Hunger Pains

Pensive older person with glasses, subtle smile

You forgot to eat lunch because you were too busy at work. The traffic on the way home was bumper to bumper. As you inched along, your stomach is growling. All you can think about is the great dinner you are going to have tonight. You get home and walk into the house. The first words that come out of your mouth: I’m starving!

Think about those two words. Are you starving or are you just very hungry? Your body wants food. It had food for breakfast. You just forgot to eat lunch at work at a nice job and that night you were driving in a nice car to a nice house for a nice dinner. But you weren’t starving.

Image via SteveGrantHealth.com

When you’re walking outside or spending time at the park, the people you see who appear to have gone weeks without a shower or a decent meal are the ones who can truly say they are starving. Because they probably are.

There are other people that you see who may look almost like you. They go to work, go home but there may be no food in their house. They may only have minimum-wage jobs. They pay their rent, but they sometimes have to go without food because they have no money for food. They are starving.

Food insecurity is up 22 percent this year in Texas. One in seven Texas seniors are seeing an increase in food insecurity from 13.6 percent to 15.1 percent. One in eight white non-Hispanic Texans have had their food insecurity jump from 11 percent to 12 percent.

Over 19 percent of Texans, one in five people, are food insecure. Last year it was one in six. Texas has the highest level of food insecurity in the country. Over six million people. This state. This big, rich state.

Money will go to school vouchers, but what about the kids in schools whose only food intake is what they get at school?  Will that money still be there? Does any of the billions in PAC money ever go to families who need help? We want to think that they don’t exist. When these families do have money for food, all they can think about is filling the stomachs of their children. Wouldn’t it be nice to fill them with nice, healthy food? SNAP¹ money won’t pay for a snickers bar because our government says that the SNAP money can only be used for good, healthy food. That kind of food is expensive.

Imagine if you are on an extremely tight budget. And at least most of us have grocery stores to go to. Think of the neighborhoods who have none. Convenience stores don’t sell healthy fruits and vegetables.

We provide so much for the rich in this country and we punish the poor. They are taking advantage of the system, people say. How much advantage can someone take on the ever-decreasing money that one can get from SNAP? Multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos pays no taxes. This country allows him to take advantage.

September is Hunger Action month. Volunteer at a local food bank or pantry. Donate money or shelf stable items like peanut butter and jelly, canned meats, canned beans.

You don’t like your tax money going to able bodies people who need food? It’s probably the best thing you tax money does.

Elections are coming. Vote not just with your wallets. Vote with your stomachs.

¹ SNAP: Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program

Source: Feeding America

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