Rachel, Weeping for her Children

Too often, we have no idea of the depth of suffering in our own country.
I read a troubling report this week that said this summer, literally thousands of school children will face hunger. These are kids who have relied on free lunches (and in some cases, breakfasts as wee) during the school year. With school out, and with free feeding programs scattered throughout cities and food pantries nearly dry, these same children will be left to eat junk food or compete for left-over food that just will not stretch far enough.
Because of this crisis, the report said, these kids will show up for school less healthy than they are now, and therefore, less able to learn.
This year, the report said a record 20.5 million school kids needed subsidized school lunches. For many, that lunch represents the only food they get on a daily basis.
If it is a fact that the kids will rely more on junk food to fill their empty stomachs, not only their ability to learn but their health will be compromised. Junk food adds empty calories and pounds, but little nutritional value, and food from fast food restaurants don’t do much better. Therefore, kids can be expected to be more obese, and suffer from diabetes and even hypertension, illnesses that are affecting more and more young children at an alarming rate.
Though the federal government provides funds for free school lunches, there are more hungry school children than there are federal dollars enough to feed them. Food sites which receive federal funds must be in areas where there are enough poor children to meet federal requirements. It is possible, therefore, for an area to be poor, but not poor enough, to qualify for free food.
The result is that the kids go hungry.
Some people in some areas have addressed and are addressing the problem and are distributing food from coolers in the backs of their vans or trucks, or from their church basements for fellowship halls, but food distributed this way does not qualify for federal funds. These lunches are paid for with private funds.
Still, the alternative is not acceptable; the thought of kids being hungry all summer is as troubling as was the thought of women re-using dirty diapers for their kids because they cannot afford Pampers. The economy may be getting better for some people, but not for the masses, not yet. If there are hungry children, then there must be food for them. Surely, we the community cannot let them languish and be miserable.
What do you think?
Pastor Smith