Look at the lines of cars waiting to pick up food from food banks throughout this nation. Some waiting up to five hours to get a box of food. This is not fake news, folks, regardless of what some may say. This is real. Can you imagine in America that 1/3 of the people are food insecure? In California alone, 6 million people are food insecure, and in the country as a whole, 54 million people don't know if their family will have food on the table next week. Food is a basic need. Does this remind you of food lines during the Depression? It does. I wasn't around, but I've seen enough pictures and heard enough stories to know how bad it was.
My mom, who was a teenager during the depression and remembers it well, says that things are much worse now. The depression was an economic crisis. This pandemic is both an economic crisis and a health catastrophe.
The homeless are hit harder than probably any other group during the pandemic. Covenant House, a national organization that works to eliminate homelessness among children, is hard at work to do what they can. One of their fund raising tools is a concept called Sleep Out. I was listening to Stephanie Ruhl, an MSNBC journalist one morning, and she talked about the program. She had just done Sleep Out with her two school age children. She and her children spent a night sleeping outside, and raising money at the same time. Although they were not sleeping on the ground with a thin blanket as a covering, they got a feel for what sleeping outside night after night, might be like. Her kids got an appreciation for what they have, and hopefully help them become citizens that work for improving the welfare of all.
So, at this holiday time, if you're in the mood for giving, Covenant House is a great charity. Or, as I plan to do, consider a Food Bank in your own community. We need to help each other at this time. We will get through this.
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