“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” – Mother Teresa, Roman Catholic missionary in India (1910-1997)
People who are hungry are all around us. We often think of the problem of hunger as one of starvation, experienced by people in war-torn countries thousands of miles away or those at the absolute bottom, who are homeless and alone. But that isn’t true – plenty of people struggle to put food on the table, at least sometimes. We call this Food Insecurity – when people don’t always know where their next meal is coming from, or how they’ll provide their children with something nutritionally adequate and safe. There are, of course, government programs – including food stamps and free school lunches. But the problem is vast, and hard to solve.
There are plenty of resources for studying the problem of hunger – from books like Hunger Efforts and Food Security by James Tobin, Sustainability Challenge: Food Security for All, and Hunger and Poverty: Causes, Impacts and Eradication: Food Security: Quality Management, Issues and Economic Implications by Maddox Jones to databases like Opposing Viewpoints, SocIndex, or the Palladium-Item to web resources like Bread for the World or Stats Indiana for local statistics. Regardless of what you need, the library is a great place for learning about how to do something to help relieve the crisis.
One local opportunity you can be a part of is the Empty Bowls luncheon on November 15th at First Friends Meeting. Empty Bowls programs are done in hundreds of communities in many countries. Artists and potters craft bowls, with which participants share a simple, sustainable meal. The participants get to keep their bowl, as a reminder of those who do not have a full bowl of their own. The proceeds from the luncheon go to help the hungry, locally and worldwide. All of the bowls for this event will be created by the IU East Ceramics Department and other local potters in the community.
Open Arms Ministries of Richmond, the organization that IU East Center for Service-Learning is partnering with for this Empty Bowls luncheon, serves between 45 and 65 families each month, so your attendance will directly help our community. And the Wayne County Foundation has agreed to match every dollar donated, so this is a perfect time to get involved. The luncheon will be held in Boruk Hall, 2010 Chester Boulevard and starts at 11:00 AM. If you are interested in volunteering to help, contact the Center for Service-Learning at 765-973-8411 or iueastsl@iue.edu.
