OPINION-
Warning: Reading this may cause you to write a check. But you won’t be alone. Writing this has caused me to write a check. Now, read on; just remember you have been warned. Hunger is a serious global issue. Every day about 25,000 people die from hunger. That’s more than nine million people a year. Let that sink in: nine million die every year. More than 700 million people in the world are facing hunger. Hunger is the cause of 45% of allchildren’s deaths.
What about the United States? In the year 2022 more than 21,000 people died from malnutrition. And about 10,000 of that number were children. What about Alabama? Nearly 900,000 of our citizens are facing hunger – and 260,000 of them
are children. That’s 1 in 6 people. One in every 5 children in Alabama goes to bed hungry every night.
Why I am giving you all these numbers? To make you aware that hunger is not merely a problem in India and Africa; it’s a global issue – and a local issue. It’s a problem every thinking person needs to ponder – and then do something, whatever you are able to do, to stop hunger from killing so many people.
Experts have said it would take $27 billion to end the world’s hunger. That’s a truckload of money but ponder this: the United States has given Ukraine $86 billion of military assistance in their war with Russia – and promised almost $100 billion more. While you are comparing those figures, mull this over: The weight loss industry in the US has grown to $90 billion a year. Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Many people in many nations are working hard to eliminate hunger. They need help. They need my help – and your help. In the River Region where I live, Ken Austin has operated Mercy House for 20 years to combat hunger among the impoverished people of west Montgomery.
Mercy House is now serving 500 meals a day to people facing hunger. And Ken is providing more than bread; he is giving people hope for a better life through programs that help people move out of poverty. I salute my friend Ken for his commitment to feeding hungry people.
There are people like Ken in the Auburn- Opelika area who “building community by feeding families.” Concerned about children (and families) facing hunger, they opened the Community Market in Opelika in 2003 as an extension of the Food Bank of East Alabama.
Since then they have provided 18,163,773 pounds of food for hungry people. That’s the equivalent of more than 15 million meals!
Under the leadership of Jan Dempsey and Rev. Clifford Jones, the Community Market Board has launched a campaign to raise $3.5 million to build a new facility on 1st Avenue in Opelika to serve hungry people in Lee County.
I love Opelika and Auburn. I spent four years in Auburn earning a degree. Years later the good people of Trinity Methodist Church let
me serve as one of their pastors for 13 years. In those two towns I met some of the finest people I have ever known. Two of them were Clifford Jones and Jan Dempsey. Though I moved back home to Elmore County when I retired, I have rejoiced in the constant growth of Opelika and Auburn – two of the finest towns on earth to call home.
Martha Henk, the executive director of the Food Bank of East Alabama, is the daughter of Wally and Ruth Henk who were members of the Trinity family when I was their pastor. Wally and Ruth are in heaven now but they were as authentic disciples of Jesus as I have ever known. Martha is continuing the family tradition of serving Jesus.
So, why I am telling you all this? Because of my respect for community leaders like Clifford, Ruth, Jan and many others like Mayor Gary Fuller. What they are doing to help alleviate hunger in Lee County is worthy of my support – and yours.
None of us can feed all the hungry people of the world. But we can combat hunger in our own backyard. That’s why today I am sending Martha a check payable to the Food Bank of East Alabama for the Community Market. If enough of us do what we can do, this humanitarian project will soon be completed.
Now, if you have read this far, you have a decision to make. You can ignore my plea – or you can write a check
of your own for the Community Market Campaign and send it
to Martha Henk at 375 Industry Dr., Auburn, AL 36832.
You will no doubt do a few things you will regret in days to come, but you will never regret helping build a new home for
the Community Market. Please do it – and do it today. Thank you.
