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Help feed the hungry Nov. 1

Donations to the “Hunger Sunday” offering will help fill sacks with food at United Methodist agencies in Kansas as well as assist the Haiti Hot Lunch Program. (photo by Susan Cooper)

Written: 10/26/2009

By Penney Schwab
Special contributor
COPELAND—Did you know that Kansas is ranked as the ninth-highest state for household hunger? Or that nearly two-thirds of food-insecure households have at least one family member employed full-time? Or that households with children experience twice the rate of food insecurity as those with only adults?

United Methodists are working to alleviate hunger in Kansas and also in Haiti.

The Community Food Ministry operated by Open Door in Wichita is the largest food-box program in the area. In 2008, a total of 30,959 households were served, and there has been a 27 percent increase in people seeking food boxes this year.

Mexican American Ministries in southwest Kansas assisted nearly 8,000 families with food boxes and/or commodities.

The Haiti Hot Lunch Program feeds nearly 17,000 children every year through the Vacation Bible Schools operated by the Methodist Church of Haiti. The children receive three hot meals a day during the summer.

Hunger has names and faces. Chico is a 5-year-old boy who lives with his parents and sister in a run-down motel while his family tries to find housing near the job that brought them to Kansas. Keeping the job is his dad’s top priority and means the family car must be kept fueled and running. Without food bank help, Chico’s family would go to bed hungry several nights before payday.

Marianne is a single mom. At first glance, her salary would seem sufficient to keep herself and her 12-year-old daughter out of poverty. But she can only afford catastrophic-expense health insurance. That doesn’t cover the cost of doctor visits and medicines for the daughter’s severe asthma. Marianne, too, needs occasional assistance from an agency food bank.

You can help alleviate hunger in Kansas and in Haiti by putting a generous gift in the offering plate on Nov. 1. Make your check payable to your local church, and write “Hunger Sunday” on the memo line.

Your gift will buy food for hungry children and families served through Open Door in Wichita, Mexican American Ministries in southwest Kansas and the Haiti Hot Lunch Program. Donations not only feed those who are physically hungry, they are a tangible reminder that Christ and the people of the United Methodist Church care about their lives.

Penney Schwab is a member of the conference Hunger Committee and of Copeland UMC.

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