Tag: hunger

On
Kevin Wondrash, Catholic Herald Staff

‘Do you love me? . . . Feed my sheep’

Last weekend in Madison, more than 100,000 meals were packed for hungry people at home and around the world.

A good number of the meals are going to children. Many of the meals were packed by children.

Saturday, March 16, was the second annual Lenten “Feed My Sheep” food-packing day at the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) in Madison.

The driving force behind the event is “6:8,” a group based out of Prairie du Sac that spearheaded a fundraising event and brought the money needed for the 100,000 meals. Last year, the group raised enough money to package more than 68,000 meals.

The executive directors of 6:8 are the husband and wife team of John and Sarah Ramthun.

As volunteers, including many children of all ages, poured into the chapel at the CMC for orientation, John shared the message of 6:8: “We desire to transform communities by making service personal,” said John.

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On
Tony Magliano

West Africa desperately needs your help

Making a Difference column logo

Imagine being very hungry nearly all the time. Imagine telling your children to wait until the end of the day to eat a very small meal. Imagine eating every other day. Imagine not eating at all.

Very sadly, over 18 million people in West Africa’s Sahel region — an area between the Sahara Desert and the African tropics — do not have to imagine severe hunger; they are either experiencing it, or getting very close to it.

Crises have grown

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “Food and nutrition crises in the region have grown in frequency and severity in recent years, mostly driven by sporadic rainfall, insufficient local harvests, high food prices, and insecurity.

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On
Laura Green

Urge legislators to maintain funding for food stamps

To the editor:

Legislators in our nation’s capital drafting the next version of the Farm Bill need to get their priorities straight. The largest portion of the Farm Bill deals with SNAP, commonly known as food stamps.

Drafts of the proposed Farm Bill include serious cuts to the SNAP program, at a time when people need it the most. Hunger has been on the rise, despite the best efforts of food pantries, soup kitchens, and community volunteers.

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On
Tom Nelson

Food, eating, and Lent

Guest Column logo

Eating is a sacred act, for it represents the natural inclination for sustenance which powers all living bodies and therefore is the life-sustaining force of the Creator.

The Psalmist wrote: “(O Lord) You raise grass for the cattle, and vegetation for men’s use, Producing bread from the earth and wine to gladden men’s hearts, So that their faces gleam with oil, and bread fortifies the hearts of men” (Psalm 104: 14, 15).

In the same passage he continues, “They all look to you to give them food in due time. When you give it to them, they gather it; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.”

Tending the earth

In the earliest section of the Genesis narrative, God the Creator blows life into a shaped lump of earthen clay and from this act of His spirit the human family was born.

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On
Mary C. Uhler, Catholic Herald Staff

Defend right to life by feeding the hungry

Editor's View by Mary C. UhlerSome people consider the “right to life” as dealing primarily with issues such as abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. However, respect for life from womb to tomb must include caring for the needs of people throughout that spectrum.

Pope Benedict XVI reminded us of this wider pro-life view in a message he wrote for World Food Day, observed on October 16 this year. His written message was addressed to Jacques Diouf, director-general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

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