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Nourishing the Christian Mind, Strengthening the Christian Heart.

Eye on the World

January/February Spotlight: World Hunger

Yet there is plenty of food in the world for everyone. The problem is that hungry people are trapped in severe poverty. They lack the money to buy enough food to nourish themselves. Being constantly malnourished, they become weaker and often sick. This makes them increasingly less able to work, which then makes them even poorer and hungrier. This downward spiral often continues until death for them and their families.

There are effective programs to break this spiral. For adults, there are “food for work” programs where the adults are paid with food to build schools, dig wells, make roads, and so on. This both nourishes them and builds infrastructure to end the poverty. For children, there are “food for education” programs where the children are provided with food when they attend school. Their education will help them to escape from hunger and global poverty.

Brief Facts about World Hunger

• Forty percent of the people on our planet—more than 2.5 billion—live in poverty, struggling to survive on less than $2 a day. In every nation on earth, people go to sleep hungry even though our planet produces enough food to feed every woman, man, and child.

• 854 million people across the world are hungry, up from 852 million a year ago.

• Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds.

• In essence, hunger is the most extreme form of poverty, where individuals or families cannot afford to meet their most basic need for food.

• Hunger manifests itself in many ways other than starvation and famine. Most poor people who battle hunger deal with chronic undernourishment and vitamin or mineral deficiencies, which result in stunted growth, weakness and heightened susceptibility to illness.
  

• Countries in which a large portion of the population battles hunger daily are usually poor and often lack the social safety nets we enjoy, such as soup kitchens, food stamps, and job training programs. When a family that lives in a poor country cannot grow enough food or earn enough money to buy food, there is nowhere to turn for help.

How to Help:

Raise Awareness

Participate in Community Efforts

Prayer & Fasting

Raise awareness for yourself and others. Check out these organizations* for information and ideas on how to make people aware of the reality that's out there:

Bread for the World - www.bread.org

Oxfam America - www.oxfamamerica.org

Food for the Poor - www.foodforthepoor.org

Poverty.com - www.poverty.com 

WorldManna.org - www.worldmanna.org 

Society of St. Andrew - www.endhunger.org/index.htm 

Participate in community efforts to relieve the hunger of others globally and locally. 

Upcoming event: 

Oxfam Hunger Banquet hosted by Newman Catholic Student Group at Oakland University

Wednesday, February 13 @ 6:30 p.m. - Gold Rooms, Oakland Center, OU

For more information, email Lisa at abad@oakland.edu. 

What is a hunger banquet? 

A unique and memorable event, the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet, allows organizers and participants alike to experience firsthand how our decisions affect others in the world.

 

Guests draw tickets at random that assign them each to either a high-, middle-, or low-income tier and receive a corresponding meal. The 15 percent in the high-income tier are served a sumptuous meal. The 35 percent in the middle-income section eat a simple meal of rice and beans. The 50 percent in the low-income tier help themselves to small portions of rice and water. (High-, middle-, and low-income statistics used in the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet are based on the World Bank Development Indicators 2007.) Guests can also assume characterizations that describe the situation of a specific person at the income level to which they've been assigned. Finally, all guests are invited to share their thoughts after the meal.

After an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet, few participants leave with full stomachs, but all possess a greater understanding of the problems of hunger and poverty and will hopefully be motivated to do something about them.

Local kitchens and organizations at work*:

Manna Soup Kitchen - http://stpeterscorktown.edomi.org/MannaMeal.htm

Capuchin Soup Kitchen - http://www.cskdetroit.org/ 

HOPE Hospitality and Warming Center - http://www.baldwincenter.org/afservices.htm 

Gleaners Food Bank - www.gfcb.org 

St. Vincent de Paul - www.svdpdet.org 

St. Leo's Soup Kitchen

St. Dominic Outreach Center

St. Aloysius Parish

 

*This is by no means an exhaustive list...just some examples to show you what's out there.

Prayer & Fasting:

Never underestimate the power of prayer and fasting, and what the Lord can do through His grace alone! Some suggestions for prayer & fasting include:

Before a meal - in place or/in addition to your standard blessing, bring to prayer all those who go without adequate food this day. 

 

In your daily prayer - Lord, you laid yourself out to be bread for the world. May we, as true disciples, always remain mindful of the blessings we have, in health, food and resources. In our daily lives, may we be good stewards of the gifts we have received so that we may not be the cause of another's suffering. As we shape our families and our lives, may we strive to live simply so that all may live.

 

During your week - Though fasting doesn't always mean giving up a meal, consider one food item you might give up during the week to place yourself in solidarity with those who do not have enough to sustain themselves and their families. Remain in prayer with and for them through this. One other possibility is to save the money you would have spent on a luxury food item and donate to one of the several organizations working to end hunger.