As usual, I would like to wrap up the week with a post that will detail some ideas of how you and I can help.
Hunger is something that affects every single nation, race and culture, so the ways that you can help alleviate hunger are widely varied and unique. You have a lot of options in how you would like to help!
If you want to help the person next door, look up a local food bank or shelter:
Feeding America
Food Pantries
or:
Homeless Shelters
Rescue Missions
If you want to sponsor a child:
Sponsor with World Vision (like me)
Sponsor with Compassion (like my parents)
or just give money where it is needed most. (Or these cute goats!)
Feeling a little stressed by all my suggestions? It's okay. It's a lot to take in at once.
For now, one request: join me at Free Rice, and let's make a team with a purpose.
Join up and get ricing! :) I don't think that's an actual verb, but whatever. It's Christmas Eve, after all.
Have fun!
Showing posts with label hunger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hunger. Show all posts
24 December 2010
22 December 2010
Conviction: Misplaced
As we continue here with the RFP series on different issues that deserve some attention, let's look at why there are so many hungry people in the world.
Like the issues thus far, money (and what is done with it) has a lot to do with ending hunger. In past years, the cost of food has risen at an alarming rate, and for people in underdeveloped countries who may not receive more than a few dollars a day, a sharp increase in the price of food staples (like rice or other grains) can be a big issue.
Though a lot of the factors in the "food crisis", as several sources term it, can be helped by outside involvement, plenty are rather irreversible. Rising fuel prices make it more expensive to transport food items to where they are bought and consumed, and that price is reflected in the amount paid by the consumer. In many African nations, military conflict and raids have displaced entire populations, and when unable to rely on their tradition food sources, the groups cause strain to be put on other healthy systems.
It's important to look at this more clearly though. "Sure, sure, food is more expensive. It's more expensive to buy strawberries in January, but whatever!" One might argue that point, and yes. That's true. But the increase we are looking at here is unbelievable.
World Vision cites these numbers from the Food and Agriculture Association:
The cost of maize has increased by 80%.
The cost of wheat has increased by 70%.
The cost of rice has increased by 25%.
That is huge. And like I mentioned before, these are staples -- the things that make life livable. So where is the money? The money that could be spent to help alleviate the poverty that prevents so many people from getting a meal at least once a day?
Lets do a little experiment here:
There are 6,892,727,905 people in the world right now,
and 1,030,493,710 of them are undernourished.
There has been 5,134,630,478 tons of food produced this year,
and 130,620 tons wasted today in the USA alone.
Americans have spent $117,276,615 on food today, only to throw it away,
and it would only cost $35,474,859 to feed the hungry.
Honestly, it kind of makes me sick.
So what are you going to do to change those numbers?
Like the issues thus far, money (and what is done with it) has a lot to do with ending hunger. In past years, the cost of food has risen at an alarming rate, and for people in underdeveloped countries who may not receive more than a few dollars a day, a sharp increase in the price of food staples (like rice or other grains) can be a big issue.
Though a lot of the factors in the "food crisis", as several sources term it, can be helped by outside involvement, plenty are rather irreversible. Rising fuel prices make it more expensive to transport food items to where they are bought and consumed, and that price is reflected in the amount paid by the consumer. In many African nations, military conflict and raids have displaced entire populations, and when unable to rely on their tradition food sources, the groups cause strain to be put on other healthy systems.
It's important to look at this more clearly though. "Sure, sure, food is more expensive. It's more expensive to buy strawberries in January, but whatever!" One might argue that point, and yes. That's true. But the increase we are looking at here is unbelievable.
World Vision cites these numbers from the Food and Agriculture Association:
The cost of maize has increased by 80%.
The cost of wheat has increased by 70%.
The cost of rice has increased by 25%.
That is huge. And like I mentioned before, these are staples -- the things that make life livable. So where is the money? The money that could be spent to help alleviate the poverty that prevents so many people from getting a meal at least once a day?
Lets do a little experiment here:
There are 6,892,727,905 people in the world right now,
and 1,030,493,710 of them are undernourished.
There has been 5,134,630,478 tons of food produced this year,
and 130,620 tons wasted today in the USA alone.
Americans have spent $117,276,615 on food today, only to throw it away,
and it would only cost $35,474,859 to feed the hungry.
Honestly, it kind of makes me sick.
So what are you going to do to change those numbers?
Labels:
christ,
conviction,
faith,
food,
hunger,
love,
money,
statistics
21 December 2010
Conviction: Starved
Yesterday, I gave you a little information on how many people in the world, and how many children in the world suffer from hunger. So today, let's talk about what hunger really is!
Hunger is simple as far as our definitions are concerned. However, in deference to our previous definitions, here it is:
hun·ger /ˈhʌŋgər/ [huhng-ger]
–noun
1. a compelling need or desire for food.
2. the painful sensation or state of weakness caused by the need of food: to collapse from hunger. 3. a shortage of food; famine.
A need or desire, a sensation, a shortage -- hunger is a very bodily thing. You feel hunger, you have hunger, you are hungry. Unlike our previous definitions, I think that in the case of hunger, all of the definitions are necessary and important to our learning.
For you and I, we will most certainly feel hungry in our lifetimes. Actually, probably this morning, after you rolled out of bed and finished checking your email (I know you did it!) you thought: "Gee. I could really go for a bowl of cereal." So you wandered out to your kitchen and fixed a bowl.
It's not out of the ordinary to feel hunger, that's the first definition: a need or desire that compels you to find some chow.
The second and third definitions? Well, it's a little less likely that you or I will experience these. This is a sense of hunger, an aching in your stomach that isn't caused by a few hours without a meal, but by a few days. And a single meal won't fix it, either, though it's a step in the right direction. Perhaps its not that you didn't get a meal, you just didn't get enough of a meal for weeks on end.
I don't know about you, but I can't imagine experiencing it myself. And it saddens me that other people have to experience that.
I'm not going to tell you to stop saying anything in respect to people who suffer from hunger. I don't care if you say "I'm starving!" or "I'm so hungry I could die!" because when you say you are starving, that may well be the hungriest you have ever been. Instead, keep your eyes peeled and look for a way to help. Those will be here at the end of the week!
Until next time, how have you noticed the way food is used and misused? Leftovers, food thrown away, extra food sent to food banks? Tell me about it!
Hunger is simple as far as our definitions are concerned. However, in deference to our previous definitions, here it is:
hun·ger /ˈhʌŋgər/ [huhng-ger]
–noun
1. a compelling need or desire for food.
2. the painful sensation or state of weakness caused by the need of food: to collapse from hunger. 3. a shortage of food; famine.
A need or desire, a sensation, a shortage -- hunger is a very bodily thing. You feel hunger, you have hunger, you are hungry. Unlike our previous definitions, I think that in the case of hunger, all of the definitions are necessary and important to our learning.
For you and I, we will most certainly feel hungry in our lifetimes. Actually, probably this morning, after you rolled out of bed and finished checking your email (I know you did it!) you thought: "Gee. I could really go for a bowl of cereal." So you wandered out to your kitchen and fixed a bowl.
It's not out of the ordinary to feel hunger, that's the first definition: a need or desire that compels you to find some chow.
The second and third definitions? Well, it's a little less likely that you or I will experience these. This is a sense of hunger, an aching in your stomach that isn't caused by a few hours without a meal, but by a few days. And a single meal won't fix it, either, though it's a step in the right direction. Perhaps its not that you didn't get a meal, you just didn't get enough of a meal for weeks on end.
I don't know about you, but I can't imagine experiencing it myself. And it saddens me that other people have to experience that.
I'm not going to tell you to stop saying anything in respect to people who suffer from hunger. I don't care if you say "I'm starving!" or "I'm so hungry I could die!" because when you say you are starving, that may well be the hungriest you have ever been. Instead, keep your eyes peeled and look for a way to help. Those will be here at the end of the week!
Until next time, how have you noticed the way food is used and misused? Leftovers, food thrown away, extra food sent to food banks? Tell me about it!
20 December 2010
Conviction: Hunger
Let's kick off another week, with statistics to get a idea of the scope of this issue.
As you might imagine, hunger is one of the most widely spread problems. It affects people down the street, people in the middle of nowhere, people next to the White House. People in Europe, people in Australia, people in Mexico and in China. There isn't anywhere that hunger isn't a draw on the resources of a society.
More than 11,000 people have died from starvation today. That means that a child dies from starvation every 7 seconds.
There are more than 1 billion people in the world suffering from hunger.
Approximately 1 in 4 children don't get the nutrition they need.
Along with that information, World Vision also cites this:
Even if a child is just moderately underweight, she is four times more likely to die from an infectious disease compared to a well-nourished child.
Worldwide, approximately 145 million children are underweight and at risk of dying — simply because they don’t get enough nutritious food.
It's not a good outlook, by any measurement. And like the other topics we've covered so far, there isn't any easy solution by which every hungry person will suddenly be fed and happy and healthy. The reason for that lies in the reasons that there are so many hungry people in the world, and those are coming up tomorrow!
As you might imagine, hunger is one of the most widely spread problems. It affects people down the street, people in the middle of nowhere, people next to the White House. People in Europe, people in Australia, people in Mexico and in China. There isn't anywhere that hunger isn't a draw on the resources of a society.
More than 11,000 people have died from starvation today. That means that a child dies from starvation every 7 seconds.
There are more than 1 billion people in the world suffering from hunger.
Approximately 1 in 4 children don't get the nutrition they need.
Along with that information, World Vision also cites this:
Even if a child is just moderately underweight, she is four times more likely to die from an infectious disease compared to a well-nourished child.
Worldwide, approximately 145 million children are underweight and at risk of dying — simply because they don’t get enough nutritious food.
It's not a good outlook, by any measurement. And like the other topics we've covered so far, there isn't any easy solution by which every hungry person will suddenly be fed and happy and healthy. The reason for that lies in the reasons that there are so many hungry people in the world, and those are coming up tomorrow!
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