Have you ever been really, really hungry?
This weekend I told Tim that I was withering away because it was 3 p.m. and I hadn’t eaten. I was hangry….beyond hangry.
Thankfully I have never known true hunger. My mom worked in a grocery store growing up so we were always “the house with the full pantry”. I never had to worry if I wouldn’t have dinner, and most nights I actually complained about what we were eating. What a brat.
Cut to college, a much poorer-and skinnier-version of myself. You could find me scavenging for home cooked meals.
“Oh you live in town?”
“Does your mom make meatloaf?”
“Does she love meeting your friends?”
Although I was far from starving, I finally understood what hungry meant.
So it is not easy for me to relate to those starving kids in Africa, instead my heart just breaks. What hurts even more is that there are millions of kids just like them here in America. Going to bed hungry every night.
This week, I want to help.
I can’t believe some of those numbers.
Especially since I always overeat because I don’t want to be wasteful. I know I am not the only one, I mean we are the fattest country in the world right?
When I was growing up, I was so affected by the starving kids commercials that I wanted to set up a “send to hungry bin” next to our recycle bin where you put all of your uneaten food to send to those kiddos. My dad wasn’t down, something about it rotting. But how great would that be, if we could just send the rest of our fries to someone hungry.
I decided that today I am going to take the money I have saved by not eating out for lunch every day and give it to our local food pantry. I love when donations stay local, you never know who you are helping. It could be your neighbor…and one day it could be you.
If we are being honest, it pains me to see homeless people in my hometown…but I almost never give them money. I have a much easier time giving them a little bag of Doritos, and it’s an incredible feeling when you see the gratitude in their eyes. I always try to have snacks in my car, just in case.
Do you all have any ideas to help the hungry?
I’m listening.
