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According to an article
in Restaurant Hospitality, "More than 12% of the U.S.
population--that's about 34.5 million people--live below the poverty level. Even sadder: According
to the US Census Bureau, more
than 40% of all poor Americans are children. This means that nearly 20% of American children under the age of 18--that's
13 million kids--live in poverty." That's
quite a large number, but many of you may not know someone that fights with hunger every day.
Many of you are fortunate enough to be able to not worry about
how you will afford your next meal.
I've been working at Community
Food Response, a local organization that gives out food that has been donated from
various restaurants in the area. I
talked with Lois McDougal, one of the main people of the organization
and I also found many periodical references pertaining
to the topic. Today I will tell you how
you what the needs of Community Food Response are and how you can benefit
from helping fill those needs. An article in the
May 1999, Supermarket Business talked of a "document that
is the 1998 annual report of Second Harvest,
the Chicago-based umbrella for 188 US food banks, bears on its cover an empty plate and the simple, telling
statement: “No dream can live without
dinner.”"
A community can be greatly torn up by hunger.
It affects anyone and everyone in some way or another.
Hunger leaves a burden on everyone, be that you
are the one in need of food or the person who is paying higher taxes for
their aid.
Living in a community, which is world renown for its great medical facility, many would not believe that
hunger is a strong issue facing our
area. However, this is a bigger
issue than you probably ever guessed.
In interviewing Lois McDougall, a leader of Community
Food Response, I learned that they serve an average of 85 - 100 families
each night. That is quite a large
number for the small community of Rochester, Minnesota. Obviously, for all these people to be fed,
they would need a lot of volunteers!
Unfortunately, as Lois explained, "most of the drivers who
pick up food at local restaurants are retired and go away for the winter,
leaving that position the most needed in the coming winter months."
There are a variety of people who benefit from this food.
Referring again to my interview with Lois, I learned
that about one third of the people served are single. They also help many homeless and mental health
patients. Working
there one would notice that there are people of all ages served.
All different ethnic backgrounds, but all equally as thankful
for what they are receiving. Everyone who has worked there has a story
of someone special. One day a
white middle-aged woman came to get her food. She looked well dressed,
intelligent, and totally untypical from what you might think. After handing her the food, she said "God
bless you." Before hearing
that I wasn't sure that I had actually had that much of an impact on those
people, but after that day, I knew that to them I was like an angel.
That is a memory I will cherish forever. Community Food Response is a great organization
which is only possible because
of all the generous people that work to keep it going.Community
Food Response involves a great amount of people. For the most part, the volunteers are supplied
by various local churches. The
money for this organization is acquired through various grants from places
such as U.P.S., the Rochester Area Foundation, Mayo Clinic, and The Bonner
Foundation on the west coast. There
are a variety of different jobs that keep this organization running.
In fact, approximately twenty volunteers keep it running each day.
As you already know, presently the most needed position is winter
drivers. However, extra people
to bag food, hand out food, and clean up are always welcome. Not to mention, donations are never frowned
upon. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday these twenty people work together. The drivers go to local organizations such
as HyVee and the Canadian Honker to pick up the food that would otherwise
be thrown away. Next the food
is delivered at Bethel Lutheran Church, where more volunteers unload the
trucks of food and bring it into the kitchen to be packaged and sorted. Later more volunteers come to help with bagging
the separate meals for the various families that come by to receive the
much-needed food. Finally, the
coolers are cleaned out, the extra food stuffed into the freezer and everyone
goes home. As I said earlier, anyone can help and volunteers are always
appreciated. If
you are interested in working with Community Food Response you can call
Michelle Armbruster at 281-5061. You could then inform her of the days you
would be available to help.You may reach an answering
machine, in which case you would leave the information and she would be
able to get back to you. Just a small
amount of help can greatly benefit not only the organization but also
you. Community Food Response is a great thing for
our community. It provides a solution
to hunger and helps our community to be the healthy unit it is. By being a volunteer or supporter of this
organization you are not only helping out the organization, you are also
benefiting from it yourself. You
can make a powerful impact in this community by simply donating a few
hours of your time. If this organization was not present in our
community we may be more aware of the problem of hunger in our community.
Obviously we are not witness to this because it has been curved
by the formation of this wonderful organization.
An organization that could still have problems if they don't find
the number of winter drivers needed to keep the organization running. No one that works at Community Food Response
wants to turn someone away without food.
A community is a living
unit of life. If one person is not all right, we all suffer in some way or another.
However, if we all band together to help people that are less fortunate
than ourselves, imagine what we can create. I hope that I've given you
reason to donate your time to an organization I feel very important to
our community. When I first started at Community Food Response I hardly
felt that my help could make an impact on someone's life; however, now
I realize that it has. I could
tell you numerous stories that brought good feelings into my heart, but
I think that the only way you could truly feel them would be to have some
of your own.
By helping Community Food Response you are donating your time to a great
organization with a great cause and a great purpose. Eventually,
all the goodness will come back to you in some form, that I guarantee
you.
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