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This weekend, one of the charitable groups which I actively and financially support, Northwest Harvest, teamed with King5 TV in a “Home Team Harvest” campaign to raise through donations of both food and money to provide for 3 million meals to those in need in Washington.
Hunger, News
On this Black Friday, the Friday where we have 1 in 6 food-insecure, let us get our collective acts together and spend some of that Retail Therapy energy on hunger in America.
Of the 925 million in this world who live with food insecurity every day, 528 million of them live in the Asia and Pacific regions. Think about that number it is over 50% of those who deal with hunger on a daily basis. That is 339 million more than sub-Sahara Africa.
This week I viewed a video (see below) surrounding the famine in eastern Africa and the millions of souls who are literally starving before the worlds eyes, a midst the lawlessness of Somalia and environs. The world’s response as been tepid at best, and in my opinion disgraceful. Aid and sufficient military presence to protect those bringing the aid and those receiving the aid should be pouring into the environs, but instead we see donated supplies backing up at ports and depots and not moving to the areas of need. So what happens? Those who need the aid start migrating toward where they believe food and water are present. They journey for days and weeks often times leaving family members dead on the road toward relief. This needs to change.
National Hunger Awareness Day came and went on 7 June 2011. Reflect back, did you do anything different that day? Many didn’t, some did. Let me highlight the efforts of some who came to may attention:
Hunger, News
You can sit and watch the tragedy of hunger in the United States continue, or you can do something. I thank you for your action, your community thanks you for your action and those who will have a meal in their bowl and on their table due to your action thank you.
So often when we speak of hunger in the world, and specifically in the United States it occurs from a distance and in an impersonal manner, until it gets personal. Getting personal can occur when someone you know or someone you love finds themselves debating whether food is something which should be purchased today. Think about that for a minute. If you’ve never had such a thought, where will the food come for my or my family’s next meal, count yourself amongst the fortunate, but more than 50 million in the United States have such thoughts daily; more than 900,000,000 persons in this world we share have those thoughts daily. Please ask yourself, is it possible that the United States (the land of plenty) can have 1/20th of the world’s hungry within it’s population? Then, please ask yourself, what can I do.
Kudos to President Obama of the United States and President Dilma Vana Rousseff of Brazil for their discussion of jointly addressing global food security issues during President Obama’s recent visit to Brazil. As my readers know, I am a strong advocate of eradicating hunger in a world where abundance of food is a reality and the issues lay within the ability to distribute… While lacking visibiilty into the discussions in Brazil which occurred, I am hopeful that President Rousseff highlighted the initiative of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, (her hometown) where the municipality has outlawed hunger, rendering it illegal – successfully (see my piece, Hunger Should be Illegal). This model needs to be replicated and replicated widely.
There is sufficient food available in this world today, unfortunately the geopolicital and economic short-sightedness are ensuring that we have 925,000,000 persons not getting that food. Do something, there are far too many empty bowls.
…nearly 17 million children in America—that’s almost one in four—face hunger. And it’s likely that these children will endure lifelong consequences as a result of having limited access to nutritious foods. In fact, they’re more likely to suffer…
The 2010 Virtual Canned Food Drive was a success, raising approximately 150% of goal. I thank you for your kindness and generosity in helping address Hunger in America.
Let us give thanks 85 percent of the households in the United States are food secure Let us give thanks our family is not amongst the remaining 15 percent, which equates to more than 50+ million persons who are food insecure. Let us give thanks our children are not amongst the one in one in ...
Were you aware that hunger, food insecurity is one of the root causes of individuals finding themselves victimized by Human Traffickers? You might be asking yourself how is this possible. In urban and rural situations both within the United States and abroad the number of families living under the poverty level continue to increase. In the United ...
In the United States there are programs within the public school systems to assist children with reduced resources to be able to have a light meal cum snack before school and a reduced price lunch during school. When the child goes home, they eat what is placed on the table which if they are fortunate their parent/guardian will prepare, but as often as not, they themselves must prepare. What if there isn’t any food at home? The child goes hungry? Not if there is a Backpack Program.
Hunger, NewsBreakfast is the meal which energizes us for the day. Unfortunately, not all in the United States have the means to provide their families with this all important meal. One in six families are food insecure in the United States – 300,000,000+ is our population, that means 50,000,000 citizens worry about their breakfast. Did you ...
Hunger, News
The memory of the tragic loss of life which occurred on September 11, 2001 will be forever etched in our minds. No matter where we were or what we were doing we all remember the moment when we realized that the magnitude of the events unfolding before our eyes. Those who perished that day at ...
This morning I read an extraordinarily uplifting piece about the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. They have declared hunger to be illegal. I shalln’t recap the entire article (see link below), but allow me to highlight some of details with hopes that those reading can take the data and emulate in their own villages, towns and cities. In 1993, the city of 2.5 million had 275,000 in absolute poverty and 20% of the children suffering hunger. Fast forward to 2010, hunger is virtually non-existent and only 2% (two percent) of the city’s budget was used to achieve this result – how much was two percent, 2 million dollars – less than a dollar per constituent.
Author, Speaker, Humanitarian, Leader, Senior Security Advisor
My focus is on Safety, Security, Intelligence, Intellectual Property and Humanitarian issues.
I place particular emphasis on the protection of both the young and the elderly of our society.
You may contact me directly via:
Christopher@BurgessCT.com
