Bloggers Unite for Hunger and Hope: World Hunger at Home
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
By Sarah Andrews, Communications Manager, MOWAM
From the ages of 10 to 17, my grandfather was homeless. He lived with his father out of their Model A pickup, following cotton crops across Texas as they peaked for harvest. When they found jobs picking the prickly bulbs from someone’s field, they would often have to set up camp by stringing a sheet from the top of the truck to the ground, creating a makeshift tent under which they would sleep come rain or shine. For seven years, my grandfather lived mostly off of cornbread, water and skim milk, though on good days he might come across some eggs, a rabbit, or a little squirrel meat.
Back then, during the dustbowl days of the depression, hunger was a common, visible thing and many people suffered. Today, as bloggers across the world come together to write about world hunger, I can’t help but think of how it has affected my own family.
Those of us who have never felt the pangs of hunger, like so many people in our community do, may find it hard to relate. Driving down the street, it might be easier to turn our heads from homeless men and women panhandling, or, as we’re caught up in thinking about, say, what we’re going to make for dinner, just not notice them at all. We may drop our kids off at school everyday and never know which children in the class don’t regularly get dinner at home, which children struggle to concentrate amid the rumblings of their stomach. We may see a photo of a friend’s grandmother and simply think that she seems like a sweet lady, not knowing that she is disabled, homebound, and living on a small, fixed income with no family nearby and no way to get food on her own.
When we see images of starving, malnourished children and emaciated refugees in the media we know instantly: they are hungry and they desperately need our help. But sometimes it’s not so clear. Sometimes the hunger afflicting people in our community is more hidden.
With all of the resources available on this Earth, it is a tragedy that anyone should feel the pains of hunger like my grandfather did as a child, like so many homeless men and women, low-income children, citizens of war-torn, third-world countries, and homebound elderly and disabled individuals do every day.
At Meals on Wheels and More, we provide food to a population that is less-visible, less-vocal, and often-forgotten - the homebound individuals of Central Texas who often live in poverty, have little to no family support, and sometimes live a difficult and lonely life. And we support our friends at other basic needs organizations who aim to alleviate hunger for the other fragile members of our society and those suffering abroad. We all have to work together if we want to make hunger history in our community and the world.
My grandfather went on from his difficult childhood to marry my grandmother, father four children, have a good career, and purchase a 10-acre property in North Texas where he and my grandmother still live today. But when he starts talking about those tough years during the depression, it’s difficult for him not to tear up. Recently, he told me this - “Being hungry all the time like that is awful. It leaves a scar on you forever.”
Now, at 83 years of age, both my grandparents suffer from illnesses that make it difficult for them to do many things on their own, and they’ve been getting Meals on Wheels for some time now. My grandfather has to put forth a great effort to simply walk from his bed to the living room. With our closest relative living a two-hour drive away from their rural, country home, I know it gives everyone in my family great comfort to know that if they can’t be there every day to help, Meals on Wheels can.
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