The Hunger Space

I must confess I had never really thought about hunger or food insecurity before. I have led a blessed and sheltered life and the thought very rarely ever crossed my mind. Sure, every once in a while, an ad featuring starving children is some far away third world nation made me feel uneasy and most of the time I simply turned the channel and never entertained the idea of sending money to the address on the screen. Hunger was something in a far away land that did not touch me directly.

I managed to stay in my comfortable little world for forty plus years, never really giving hunger much thought and certainly not entertaining the idea that it might be here close to home. That was until this past year and really the past few months. My daughter is a senior this year and her high school requires each student to complete an exit project to graduate. Projects vary greatly but are required to be something outside that student’s comfort zone. For a great deal of Tat’s junior year our dinner table discussions centered on what she would do. One theme kept coming back to us. Tatum would say I don’t know what I want to do with this project but I want to do something good that will make a difference.

About this same time, I had the opportunity to meet an incredible man named Rick McNary. Rick is one of the leading experts on food insecurity and a guru in the world of food packaging. In a few short months, I went from never having met Rick to crossing paths with him at about every function I attended. Through these interactions I learned about all the great things he was doing in the hunger space and I put Tatum in contact with him.

That was when Tatum decided she would do an event with area youth and package meals for those who are food insecure. Packaging food is the process where a group of people come together and measure out, seal and send ready to prepare meals to go to food banks or ship overseas. Often these events feature assembly line type organization and many meals are packaged in a short amount of time. I had heard about these events but had never been a part of one, until last week.

Probably the most important part of Tatum’s event (outside of the meals they prepared) was the opportunity for the kids to hear Rick talk about hunger and what can and needs to be done about it. I don’t know how to describe Rick’s presentation but I have heard it several times and it still fires me up and makes me want to do something about food insecurity. Especially the food insecurity right here in rural America.

Nearly one in five people are food insecure in our hometowns. It is kind of hard to believe and even harder to wrap your mind around but think about it. We know many single parents working low paying jobs just to get by. I am sure we all know many elderlies who are trying to get by on meager savings, retirements and or social security. These people are not far off refugees in a foreign land, they are our neighbors, family and friends and they need our help now more than ever.

That was why I was so proud of Tatum and her friends. They sacrificed a Saturday night (not something teens normally do) and spent time learning about hunger and then did something about it. By the end of the night they had packaged over 2,200 meals to go to our local food bank at Community Health Ministries in Wamego. Just by reading this you might think that they spent an entire evening working non-stop to accomplish this. Nope, in less than an hour they had the meals measured, sealed and boxed. Did I mention there was a lot of laughing, cheering and loud music involved also? It was over in a flash and they all wanted to keep going. Who knew that doing good work could be both fun and rewarding.

Did the hunger issue, even in our little town get solved? Not even close, food insecurity is an issue that seems to be growing. However, I think that I am safe in saying that solving the problem took a step forward that night because of a group of youth who became more aware of the issue and in a small way did something about it.

I am sorry but I must be a proud parent for a moment. Not only did Tatum fulfill the requirement to earn her high school diploma but she also made good on her vow to do something good and meaningful along the way. That is how hunger issues will be solved, by everyone getting involved and chipping away at the problem one small chunk at a time.