Do you know the face of hunger?

For many of us, the immediate image that comes to mind is of the starving children in Ethiopia who are seen frequently on the television, but hunger has another face.  It could be seen in the face of your neighbor, your co-worker, your classmate, it could even be you . . .

Hunger is on the rise.  Since the beginning of the current economic crisis, food banks across the state have seen better than a 40% increase in demand, with some food banks in the Greater Greensboro area seeing as much as a 70% increase.  Here at Greensboro Urban Ministry, where our Potter's House Community Kitchen once served only 300 meals at lunch, we are now serving 450-500 meals a day.  According to national statistics, North Carolina (along with Louisiana) leads the nation in hunger among children under the age of 5, with 1 in 4 children knowing hunger on a regular basis.

These numbers are appalling and hard for many people to accept, because hunger isn't "our problem."  It only happens in other places to other people.  But, the sad reality is that it is our problem.  If we have learned nothing else from the current economic situation, it should be:  "There go I, but for the grace of God." 

Hunger knows no boundaries and can effect anyone, but there is hope.  Through organizations such as Greensboro Urban Ministry and Church World Service, steps are being taken to help end hunger and poverty, to break the cycle that perpetuates these problems.  Your participation in the Greater Greensboro CROP Hunger Walk can help these agencies to do the work that is so urgently needed.

Let us bond together and work so that we can reach a place where we do not know the face of hunger, not because we are ignorant of it, but because it no longer exists.

For more information, please visit www.greatergreensborocropwalk.org.