Recent published reports from the United Nations World Food Program highlight the good news and the bad news of ending world hunger.
The good news is that since 1970, the number of hungry people around the globe has decreased from 35 percent to 20 percent, with a figure of 12 percent being forecast for the year 2010. The numbers are going down despite the world population increasing.
The bad news is that North Korea, because of a drought and its socialist system, ran out of food last June, and the inadequate methods of delivering food to women continue.
Catherine Bertini, executive director of the UN World Food Program, was quoted as saying, “There are 800 million hungry people in the world, and we can do much more to decrease that number by focusing on delivering food to women. Whether we like it or not, women primarily cook the food . . . and we need to ensure that it gets to their children.”
Here in Chicago, there is a delivery system in place, and it needs continual help, both in food and monetary donations. That delivery system is known as food pantries.
Food pantries provide nourishment to families who find themselves experiencing food shortages due to cuts in welfare checks, as well as to working people who are living at the line of poverty. Senior citizens who have fixed incomes have come to rely on food pantries for assistance as the cost of living rises and their pension and Social Security checks stay the same.
Food pantries at this time of the year are usually desperately in need of help due to the beginning of winter and the approaching holiday seasons. Most parents would like to provide a turkey for the families that they serve so that they can participate in a holiday tradition.
Anyone wishing to support his or her local food pantry can call the Greater Chicago Food Depository at 773-247-3663 to find the closest location.
