Author | Abigail Gross |
(Above: The Journalism Club was inspired by Abigail's article and has begun collecting cans of food for each meeting for local food pantries. We hope it inspires you as well!)
If you were as fortunate a child as I was, you probably aren’t familiar with the concept of food stamps or free lunches. As a typical middle-class child in a typical middle-class family, I never had to worry about where my next meal came from. If you had asked me in elementary school, I probably couldn’t have told you what had to take place for my parents to put a meal on our table. In my mind, such a luxury of healthy, accessible food was a non-issue. However, for many families in our community, it is definitively not. I’m sure many of you would like to help these families but aren’t entirely sure how to go about it or even where this problem comes from. Even Lydia Rice, self-proclaimed genius, was confused when I proposed this article.
Food insecurity, as defined by the USDA, is the lack of consistent financial access to enough food for an active, healthy life. According to a study done by the USDA in 2014, about 1 in 6 American households are affected by food insecurity. If the US population is at 328.5 million as the Census Bureau claims, then 54,750,000 people in our country are food insecure. To put this number into perspective, it’s a little more than the total population of Australia and North Korea combined. To add to that, about 1 in 7.5 people in metro Atlanta find it necessary to turn to food banks. Y’all (can I use y’all? I live in Georgia, of course I can), this is happening in our own community. Not to be all despairing and apocalyptic, but the situation really is despairing and apocalyptic. Upwards of 164,000 children alone face food insecurity in Atlanta.
"Food insecurity, as defined by the USDA, is the lack of consistent financial access to enough food for an active, healthy life..about 1 in 6 American households are affected by food insecurity."
Unsurprisingly, this has a massive impact on our community. Often, people must choose between fresh, healthier foods and foods with higher calorie contents that satisfy them for longer periods of time. For most people, eating the recommended servings of natural foods is not financially feasible. Lack of balanced nutrition can often lead to diseases less common in those with access to a variety of foods. About a third of food stamp recipients deal with diabetes as opposed to 1 in 4 people in the general population. Unfortunately, these people often lack the necessary resources like foods low in sugar content to thrive with this disease. In order to combat such health problems in Atlanta, an organization called Concrete Jungle has dedicated themselves to collecting fruit from unused trees around the city. All of the fruit is then donated to food drives and community food banks in the community. Since its conception in 2009, volunteers have gathered (or, in their words, “rescued”) and donated 60,365 pounds of produce to the local poor.
"...people must choose between fresh, healthier foods and foods with higher calorie contents that satisfy them for longer periods of time."
“Okay,” you may be thinking, “But what does this have to do with me?” I realize that my target audience in this article is likely made of largely middle-class families who are fortunate enough to have the funds to send their kids to such a lovely place as Scholars Guild. To you wonderful people, I ask why you (or your parents) choose to spend the money to send your children (or you) to Scholars Guild? It could be for the teaching (I’ll be the first to say that our teachers are amazing!) or for the incredible people (lookin’ at you, Powelson family), but I’d venture to say that a majority of you are here for the Christian focus. Yep, you guessed it, this is where I pull out the Bible to guilt you into listening to me. To sum up the book of James (not to choose favorites but, yeah, it’s my favorite), faith without works is dead. Sometimes, as Protestants, we tend to brush that book under the rug. I’ll admit, I’ve done it before. Even our dear friend, Martin Luther, struggled with this idea. Contrary to our common need to create dichotomies where dichotomies aren’t necessary, however, sola fides and faithful works are not mutual exclusives. Part of knowing Jesus Christ is doing Jesus Christ. We see this again and again and again (He seemed to want to drill this concept in) in Scripture. “Thoughts and prayers” are easy to give, and, hey, prayer works, but taking the initiative to be the hands and feet of Christ also works. James 2:15-16 (NIV) says, “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace and be fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” We are called to share the blessings God has entrusted to us. The human race is our family through Christ’s love, so we should act like it.
“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace and be fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?”
-James 2:15-16 (NIV)
Now that I have (hopefully) successfully used the Bible to get you to agree with me (you know, like it kind of says not to do, but you catch my drift), what’s next? You’ve seen the numbers, you’ve seen how our sisters and brothers are wanting for basic necessities, so what do you do? Food drives, soup kitchens, and community gardens are a fantastic place to start, if you have the time. For those of us who just don’t right now, we use the time we are given. Moms, how often are you stuck in your car, waiting for your kid to get out of rehearsal or practice? I know my mom is a lot (which is 100% because of my stunning intuition and awareness, and not at all because she complains about it or anything). Use those 15 minutes to post the link to a local food drive on Facebook to let those mysterious people who have such an elusive thing as free time know where they can go. If your kids are driving you insane (as we often do) and you just need to get away and talk to some adults, ask your friends to come over and bring some cans of food. You can put together boxes for struggling families while you catch up. If you’re younger and you want to get to know people, you could do the same kind of thing for people you want to get to know better. Having something planned to do can kind of take the edge off of meeting new people, and it certainly doesn’t hurt if those plans include kindness and love. Another idea is to capitalize on your study hall time, unless you (like me) have procrastinated schoolwork and need to catch up on that. You should probably take care of that first. If this is something you’re interested in, email me or reach out to Mrs. Klinect, our service project coordinator, who has already led a successful project involving those who cannot afford food this year. Another point is that socially conscious people are attractive. Being kind, loving, and generous are wonderful qualities that draw people in. While this is certainly true in relationships, I’m more focused on the power this has in friendships. When you show people that you care about others without expecting anything in return, they want to be around that kind of energy. Positivity begets positivity, no matter how destitute the situation is.