Every time gardening seasons starts, I think of the little boy at Santas Toy Shop who told me all he wanted for Christmas was food in his house.
Food insecurity is one of the most important crises facing our world. Without food, we die. Without proper nutrition and enough food, we suffer. For children, learning, social, and emotional disorders, and other health-related problems are the results of food insecurity. For adults, depression, anxiety, stress, poor work performance, and poor health are the results.
Food insecurity is deeply rooted in other problems, such as poverty, poor health, and lack of education. Having data that proves that food insecurity is real does nothing to solve it, but only proves what we already know. The issue of food insecurity needs to be addressed by an interagency body that can coordinate types of interventions.
Each time a family trades off their ability to feed their family by paying for other basic needs such as housing, medicine, and utilities, the family becomes more vulnerable. The outcome is poor performances at work and school, increased emotional, physical, and mental health issues, and poor living environments.
President Roosevelt launched the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stated the need to protect basic human freedoms, including the freedom from want. Over 70 years later, the United States and Australia are the only countries who failed to embrace this declaration.
Widespread food insecurity in the United States is morally reprehensible. We are the richest country in the world and produce such great quantities of food that we have huge scale exports of surplus, yet more than 11 percent of our people are starving. Homes with female heads of households are food insecure at a rate of 30.2 percent three times greater than the national average.
What the Universal Declaration of Human Rights means in more precise terms is that a person should be able to expect to have reasonable opportunities to provide good and nutritious foods for themselves. This happens by having the opportunity to earn a living wage, access to quality health care and housing, and a better chance at a college education. If they are unable to do so, then the government should make sure that the person has food directly.
Right now we are addressing food insecurity with a needs-based approach. People are hungry and through charity, they are provided food. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact, without it, many would go hungry. However, to end food insecurity, we need to get everyone involved in changing policies that affect the hungry. A holistic and proactive approach to food insecurity, one in which we look at the whole life of the individual and address all of the problems that bring food insecurity, is the only approach that has a chance of ending it.
WHAT WE HAVE, though, is a huge population of people who are hungry. If you have ever been hungry, what you are concerned with is feeding yourself and your family. There really is no other thought. To offer someone the chance to advocate for themselves, instead of offering them food, is obscene. First, we must make sure that they have something to eat and then we have to stand beside them and show those living with food insecurity that they are not alone.
By standing beside those who live with food insecurity as they take the first steps in empowering themselves, we have the ability to help them change their world and ours.
Please join Humanity House as we take part in the Kansas Appleseed Food Policy Forum on next Thursday from 6 to 7:30 at the North Community Building.
Take part in a community discussion on the impact that food policies in Allen County have on all of us. Find out what you can do to help make our world a better place for all of us. Engage.
Kindness matters!
