One of FFP’s planned giving advisors, Via, traveled to Haiti last year, and she sent back this reflection.
When we were kids, food was scarce. With eight hungry mouths to feed my mother struggled to put food on the table — never mind something nutritious. The cupboard was often bare.
Breakfast was two pieces of toast dipped in chocolate milk – never a syrup chocolate – too costly. We never knew whether we would find any food when we came home from school at lunchtime. And our family dinners were mostly a “broth stew” mom would make from a bone she’d wrangle out of the local butcher “for the dog.”
What I didn’t really realize then was that I rarely ate, and I never learned how to cook before I left home. Food was about simply eating because you were hungry, so cooking a meal was not a concept to consider.
Although I’m quite familiar with food insecurity, I could never fathom the desperation for food that those we encounter suffer daily. On a trip to Haiti, our Food For The Poor executive director, Angel Aloma, saw two young brothers. One was eating rice, and the other wasn’t and looked sad. When Angel asked the boy why he wasn’t eating, he replied. “Today is not my turn to eat.”
I believe that we are defined in life by the spirit of our youths – what haunted us, lifted us, and implored us to survive/thrive. I am blessed to have not only have survived, but also been inspired by others who loved me enough to look beyond my flaws and saw my life as a gift. Who loved me and cared for me as Jesus would, completely … as I do for the least of my brothers and sisters. Won’t you help our brothers and sisters in need?
Help feed hungry families at www.dev2.foodforthepoor.org/lifesavingfood.
