Hunger Has a Face
September 8, 2008
Hunger has a face. It is the face of an elder who lives in a backwoods shack surviving too many days on cornbread because that’s all she has.
It is the face of a child drinking sugar water because his grandmother’s monthly check can’t stretch to buy food they need to survive.
Hunger is the face of the working poor who can’t cook because their lean-to rentals don’t have stoves or refrigerators. Hunger is the face of men and women with mental illness who barely survive living on the streets.
Hunger is the face of children eating stale crackers and jelly because their mother’s working hours were cut at the nursing home.
A child enjoys a warm meal at Bosco Food Kitchen, Selma.
There are hundreds of hungry faces counting on me every day because the Edmundite Missions take Jesus at His word. Christ says: I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me. (Matthew 25:35, 40)
I see hungry faces at Bosco Food Kitchen where we serve over 200 healthy meals 365 days a year. Bosco serves meals every day because the poor are hungry weekends and holidays too. All summer, our Bosco feeding ministry was pushed to the limits, sometimes serving over 300 meals a day to an ever-growing number of hungry poor.
In our rural ministries, hunger is the face of children, elders and families who live in some of the worst poverty in the state. Hunger is the face of three-year-old Kyla, one of 30 little children who quickly eat a healthy breakfast – and seconds – every day at our Learning Centers in Pine Apple and Vredenburgh. Kyla is small for her age and lives with her ailing grandparents and other relatives in a run-down house with plywood-patched broken windows.
Our breakfasts help children from struggling families get the nutrition they need every day. Breakfast helps them grow stronger and learn better in preschool classes our teachers lead.
Elder receives food from food ministry, Mosses.
Hunger is the face of over 500 families and elders in Lowndes and Wilcox counties who depend on the monthly grocery bag of nutritional food they get from our rural food pantries. Often there is no food in the house when our outreach workers bring groceries to the grateful poor.
The cost of this compassionate outreach has risen tremendously in the last six months. I know you are struggling with rising costs, as are we. Sadly, the country’s sagging economy hurts hardest the vulnerable poor who already are struggling to make ends meet. Every day they have to choose between paying a bill, filling a prescription or buying bread for hungry children.
For our ministry, the hefty increases in gas and upkeep have added staggering bills to our critical ministry driving hundreds of miles each day to reach the isolated poor.
At the same time, we are hit hard by increasing food costs. Frequent shortages at our Food Bank force us to pay full price for the basic ingredients needed to provide wholesome food for the poor. I never anticipated the soaring grocery bills our ministry faces in its feeding ministry.
Family receives food from Ana Maria Food Pantry, Pinapple.
I’ve lost many nights of sleep worrying about the costs of following Christ’s command. It costs $1,000 a day to feed hundreds of hungry poor who depend on us. It costs $45 to fill a grocery bag with nutritious food for elders who have worked hard all their lives and can barely survive. I’m coming to you because I cannot pay these bills without your help.
Every day, I make difficult decisions on how to keep our promise to follow Jesus’ command to feed the hungry poor, while the needs of the poor are overwhelming us. I need your help to put food on the table for the hungry.
Every day, I pray for you in gratefulness for your compassion for those we serve in your name. I am hoping and praying that you can help me reach out once again to feed the hungry, as Christ asks us to do.
Serving the Lord,
Rev. Richard Myhalyk, S.S.E.
