Giving begins with looking in the mirror

Forgive me for talking about food for the second week in a row, but it’s on my mind.

As I write this, it’s the day before Thanksgiving, and I left for work this morning with my husband in the kitchen getting ready to make cornbread for the dressing. Our menu also includes a big turkey, mashed potatoes, fruit salad and who knows what else. Plus appetizers. I’ve requested a certain cheese ball that I’ve become addicted to.

I’ll make pumpkin pies tonight, and my husband will make cranberry pie. I think my daughter-in-law may be bringing her special chocolate pie that I love.

By now, as you read this, I will have eaten until I can’t breathe, hated myself for it but still will be working on leftovers.

We didn’t have to stand in line to get a holiday food box. We’ve never worried a second in our lives about not having enough food.

This time of year, I write a lot about the needs in different organizations, and I started thinking about how much of the need involves people not having enough food.

The woman I interviewed at the Community Action Program for Central Arkansas was trying to get enough items — and she was short — to give out 300 or so food boxes, most of which she said were going to elderly and disabled people. She told me that Arkansas is No. 1 in senior hunger again. I have a special place in my heart for older people, and that’s so sad to me. No, I don’t think they’re buying cat food — I think they’re not eating enough at all.

Then I think about the kids. Another statistic I heard from more than one person I interviewed is that one in four children is hungry. That’s a lot of little children and teenagers coming to school trying to concentrate on an empty stomach. Thank goodness for school lunches, but the students are out for the holidays now.

There are even food pantries at colleges and universities because, in addition to the students who are struggling for food, some employees don’t have incomes above the poverty level for the number of people in their households.

It seems like everywhere you look this time of year, people are collecting canned goods. A group of fraternity guys was standing outside a big-box store a couple of weeks ago, and one asked me if I’d consider buying a few canned items for them as I shopped. I bought just three or four cans of vegetables and fruit and dropped them in the group’s nearly empty plastic tub when I came out, and they thanked me profusely. I was embarrassed because it was only a couple of dollars’ worth. I could have done more. I should have done more.

I don’t have tons of money, but I’ve never had to worry about feeding my kids. We go out to restaurants and order whatever we want.

I waste food on a regular basis. If I take a bite of banana and it’s not the perfect stage of ripeness to my liking, sometimes I throw it away. We may buy lunch meat and not eat it until the expiration date is past, and I throw it in the garbage, unopened.

I’m feeling guilty, in case you couldn’t tell.

It’s not the time to get all judgmental. Yes, maybe some of those people who get the food boxes don’t manage their money well, but most of them do the best they can with their education and skills.

A lot of focus is on food right now, but I’ve decided that, even after the holidays are over, I’m going to start giving to food pantries on a regular basis. Nobody should go hungry, if we can help them.

And we can.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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