Introduction So many people in this world do not know when their next meal is. More specifically in Wake County around 130,000 people do not know when their next meal will be. Hunger affects all kinds of people in this area. For all you know the person sitting next to you in class or someone walking past you on the sidewalk might have not eaten in days. I luckily have always had access to food at home. But I do get hungry in between meals and when I do I talk about how hungry I am and that I can't stand it. Thinking about this makes me very sad because if I feel that hungry without having eaten since breakfast I can’t imagine how it would feel to have not eaten in hours, days, or longer. That's why I am interested in helping anyone and everyone who is experiencing hunger. You should help the hungry as well because for all you know by giving your time or money you could be saving someone's life. The Issue North Carolina ranks as one of the top ten worst states when it comes to children under 18 who are lacking food on a regular basis, and in Wake County 19.6% of children live in food insecure homes, (Southeastern University Consortium On Hunger, Poverty, and Nutrition, 2013). This is because in 40% of families people have had to choose between paying rent/mortgage and food, and 35% of people have had to choose between paying for heat and food, (TABLE, 2017). One in four children in North Carolina are at risk of hunger, (Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, 2017). One of the effects of being food insecure is that people try to get food from more affordable places such as fast food restaurants. Because of this, North Carolina ranks fifth for childhood obesity, (TABLE, 2017). Three out of four teachers say that children in their classroom come to school hungry regularly, because of this their performance in school drops. They might be unable to concentrate, and they might have headaches and stomach aches, (TABLE, 2017). Furthermore, food insecurity is linked to increased hospitalisations, (TABLE, 2017). The Solution All of the food pantries in Wake County are making a difference. Inter-Faith Food Shuttle “saves 6 million pounds of healthy food from being thrown away and re-routes it to these people in need,”(Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, 2017). They also teach people how to garden, so that those struggling can grow their own food. Their motto is “Give a man a fish. Teach a man to fish. Stock the pond for all,” (Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, 2018). This means that they will provide food for people and teach people how to grow food. They adjust to each individual's needs. Tri-Area Ministry is a little different. They have clients, and distribute food to each client once a month (Tri-Area Ministry, 2017). There are many many different organizations in Wake County alone. From the Tri-Area Ministry to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, most people in Raleigh have access to a place for food. The problem, though, is that we need to stock these food pantries and we need people to volunteer and harvest food to keep these organizations running. What use is a food pantry that has no food to hand out and no people to hand out food? Imagine if this... Became this... Empty shelves, no food. Can you imagine? This is what it would be like, though, without volunteers to keep food pantries going. Our group is wanting to volunteer at Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. They are a great organization that provides food to all sorts of people in this area. We specifically would like to work at the farm because that is not something that many food pantries have. The barn where I ride and keep my horse is right down the rode from this farm and I have seen lots of people volunteer and they seem to be having a lot of fun. Action Plan We would start out the day at school, then parent volunteers would drive the group to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle farm sight, 2300 Dover Farm Rd, Raleigh, N.C. Students would pack a lunch which would be eaten at the farm.We would spend two to three hours there, then come back to school. Depending on the number of students participating, we would need need anywhere from one to three chaperones. It would be preferable, though, that we had one chaperone for every five students to make sure that students have access to help while farming. A form will be sent home with participating students asking for parent volunteers. Students and parents alike MUST BRING A WATER BOTTLE to insure proper hydration, as we will be working outdoors for many hours. Work clothes should be worn since we will be working (no flip flops, sandals, or nice clothes). This trip should begin around 8:00 in the morning and we would be back b the end of the school day. But the more time we can donate the bigger impact we will make! Click here to view our action plan setup: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15aiBQj7Q6GPfhE01hLnulX_bxA0hFSs73TNk5CCnNpc/edit Works Cited Inter-Faith Food Shuttle.”Hunger Relief” and “Volunteer Your Time.” Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. Jan. 2018. 16 Jan. 2018. <https://www.foodshuttle.org/food-distribution/> Tillett, Lena. “More Wake County high schools add food pantries to fight hunger in the hallways.” Wral. Evan Matsumoto. November 15th, 2017. 1/25/18 <https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wral.com/wake-county-high-schools-add-food-pantries-to- fight-hunger-in-hallways/17104281/%3fversion=amp> Tri-Area Ministry. “About.”Tri-Area Ministry Food Pantry. Jan. 2018. 17 Jan. 2018. <http://www.triareaministry.com/about/> TABLE. “Facts and Statistics.” TABLE. 2017. Jan. 2018 <shttps://www.tablenc.org/facts-and-statistics> Southeastern University COnsortium on Hunger, Poverty, and Nutrition. “Food Insecurity Statistics in NC.” Hunger Research Understanding Food Insecurity in Your Community. Feb. 2013. Jan. 2018. <http://hunger-research.sog.unc.edu/content/2013-wake-county-nc>
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As of November of 2017, more than 130,000 students in Wake County do not know where their next meal is coming from. This interests me because I people in my home country of Venezuela are going hungry, one of those being my aunt. This is a problem because being hunger can lead to health problems down the line and it might make it harder to concentrate, thereby making your grades drop. Something that you could to to help with this issue is to simply give the food that you might not want to eat during lunch to someone else, something else that you can do is to donate to food pantries. Hunger is an issue that can be erased, so we have to do everything that we can to help those in need.
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April 2018
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