Can it be true that in this land of promise and plenty there actually are people who do not get enough to eat?  Statistics show that one out of every six people are hungry.  One out of four are under the age of six.  I don’t mean that they are starving, but they are not getting proper nutrition or don’t eat three meals a day.  Maybe they don’t eat every day.

     Many low income families can’t afford to feed their children.  Food stamps will only stretch so far and most food pantries you can only visit once a month.  Consequently, people buy what is cheapest without regard to nutritional value.  They buy hot dogs instead of chicken, and processed foods instead of fresh produce.

     The thing that bothers me, is at the same time these people are going hungry, we as a nation are throwing away thousands of pounds of food every day.  I live in a farming community and see first hand some of the waste.  Many farmers only pick their fields once.

     That means the rest of the crop lays in the fields rotting.  Field after field of tomatoes and cabbage go to waste.  In Florida they threw away thousands of strawberries in order to keep the price high enough for the farmers to make a profit.  We see bushels of peaches and apples left hanging on the trees.

     My son works for a big snack food company, and they throw boxes and boxes of snacks away every day.  If the sell by date is expired, out they go.  Anyone knows that these items are safe to eat for months after that date, unfortunately they can’t give them away unless it’s to a non-profit organization.

     I have seen people digging through the dumpsters outside the grocery stores.  If they get caught someone will chase them away.  In the bigger cities you see people holding signs that say “Will work for food”.  When I see this, I usually give them a sack of groceries.  Most people are’t going to ask a stranger back to their home to do some work.  These people are trying to make their own way and earn their food.

     The problem isn’t really a shortage of food.  We just don’t have a system to get the extra food to the people who need it most.  Churches and food pantries do what they can, but still there is a huge gap between what is needed and what is available.  I hope some day soon there is a plan in place to distribute our excess to families in need.

     As our economy grows worse, so does the hunger problem.  I guess only God knows the answer, but I sure wish He would  tell someone what can be done.