Missionaries of the Sacred

According to the United States Department of Ag­riculture (USDA), more than 36 million Americans do not get enough food to sustain a healthy life.

It may seem shocking that 1 in 8 Americans experi­ence food insecurity, since the USA is a wealthy country. While it is true that we don’t experience the extreme shortages of food some other coun­tries experience, having enough food for adequate nutrition is something that a lot of us take for granted. Many Americans have to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care. Three out of five single mothers had trouble putting adequate food on the table in 2007.¹

One third of the clients of Feeding America (Amer­ica’s Food Bank Network) have a least one working adult in the household, and 26% of clients inter­viewed during the Hunger Study have attended college or a technical school. (Read true stories.)The USDA distinguishes between households with “low food security” and “very low food security”. Members of low food security households don’t necessarily go hungry, but they still do not have sufficient resources for food. Instead, people living in low food security households cope by eating less varied diets, participating in federal food assistance programs, and/or getting food from local food pantries. In contrast, members of very low food security households have had to reduce their food intake, in other words: go hungry. In 2007, 4.1% of the population (4.7 million households) had very low food security at some point during the year.

Adequate nutrition is also a factor. We can usually tell healthy foods from unhealthy ones – we know that we need to balance lean protein, whole grains and fruit and vegetables in order to meet our body’s nutritional requirements. But fatty meat is generally cheaper than lean meat or fish at the grocery store, and all too often it can be cheaper to feed a family of four off the $1 menu at a fast food restaurant than to cook a nutritious meal at home.

So as we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, let us take a moment to give thanks for some of the things we take for granted, such as having enough nutritious food. When we are grateful for what we have, it is easier for us to identify and share that which we don’t need.

1. http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/eib48/spreads/3/index.htm