I Haven’t Eaten Anything Since Lunch

Coming home late one evening from work, I said to my family, “I haven’t eaten anything since lunch and I’m starving”.   After they laughed at me for such a silly comment, the truth set in.  I may have been hungry, but I wasn’t starving.  To be quite honest, I have never experienced real hunger.  But for many in our world, food insecurity and even starvation is a daily reality.

• Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes – that’s one child every 5 seconds.
• An estimated 35% of poor families in the U.S. are forced to choose between buying food and paying their rent or mortgage.
• The poverty rate among children is on the rise. Thirteen million children (approximately 16.8 percent) in the United States live in poverty. Kentucky’s rate of 18.4 percent remains higher than the national average.
• Nearly half of all families headed by a single mother are food insecure.

Over 76,600 meals were provided last year to the hungry in Kentucky with World Hunger Funds.  There were over 30,000 professions of faith as a result of hunger ministries throughout the world.  That number includes 192 decisions in Kentucky as a direct result of ministries supported by World Hunger Funds.

It’s discouraging to note however, that from 2009 to 2010, giving to the World Hunger Fund dropped by nearly $1 million.  The average Kentucky Baptist church member gave less than $1.25 to the World Hunger Fund last year.  That’s less than the cost of a canned soft drink and much less than the cost of fast food meal.

How many more meals would be served and how many more professions of faith would be realized if we made a small sacrifice or a simple swap?

• Swap your cup of fancy coffee for a home-brewed cup of joe and donate the $10 difference to world hunger.
• Make a small sacrifice and cook dinner for your family of four at home instead of eating out and you could easily donate $35 to world hunger.
• A night out at the movies for a family of four could top $75, but an evening at home with a DVD can cost well under $10. The difference of $65 could be donated to world hunger relief.

What other small sacrifices or simple swaps could be made to benefit hunger relief in Kentucky and around the world?  Share your ideas with us as you discover creative ways to “Donate the Difference”.   Donate to the World Hunger Fund through your local Southern Baptist Church or give directly at https://kybaptist.webconnex.com/hunger.  For additional resources and information on hunger relief, visit www.kybaptist.org/hunger