Hunger Never Takes a Holiday
December 14, 2010
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As I drove out in the country, I wondered how 98 year-old Jordan Johns has survived in his cardboard shack, without insulation to keep out the freezing wind. I finally found the tin-roofed shack and beeped the horn. "Is that you Father?" I heard the old fellow holler. Mr. Johns is legally blind but he can still rely on his sharp mind and good hearing.
"I'm so happy you're here" he told me. "I've been trying to get my window to close. It's so cold in my house but I just can't pull it closed." Mr. Johns admitted to me that he hadn't eaten in two days. This made it even more important that I had brought him a Christmas food bag and a turkey dinner containing cornbread dressing, potatoes and gravy. As I sat on the threadbare sofa watching him eat, God's loving presence filled my heart and His mercy to the poor humbled me. This poor old man had given me more in spirit than I had given him in food.
Mr. Johns often skips meals to pay his electricity bill because he says, "I can't do without my radio." He has been in a wheelchair for 10 years and he is totally alone. His radio gospel programs give him such comfort. When we look in on Mr. Johns, he is always grateful. This time, along with the food, I brought him a small hand quilted lap blanket and he cried. We have often visited him when he has no electricity, sitting in the dark. This is especially dangerous in the winter when we find him shivering without heat of any kind. Jordan Johns is one of the only people in Selma who remembers our beloved Edmundite Missions Founder, Father Frank Casey, S.S.E. In 1937, Father drove to Selma from Vermont in an old Pontiac and all he had in his pocket was $50.
When he saw the unbelievable poverty, he set up the first Edmundite Missions office during the Great Depression. Father Frank was deeply committed to God's poor.
I felt exactly the same way when I became Missions Director in 2006. Within a short time, I was facing similar conditions. The Recession hit the poor in Alabama much harder than the rest of the country. They were the first to lose jobs and they are still without jobs! They were the first to lose their homes and many are still homeless.
My immediate concerns are to feed the poor and to alleviate their pain and suffering. These were Father Frank's concerns and they are mine. The Bosco Food Kitchen in Selma serves over 80,000 hot meals, 365 days a year – because hunger never takes a holiday. It costs $284 to buy the meat and vegetables daily to feed several hundred people at Bosco. I need your help.
These are life-saving meals for little children, elders, families and those without jobs, as well as the working poor who must cut back on food to pay their bills. In addition, it costs $38.40 to fill a food bag with vegetables, protein and fruit for families and elders living in rural areas without transportation. The Edmundite Missions delivers over 400 food bags each month. I need your help to purchase this food.
The overall unemployment rate for African Americans is a staggering 25.1%. The Recession's effect hasn't stabilized – it is worsening. Winter is now upon us. For a young child, nothing compares to the misery of living on the streets with a parent who is destitute, cold and living in despair. Bewildered little children often blame themselves for the sad and desperate mother who cannot find a safe place for her family to live.
Please be as generous as you have been during Christmas seasons past. May God watch over you and your families this blessed Christmas, when you celebrate the birth of His Son Jesus, with feasting and gifts. In the name of Jesus Christ, remember the poor.
In His Service,
Rev. Richard Myhalyk, S.S.E.
