Fighting Hunger at Home

Their stories begin with the loss of a job, an injury or illness, or the simple realization that Social Security retirement income alone isn’t enough to feed a family. Whatever the circumstances, in the mountains of rural Southwestern Virginia, the stories intersect on the third Wednesday of the month at the Patrick County Community Food Bank.

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When Joni Hunt, the organization’s director, says emphatically that, “There’s no reason in this country that there’s anybody that’s hungry,” it takes a moment to realize that the country she’s talking about is our own. She says the elderly and working poor make up the majority of the visitors to the food bank, and that the need for food has nearly doubled since late last year.

The boxes her organization distributes monthly last a family only a few days, but still more than 400 were given away on the day we visited – in a county with fewer than 20,000 residents.

Do you think hunger is a problem in your area? Does this give you a different perspective on the effects of the recession? Let us know in the comments below!