to dine at all.   A volunteer at the local food pantry recently told me that need had nearly doubled over the last year, as the economy tumbled, and low level jobs disappeared.

I'm proud to live in a community which has an organization and citizenry that steps up to fight hunger, and for that reason, I am asking you to donate to Feeding America.  Please take a moment to read the sobering statistics below, and then click the link to make your donation, either to feeding America, or to your local food bank.

• Feeding America is annually providing food to 37 million Americans, including 14 million children. This is an increase of 46 percent over 2006, when we were feeding 25 million Americans, including 9 million children, each year.
• That means one in eight Americans now rely on Feeding America for food and groceries.
• Feeding America's nationwide network of food banks is feeding 1 million more Americans each week than we did in 2006. 
• Thirty-six percent of the households served have at least one person working.
• More than one-third of client households report having to choose between food and other basic necessities, such as rent, utilities and medical care.
• The number of children the Feeding America network serves has increased by 50 percent since 2006.
• Feeding America food banks provide food and groceries to 33,500 food pantries, 4,500 soup kitchens and 3,600 emergency shelters.
• 68 percent of pantries, 42 percent of soup kitchens, and 15 percent of emergency shelters rely solely on volunteers and have no paid staff.
• 55 percent, are faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious organizations; 33 percent are other types of non-profit organizations.

I urge everyone reading about this blog initiative today to donate:

http://help.feedingamerica.org/aprilfoodday

One can follow the results on their blog:
http://aprilfoodday.blogspot.com/

 

Thank you to Meg at Pigtown Designs and Chris at Easy & Elegant Life for using their kind hearts to spearhead this effort.