Going Hungry in America

The Josephine County Food Bank is an amazing organization, serving more then 18,000 people every month. A couple of years back I decided with some of my free time to volunteer on the farm to help, mainly weeding, from planting seeds to the final harvest. The people who work there are mostly volunteers who selflessly give of their free time to help those less fortunate in our community.

I am always surprised by the level of hunger in our country and wonder why it is we have so many who go hungry on a daily basis. While agribusiness has essentially taken over the family farms that once used to be the heart of America, we are now seeing massive subsidies go to crops i.e. corn, soybeans and sugar beets, that only serve to drive disease and obesity in our country. Raptor Creek Farm at the Food Bank is a great counter to this as it provides fresh, healthy, organic produce to the community.

Interviewing the Executive Director, Josephine Sze, I learned a lot about how deep the problem in our community goes. And to make things worse, the problem only seems to be getting bigger. I hope to release the interview with Josephine on the coming weeks as part of a series of podcasts covering issues in our community and gathering the voices of our neighbors.

If you have some extra time, you might consider volunteering to help at the Josephine County Food Bank here.