Hunger

The United Nations has put the world on notice - yet again - of the dire food-sustainability situation and the unmet needs of millions of people across the world. They speak, for the most part, of those areas of the world known as third-world countries for whom food shortages have always been a problem, although just before the global financial collapse, good news was emanating out of the UN, stating that fewer people - and children - were going without food.

Now, thanks to global economic constraints, food has become more expensive due to its relative scarcity and increased demands on what is available. Understandably, the advanced countries of the world from whom financial support to feed the international underfed is always forthcoming, have been slightly less forthcoming of late. The World Food Program is calling upon "all people, all nations" to respond to the growing crisis of food unavailability. Urging individuals to respond on the Internet with private donations.

As an unfortunate example, of food hunger occurring everywhere, the wealthiest country in the world - bar none - now acknowledges, in reflection of a Department of Agriculture study, that almost 15% of American households were unable to acquire sufficient food. Fifty million Americans experienced hunger. And those statistics reflect 2008; without doubt research statistics for 2009, the first full year of the depression that the United States found itself in, will reflect even greater numbers.

The reasons are various and obvious, from the faltering economy resulting in higher unemployment rates that sees a staggering 10.2% Americans now unemployed - and likely the actual figure is higher than the stated official one - and rising food prices. And it is not just the unemployed, but those who are the working poor, and the under-employed who suffer due to low wages, reflecting workers forced by circumstances beyond their control to accept pay cuts or cuts in hours of work available.

In facing the reality of a reflection of our current society everywhere, single-parent families - particularly those headed by women are right at the bottom of the heap, with a large percentage of under-waged mothers struggling to feed their families. In some instances facing the reality of not merely inadequate food, but no food on hand. And food stamps haven't seemed to help all that much. Food bank usage, on the other hand, is a growing phenomenon.

The situation in Canada is a reflection of that in the United States, where the number of Canadians forced to make use of food banks rose by 18% in 2009. In Ottawa, the nation's capital, which has suffered less than other municipalities due to the strength of government employment, food bank use has increased by 5%. Which still translates, out of a population of roughly 700,000, to 45,000 people using the facilities of a food bank. Children comprised 16,000 of that total.

The executive director of Food Banks Canada, informed a news conference of the growing reliance - through dire necessity - on food banks in every region of the country. Although blame can be placed on the recession, which in fact hit Canada less stridently than it has done elsewhere, she emphasized that hunger and food inadequacy has become a fact of life for many people, even in normal (read: good) economic times.