Letter: Student raises awareness of hunger in Rhode Island, urges peers to help remedy the problem

11/20/07 - To the Cigar,When you think of hunger, what comes to mind? Starving shoeless children in poor, far away countries? I imagine that would be a pretty common image among most people. What many people may not realize is that hunger is something that has actually been affecting our own state of Rhode Island for years, and is getting progressively worse.

According to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, the rate of food insecurity here is the highest out of all New England states, and has even exceeded the national average. It also stated that one in eight households, or 12.4 percent are considered "food insecure." For a household to be considered food insecure there must be an inability to obtain enough food for an active, healthy life for every household member.

Right now, Rhode Island's food insecurity rate is the highest it has been in years. What's even worse is that it's not even just unemployed families that are going hungry. According to the Food Bank, in 2006, one-third of all the families served had at least one working member.

So what is causing such a shortage of food to cover Rhode Island's hungry? While national food industry trends have proven to be a large factor in the deficiency of providing food, donations from Rhode Island's Food Bank have actually tripled during the past seven years. The Food Bank has added new programs during the past year, such as the Community Repack, Neighborhood Pantry Express and Fresh Rescue. Still, the contributions continue to prove insufficient to the rising amount of those in need of it.

I don't feel that the problem is that there's not enough food in the country, or even the state. Rather, I find that it is in the way food is distributed. Working at a restaurant in Newport for three years, I have seen all the food that constantly goes to waste. I am amazed at every dish of calamari or plate of spaghetti that I throw away each day.

People just don't realize what they're throwing away, and how much it may mean to someone. I've heard so many parents say to their children, "finish your dinner, there are starving kids in China," but what they may not realize is that there are starving families in their own state.

I don't think people do it intentionally, yet it still happens every single day regardless of whether it was intended or not. I think a lot of people just don't realize how big of an issue hunger is, and even fewer realize that such a problem is happening right here in Rhode Island.

For my URI 101 class's community service project, we went to East Farm to pick apples. Most of the apples that we picked went to Seeds of Hope, an organization that distributes apples and other food staples to food pantries throughout Rhode Island. Other apples ended up at the Rhode Island Food Bank, where another URI 101 class sorted and shipped them to food pantries as well.

I felt this was a really useful activity, and a good choice of a community service project. My class put in a mere three hours, and still managed to pick a good amount of apples to put toward the Food Bank that could make a difference in someone's life. It's a liberating experience, as corny as it may sound. It feels good to know that your contributions could really mean something to someone.

I feel that not enough is being done to help such a large issue in our society. It really doesn't take much effort to make a contribution to the fight against hunger, all you need is a little inspiration.

Elora Sullivan