Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour. This is an open thread where we can share our thoughts and comments about the day. I thought it would be good if we talk about hunger, not hunger in far distant African, Asian, or South American countries, but hunger closer to home: hunger right here in America.
While the United States produces an abundance of food, there are still 41 million American people who are struggling with hunger. This means that there are 41 million people living in households which are considered food insecure because there is limited access to food or access to food is uncertain.
Until the current regime took control of the U.S. government, food insecurity in the country was addressed through federal programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the National School Lunch Program and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children. Conservative politicians, with an amazing lack of empathy for or understanding of poverty in the country, are actively planning to get rid of these programs.
Households with food insecurity are more likely to include children: 13 million children in the United States face problems with hunger. There are some long-term ramifications to lack of nutrition among children. The human brain consumes a lot of calories: 20% of the calories consumed by an adult are used for the brain even though it is only about 2% of the body weight. In addition, most of the growth in the brain happens during childhood, particularly in the frontal lobe which controls things like reasoning and learning. What hunger means for children is that when they go through periods of hunger, their brains fail to mature properly. This means that they find learning difficult.
As government programs shrink, the importance of non-governmental programs such as local food banks become more important. The SAGE (Sustainable Agriculture and Energy) center in Oregon has a display on one rather interesting program for dealing with hunger.
The Farmers Ending Hunger program begins with farmers and ranchers donating an acre or two of land to feed the hungry. After harvest, this food is transported to the Oregon Food Bank Network. Many of the fresh crops are turned into foods that can be distributed later in the year.
Sharing Saturday
Kossacks taking care of our own — helping by sharing, donating money or needed items (like gift cards “bought” with credit card points or passing on an extra toaster), helping by sharing both donation site links and artisan/vendor site links and purchasing gifts for self or others via those links, helping by sharing knowledge and informational links, or helping by just sharing a hug or a cup of coffee as appropriate — is what community is all about.
Helping Kossacks in need is the Street Prophets “intersection of politics and religion”/ethical values. Politics because if we had the government we are working towards, we wouldn’t need fundraisers. Religion/ethical values because those tell us to help folks in need including protecting them from people who see them as easy targets. We are community — clan, tribe, company, village, culture, and state. Community survives beyond the life of any single member and thrives by supporting and strengthening the life of each individual member — by helping each other, by sharing — all together.
Usually, bfitzinAR posts the Saturday Coffee Hour as a Sharing Saturday. She is unable to post today, so accept this diary as a replacement. Unfortunately, I cannot post all of the links that she posts.
If you would like to host the Wednesday Coffee Hour here on Street Prophets, or the Saturday Coffee Hour, please let me know in the comments.
Open Thread
This is an open thread. All topics are welcome. Feel free to post sharing links in the comments.