We distributed some food this week. Boxes and bags of food went out to nearly 200 households in this Farmville area. I feel good about that, especially in light of what I learned from a recent visit to the website of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
One out of every seven community members — more than 560,000 people — face hunger in our region. Local pantries, no-cost markets, and meal sites report a 40% increase in people seeking assistance.
Although the Food Bank is located in one of the United States’ best places to live, consistent research and our on-the-ground experience show hunger is worsening here in North Carolina and across the country. Across our 34-county service area, too many people are unable to consistently access enough nutritious food to live a healthy, active life. And between the rising cost of living, and cuts to state and federal support, more and more families well above the poverty line are forced to make impossible choices between food, housing, medications, and other essential resources.
Food insecurity has emerged as a defined reality for hundreds of thousands of Americans who — even when working two or more jobs — face serious challenges keeping food on the table. In the 34 counties the Food Bank serves, studies show 560,910 people live in food-insecure households, including 173,710 kids and teens.[1]
Our lectionary texts for this Sunday have a thread that runs through them that is so very relevant to all this. Psalm 112 includes this description of the righteous: “They have distributed freely; they have given to the poor; their righteousness endures forever; their horn is exalted in honor.” The reading from Hebrews enjoins us to “not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” And again, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” And finally, in the Gospel of Luke, right from the lips of Jesus, we have these words: “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
So, if any of this causes you to think, and to wonder what, if anything you can do about the state of the world we live in, come on down to the corner of Church and Main this Sunday; should be a good place to figure something out.
[1] From website for the Foodbank of Central and Eastern N.C. Accessed at: https://foodbankcenc.org/our-work/hunger-in-our-area/.