There are, in fact, two sets of People For Others at Loyola Press. As well as this blog, the term refers to our outreach efforts into the local community. This year, we put our focus on hunger and 10 of us go each month to the Greater Chicago Food Depository where we do such exciting things as bag bulk carrots and repack cereals.
What saddens and amazes me is the need for this food bank. Here in Cook County more than 500,000 people each year rely on the emergency and supplemental food provided by the Depository and its network of 600 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters.
We are the richest nation on earth, the wealthiest society in all of human history. We are a country expending billions of dollars on two wars and we consume a huge percentage of the world’s resources. Yet we still have children going to bed hungry.
I don’t get it.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Michelle 10.05.09 at 7:07 am
I don’t get it either – nor my thirteen year-old. I wrote this a couple of weeks back, but was struck again on Sunday when the basket for food donations at the back of the Church was empty but for a couple of cans. In my parish, we should be filling it to overflowing at every Mass. I confess, I forgot to bring my bag to donate…and decided not to turn my bike around and get it.
Was it better to rehearse the psalm one more time — or feed the poor? I’m afraid I know the answer….
Eric 10.05.09 at 11:47 am
I was at first inclined to go on and on about the greed of corporate executives and the Hollywood crowd, the oppressors and hunger throughout the world, the fascination of average people with the lifestyles of the rich, and the attitude of “Who cares about the debt? I want it now.” I could have gone on and on. Then I remembered that yesterday my wife said she wanted to make a simple chicken cassarole for today’s dinner, and I told her that instead I would love a barbequed steak. With sorrow, I see that I am part of the problem, not the solution.
Paul 10.06.09 at 2:42 pm
Michelle,
Don’t beat yourself up on this. I don’t think it helps. We have to find some way to move past guilt to action.
Paul
Paul 10.06.09 at 2:43 pm
Eric,
We’re all part of the problem, but we can also be part of the solution. And, listen, I hope you had the steak and that you enjoyed it thoroughly.
Paul