Living in between hunger pangs

This past week I've run into three people who are hungry because their money doesn't cover current costs of food. One is on SSI and he runs out of money for food the last week of the month. His friends have to help him buy groceries that week and, he tells me, some months that happens and other months it doesn't.

The second person works and his medical costs are so high he has to choose between food and care and equipment. The third person is unemployed and had not eaten in two days.

Wikipedia says hunger pangs "usually do not begin until 12 to 24 hours after the last ingestion of food. A single hunger contraction lasts about 30 seconds, and pangs continue for around 30-45 minutes, then hunger subsides for around 30-150 minutes.Individual contractions are separated at first, but are almost continuous after a certain amount of time."

The first guy said he can eat a banana every twelve hours and get through a number of days on that before he starts cramping up.

The second guy told me that he had something to eat a few hours before, so he would wait before eating again, not to waste the food. He said he waits until he gets a hunger pang, rides it through, then eats as little as possible to make them stop. He says it "only gets bad when they happen one after the other".

The third guy was becoming pretty sick after going without food for two days. He said he keeps looking for a job, but can't find anything. At first he refused help, but after reassurance that being hungry wasn't his fault, he accepted help, which included pointing him toward resources.

For example, a local church is providing a noon meal for a dollar to those who are hungry and that helps many people, once they find out about it. This is a great idea to help the unemployed and those for whom rising food costs have left them hungry.

I didn't have to go far to meet people living in between hunger pangs. I bet these days most of us don't.

Take a few minutes to check out where food pantries and soup kitchens are near you, and write down their addresses and numbers so you have that information if anyone needs it. We can handle the hunger problem caused by this economic downturn if we help people connect to resources and help out by volunteering or donating.

Update: Hungry at Noon Prayers