A crisis right before our eyes
Published 2:10 pm Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Amirikis Smith is the 8-year-old boy from Coushatta, La., who sent President Obama $50 from his savings account to help the people of Haiti, as mentioned with literary license in the president’s State of the Union address.
(In his speech, Obama said the boy had sent him his allowance, which apparently sounds more touching than a very real donation of $50.)
At Serene Lake Elementary School in Mukilteo, students are making and selling postcards to benefit Doctors Without Borders’ efforts in Haiti. Students are enthusiastically participating in the project and it’s expected they’ll exceed their $1,000 goal.
Students are also learning about Haiti, and America’s relationship with it, Julie Bivins, a fifth-grade teacher told Herald reporter Oscar Halpert. “The kids really identify with that,” she said. “They’re at an age where they’re very empathetic; they’re starting to think beyond themselves.”
The giving spirit is not in short supply. Especially when the suffering is so great.
Americans are just as generous with each other in times of trouble. But it’s harder to see, or perhaps acknowledge, an ongoing crisis right in front our eyes, unless one happens to see a man shoplifting sausages for his children, as a recent letter writer did.
But this is the reality, and it is a crisis: A record number of Americans, particularly children, do not have enough to eat.
The facts, according to a report by Feeding America, a network of 203 food banks nationwide: One in eight Americans — 37 million — received emergency food help last year, up 46 percent from 2005.
One in five children, 14 million, received food from soup kitchens, food pantries and other agencies, up from 9 million in 2005, the year of the group’s last major survey.
The report notes that a record number of Americans are receiving food stamps — 33.7 million last year. It says some of the same people who get food stamps also go to soup kitchens or food pantries, because the government aid might not be enough.
This follows a U.S. Department of Agriculture report issued in November that found 49 million people in American households — one in six — went hungry or had insufficient food at some point.
More than a third of those interviewed by Feeding America said they had to choose between food and other necessities, including rent, utilities and health care.
Then there’s all those empathic children across the country, working on projects to help the people of Haiti. One in five of them is hungry. They would help each other if they knew.
Please donate to a food bank.
