One week ago today I was sitting in the Grace Hall Atrium for the beginning of the Cabrini Day forum and had the privilege of asking students and faculty to help educate, advocate and fill the plate, which is the slogan for the Hunger and Homelessness Awareness program. My friend Devon and I stood before the attendants of the Cabrini Day forum and spoke about the different events that one could participate in to support this campaign.
The different events such as the Hunger Banquet, arrested for hunger and Hunger 101 were and are great way to get involved. The Hunger Banquet is tonight.
Results of this hunger campaign vary from food and money contributions being sent to families for Thanksgiving dinners and letters being sent to Congress to support aid for world hunger. The letter writing was new this year but important. Writing to U.S. officials who make the decisions of how much help and provisions we will give to the hungry helped fuse our voices with many others.
See, all the U.S. hunger policies are decided in D.C., and the people making these decisions affect world hunger. The world needs more bread. The US provides the largest amount of financial aid each year for the hungry. I was so proud to learn that fact. But then it was followed by this piece of information, which faded my smile. In comparison to the other countries that give aid, we give the least percent of aid from our Gross National Product (GNP), which is the amount of money our country gives to goods and services. Though they do not give physically as much as we do, they are making much more of a sacrifice.
There is so much focus on terrorism today; the immediate needs of the hungry are unconsciously being placed on the back burner. We cannot forget about them because once we do they are gone.