Special for Evans Politics, Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009, by Paul Evans
As we drive to see relatives and other loved ones and friends to sit down to the feast that is Thanksgiving dinner, and maybe watch a football game afterwords, it is good and right to reflect on those less fortunate than we are. For some of us, this Thanksgiving meal is an unusual day of feasting in a life where, commonly, the choice is between eating decently or paying the rent, or mortgage, and the heating and electrical and similar bills. All too often, people - people who are hardworking, people with jobs - go hungry. And, all too often, people are living in subsidized housing ridden with hard drugs and crime, with very few resources at all for food, except perhaps government food stamps.
Here are the statistics you don't want to read this Thanksgiving Day. Don't worry, I won't belabor what, in fact, we already know in our hearts: millions of people are hungry - or homeless and hungry and cold - this Thanksgiving day. But I feel compelled to drive home the point, even though lots of you have stopped reading by now.
See The Season of Our Discontent: Poverty and Hunger in America, Truthout, November 17, 2009, by Mark Winne for Yes! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions.
From Truthout:
November is when the U.S. Department of Agriculture announces the latest rates of domestic food insecurity and hunger (labeled by the department’s experts as "very low food security"). In 2007, the numbers stood at 12.1 percent of all Americans, about 36 million of our brothers and sisters. On November 16, the department announced that 49 million Americans were now food insecure, the highest figure since the department started measuring domestic hunger in 1997. It was a figure so appalling that it even shocked long-time anti-hunger advocates.
The revelation that there are that many hungry Americans will no doubt prompt government agencies to tout the safety net virtues of the food stamp program and the Department of Agriculture's other 14 food assistance programs. Now giving more than 36 million Americans (yes, also a record) a not terribly generous $1.30 per meal, food stamps will again be revealed for what they are and are not: a pretty good way to keep people from starving, but a failure when it comes to addressing the root causes of food insecurity, namely poverty.
Do YOU want to try to live decently off $1.30 a meal? Do you think it really can be done with any decency - not to mention full stomachs and acceptable nutrition?
Well, just in case I have made you feel bad, here are some resources if you want to try to help those less fortunate Americans who are in poverty, especially help them to get some food. Then I'll leave you alone for Thanksgiving.... after all, even bloggers need a holiday, and I'm driving up to Akron to see my sweet girlfriend, to have some turkey with her and her sister and brother-in-law. I wish you a truly happy Thanksgiving... I just wanted to remind you of those less fortunate than you, who need your help.
First, let me tout our own government's Serve.gov website, where there are many tools to volunteer and make a difference. You can download their "Anti-Hunger Volunteer Toolkit" and get involved in ways that make a difference here.
According to the Truthout article, there are "205 private food banks. Their mailed, emailed, radioed, and televised pleas for assistance will tell us that demand is up, the shelves are bare, and their warehouses are too small. They need turkeys, cans, and dollars." Demand is way up, and donations are considerably down.
The website Evans Politics really recommends is Feeding America, which has given 9 million meals to date. If you yourself need food, there is a foodbank locater. If you'd like to watch some videos about this, Feeding America's YouTube channel is here. If you would like an inexpensive and simple way to make a small difference, may I suggest their Holiday Cards or ecards. It's a nice way to make a small difference.
As Truthout notes, the problem in America is only hunger at the surface level (unless you don't have any means of getting something to eat -- then I would say that hunger is very much the main problem, right?) The problem in America is the 17 plus percent real unemployment, the problem in America is POVERTY and the lack of a living wage for millions of Americans.
Well, bless all of you this Thanksgiving Day and throughout the year. But in case you don't feel uneasy about your neighbors and fellow citizens' hunger and poverty, here is a nice and beautiful music video just for Thanksgiving Day: Silent night, sung by Nancy Wilson and Kimiko Itoh, with some very beautiful imagery. As you watch, ask yourselves, why does this video upset me so much in this context?