Orange Is the New ....

When was the last time you were hungry? Not the ‘gee, I shouldn’t have skipped lunch today’ hungry, but rather, the kind of hunger where all you can think about is where you can get something to eat and how soon. 

I’ve read the “Great Recession” ended in June 2009 ; what’s not clear to me is where that happened  since we all know someone on our street or who goes to our church who is struggling still.

This is Hunger Action Month, says the Connecticut Food Bank and they encourage everyone tomorrow to wear orange to raise awareness and fight hunger. As if that’s all it was, right? But you know better.

It’s more than wearing an orange shirt, blouse, tie or socks (or a jacket if you’re on a road crew, I guess), there’s also becoming more aware. One in five Connecticut children gets up hungry and goes to bed that same way, but don’t see that statistic solely as 20% because the number will anesthetize you to the humanity behind the catastrophe (and that’s what it is)-think of it as a lot of kids, because that’s really  what it is.

I know, “if these were our children, this would never happen” except, they are our children and it does happen, every day, and more and more often. In a state regarded as among the most affluent in our nation, we have families and neighbors we’ve yet to meet in every community living hand-to-mouth. 

The Connecticut Food Bank estimates there are (wait for it) 498,460 people hungry across the state. Half a million hungry people, every day of the year, here, where we live. And surviving today just means working that much harder to survive tomorrow.

Here in Eastern Connecticut those private agencies and helping hands such as St. Vincent DePaul Place, Gemma E. Moran and so many more have nearly doubled their client lists for food distribution and food pantry customers.  And still the need grows.

You may have seen the posters for the program or the work parties setting up in the parks and other places across Norwich all summer for the free summer meals that hundreds maybe thousands of school-age children benefited from that (hopefully and nutritionally) have prepared them to succeed in the recently-started school year.  Just one candle in the darkness.

So wear orange tomorrow. And then what? Pick an agency or a service that’s not just making a difference but IS the difference and find out how you can help. Our boat is sinking, not just the part over by the bow or the stern, but the whole damn boat. Everyone needs to put an oar in the water and row. Put your back into it.

Start by visiting a site like the Connecticut Food Bank and donating your time and talents but most especially dollars. Doing good costs money, so let’s be great.   

These are hard times in the land of plenty, wear orange tomorrow so we can see who’s helping. 

-bill kenny