Editor’s Note: As we look at the liturgical season, it is important for us to stay current on topics that provide us with opportunities to live our faith through our actions during all seasons of the year. During this time of giving, let us remember those who are truly in need.
If you have enough food to eat today, consider yourself very blessed, because over one billion people are not so fortunate.
According to the United Nations World Food Programme, one out of every six fellow human beings is suffering the pain of hunger. Every six seconds a child dies because of hunger and hunger related diseases.
This sad river of misery continues to flow on with no end in sight. Consider the following statistics:
- lack of vitamin A kills one million infants each year
- iodine deficiency, threatening 1.9 billion people, is the world’s greatest single cause of mental retardation
- iron deficiency is impairing the mental development of approximately forty to sixty percent of children in poor nations
- approximately 146 million children in developing countries are dangerously underweight.
Behind these staggering statistics are real flesh and blood people. If the tables were turned, they would be our mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children, and grandchildren.
How You Can Help
Kindly help feed the hungry by sending whatever you can afford to Catholic Relief Services, P.O. Box 17090, Baltimore, Maryland 21203-7090. Donations are also accepted online.
Additionally, contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to fully support the Roadmap to End Global Hunger and Promote Food Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2817). This bill comprehensively addresses emergency responses, safety nets, nutrition, and agricultural development. It ensures that global hunger gets the highest level of attention possible from the United States government until it is solved.
You can make a difference here! You can help make it possible for the hungry to be treated as guests at the world’s family table.
Jacques Diouf, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization director-general, recently called on developed nations to significantly increase agricultural funding to poor countries that are unable to presently grow enough food. He was rightly critical of the relatively small amount of assistance given by nations, compared to the $1.34 trillion spent on armaments and the trillions easy found to rescue the financial sector.
In terms of total dollars, the United States gives more aid to poor nations than any other country: $24 billion in 2007. But in terms of gross national product and total wealth, the United States ranks last among all the industrialized nations in aid to the poor.
At first glance, $24 billion looks like a generous donation. However, considering that the budget for fiscal year 2007 was $2.77 trillion, $24 billion is a drop in the bucket.
In a 1970 United Nations resolution, most wealthy countries committed to tackling global poverty and hunger by spending 0.7 percent of their national incomes on international aid. Five countries have kept their promise: Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Denmark. The United States gives approximately 0.2 percent of its national income to the world’s hungry poor—far below what was promised.
Only after we have taken care of what we want, we then give the little that is left—the crumbs—to the hungry poor.
In his visit to the United States in 1979, Pope John Paul II proclaimed, “The poor of the United States and of the world are your brothers and sisters in Christ. Never be content to leave them just the crumbs of the feast. Take of your substance, and not just of your abundance, in order to help them. Treat them like guests at your family table.”
This article was reprinted with permission from Catholic News Service. To read more of Tony’s articles, check out the NACYML website or ask your diocesan publication to include them.
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