HUNGRY?

HOW one organizations is trying to solve a global problem
by Erin Stewart

When most Americans think about hunger, they think of mass starvation in far-away countries like India or Sudan. Haunting images of skeletal children with flies buzzing around their faces permeate the media—but “Feed the Children” commercials are only a snapshot of the real issue. Hunger is a complex problem, and it requires a much more complex solution than an 800 number and twenty dollars a month can provide.

Eight hundred fifty-two million people worldwide—almost three times the population of the United States—cannot meet their most basic need for food. In America alone, thirty-eight million people do not have access to enough food to lead a healthy lifestyle. It is chronic undernutrition, rather than natural disasters like famines or tsunamis, that causes the most hunger-related deaths each year. Hunger is not a one-time emergency; it is a perpetual global tragedy.

Unfortunately the tragedy does not stop with hunger. There is an inextricable, cyclical link between hunger and poverty—poverty causes hunger, and hunger creates poverty. Other issues such as AIDS, literacy, gender equality, and sanitation contribute to the global hunger cycle.

The world produces enough food to eliminate hunger, but there is no mechanism for equitable distribution. One of many hunger-related organizations, Bread for the World lobbies our nation’s decision-makers seeking to both protect existing hunger programs and increase hunger-focused development assistance worldwide. As Christians, it is our duty to care for all of God’s creation, especially the poor and needy. God has given us our daily bread, and we are compelled to share it.

For more information about Bread for the World or other opportunities to get involved, visit Bread for the World’s web site at http://www.bread.org/