People are hungry
CARY (BSCNC Communications) - Journalists, on the whole, have been fascinated by hunger. For them, it is the unseen reality lingering just beyond the surface in the daily traffic patterns of most people. In 1886, A.S. Krausse attempted to reveal the harshness of hunger with his "Starving London" series first published in the London Globe in 1886. For three weeks he lived among the city's poorest and chronicled the lives of people who wanted to work and who were able to work, yet had no food. Krausse came to believe that "one of the most pitiable sights in the world" is that of a starving child's body. In Hunger: A Modern History, James Vernon writes about how such ethnographic journalism, specifically in Britain, helped "establish the humanity of the hungry" and birth a humanitarian effort to alleviate hunger. Newsprint imbued with heart-wrenching rhetoric brought to light the intense suffering of the hungry and gave evidence that charitable work did in fact make a difference in the lives of those without food.
Fast forward to 2009 and journalists still work to expose the plight of the hungry. In the words of Christianity Today contributor Cindy Crosby, to show that "hunger has a profile." Crosby’s headline expands the firsthand account of her time volunteering in her local food pantry and the people she meets - single mothers, senior adults, immigrants, refugee families, working professionals laid off from work and children. "Instead of a vague notion of 'the hungry,' I see the Muslim woman with the shy, dark-haired boy," she writes. CNN correspondent Sean Callebs sought to comprehend what it is like for the 31 million Americans using food stamps when he ate for one month on $176 - the amount he would qualify for should he have applied for federal aid.
The World Food Programme states that 963 million people around the world do not have enough to eat and 25,000 people die daily from hunger and related causes. WFP also reports that since the second half of the 1990s, the number of chronically hungry in developing countries has increased nearly four million per year. One in nearly seven people does not eat enough food. Feeding America, the nation-wide hunger relief charity that each year provides food assistance to more than 25 million people, reports that in 2007, 12.5 percent of the United States population was in poverty, translating to nearly 10 percent of families and 18 percent of children. Hunger is the often unseen need in reasonably affluent areas and the quiet killer close to home.
North Raleigh Ministries
On a sunny, chilly Thursday morning, an elderly woman waits by the door at North Raleigh Ministries. A few minutes later, another woman walks up. She folds her arms and pulls the hood on her sweatshirt tight around her face. Before the clock says 10 a.m. several others join the women and a busy day seems to be in store for North Raleigh Ministries (NRM). Before sitting down for this interview, Denise Crumpler, director of NRM, fields phone calls and arranges for other volunteers to come in, as several called in last minute unable to come. For a first time visitor to NRM the morning may seem a bit hectic, but for Crumpler, it is business as usual. As soon as the doors open people are waiting to meet with someone in the crisis center and a volunteer is already in the food bank organizing and alphabetizing cans.
The food bank at NRM models a grocery store. Upon arrival families get a shopping cart and they go up and down the aisles selecting food. They are given a grocery list so they know how much of every group - canned items, meat, etc. - they can get. Once they are done shopping a volunteer checks them out at the register, the groceries are bagged and someone helps them take the food to the car. The food bank often has weekly specials, just like a real grocery store.
Crumpler, a member of Trinity Baptist Church in Raleigh, has been with North Raleigh Ministries since it began five years ago, when five local pastors decided to pull together church resources and give people one place where they could go for food and financial assistance during crisis. Now, more than 20 churches help sponsor the ministry. A ministry that began with only five volunteers daily now needs 30-35 volunteers every day to run the crisis center, food bank and thrift store. The crisis center helps individuals and families during financial crisis. The food bank is open four days a week and a person can get food once a month, six times a year, for free. All revenue from the thrift store supports the crisis center and food bank.
Feeding America reports that in 2008, food pantries experienced a 30 percent increase in emergency food requests. NRM also saw an increase in requests. As the need for the ministry’s services increases, so does the need for volunteers. As other agencies in the area are losing funding, Crumpler only expects NRM to get more requests for help. By March of 2008, NRM had helped feed 283 different families. By March 2009, that number was 364. NRM is supported in part by funds through the World Hunger Offering, North American Mission Board and the North Carolina Hunger Fund of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC).
North Carolina Baptist churches and associations can apply annually for hunger funds. Of the 46 ministries reporting in the first quarter of this year, more than 151,000 people were fed as a result of ministries receiving help from the North Carolina Hunger Fund. Nearly 2,000 volunteers helped serve more than 38,000 hot meals. About 120 people prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. The North Carolina Hunger Fund distributes more than $100,000 per year. These funds are made possible by gifts to the World Hunger Fund, Southern Baptist Convention and the North Carolina Hunger Fund.
North Raleigh Ministries serves people living in five zip codes, from Glenwood Avenue to Wakefield. Food is supplied through donations, the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle and local restaurants. Businesses hold food drives and school children save their pennies to help buy food. "It really is a community effort," Crumpler said. NRM has seen days with a bare pantry – but not this year. "God takes care of it," she said. Some days the food bank feeds as many as 25 families. Crumpler and the volunteers try to help empower those who come to NRM. They provide easy recipes to help save people time and money. They counsel and point people to other resources. Most importantly, they share the Gospel.
Crumpler and Reta Johnson can share story after story of families and individuals who come to the food bank. On this particular day in April, Reta has already met someone who had hours cut at work and now doesn't make enough to make ends meet. Reta tells of a mom with four children under age 12 whose husband left her when she was four months pregnant. She lost her job and unemployment and food stamps aren’t quite enough. Another man came in who missed qualifying for food stamps by only $3. About 85 percent of those who use the food bank are on food stamps, and it’s simply not enough. More working professionals are coming into the food bank, people like college educated real estate agents and stock brokers. "It's the person next door who hit a hard time," Reta said. "It's everybody." Not everyone who comes in is on food stamps, even though they should be in the program. Sometimes it’s pride, and volunteers encourage them to apply to the program. And not everyone who comes to the crisis center wants to take food. One couple who came and applied for financial help to pay a utility bill also qualified for food. But they didn’t want to take it - they wanted to leave it for others less fortunate.
North Raleigh Ministries also exists for the volunteers. "People need to be able to give back. We have a safe place to do it," Crumpler said. She enjoys seeing "how people work together to serve the Lord and each other."
For more information about the North Carolina Hunger Fund, click here.
