Why is there Food Starvation in America?

It does indeed bother me that anyone in this richest nation on earth is hungry and not getting proper nutrition. Especially when our paid government workers are wanting for very little. There are some poorly paid government workers, in the supporting vocations of our public schools and the like, and those wages need to be raised. Some transportation workers, for example, often get less than $10 an hour. Their hours are often too few and they are laid off for several months a year with no unemployment. This is not the case in every school district, but it is in the one where I live, and I doubt the one where I live is the only one that treats their workers less than well.

No one should be without food or necessary medical care in this country. No one. True Christians should be embarrassed by the conditions in this country regarding the poor, and I believe true Christians ARE embarrassed by them. It is those few people who afix that label (Christian) to themselves in order to take advantage of it who bray (not a typo) to end public assistance for the poor. A label does not a Christian make.

There are more than 3.5 homeless people in this country at any given time. I have already written about who those people are and fewer than 20% are people who cannot function in society because of drug, alcohol, or mental issues. Not that it's OK by any means to write someone off because they have a mental disorder or that they should be left to starve and wander aimlessly.

In reality, addictions are mental disorders too. But for the grace of God, any one of us might suffer from an addiction or a mental disorder and they are the sort of thing that can develop in a person at any time in one's life. I studied this in psychology, my major, at the university.

Most private charities do not have the resources to provide stable dependable help to all who need it and that is why our government needs to manage such a huge undertaking. Government can also be useful in preventing discrimination where helping the needy is concerned.

Here where I live most food pantries only allow people to obtain food 2 or 3 times a year. A couple of bags filled to the brim with groceries won't get anyone through difficult times for long. By the same token, the soup kitchens I've visited do not provide much in the way of fruits and vegetables and often serve only one small so-called meal a day. To me, the omission of vegetables and fruits is not a complete meal.

Communities need to pull together to address poverty and put an end to it. Not only in providing food and medical services and housing, but jobs. There is no reason businesses in a community could not set aside a few of their jobs, maybe only 1 job in the case of a very small business, to be filled by a homeless person. Some homeless people down on their luck have college educations. It's really a shame that their education isn't being utilized by their community.

With a little effort from everyone -- especially people who like to call themselves Christians -- we could end homelessness. The first step in so doing is adjusting attitudes that homeless people are all junkies and alcoholics, crazies and lazies. That is just simply wrong.

Yes, it bothers me that a country where it seems to me the most vocal complainers about public assistance programs also like to say our country is based on Christian principles. So absorb some of those principles and be the Christian that you say you are dear readers, and prove you really are saved. The Bible says you will know them (God's chosen and saved saints) by their deeds. One doesn't do good deeds to be saved, but rather because one IS saved. Doing those good deeds proves God is indeed working through a person to do good.

The homeless communities everywhere are growing and more and more laws are being passed to make their lives even harder than they already are. Cities love to brag about bull dozing tent cities. Ya, that's so Christian I can hardly stand it.

Destroying and stealing the few possessions these people in tent cities have managed to obtain. Shame on anyone who would do such a thing or take pleasure in hearing about it. Shame on anyone who doesn't at least speak up and say how wrong it is to do such a terrible thing. Everyone should be on the phone complaining about it and picketing their city government for doing these totally UNChristian things. Not just once, but everyday until it stops. There is power in numbers. One person can make change, but a group of people can move a mountain.

The city of Fort Worth Texas brags that they destroy tent cities more than 100 times a year! I read about that in our local newspaper a few months ago. Now there's a Christian city that's so, so proud of adding more misery to the lives of the already suffering.

I will quit being bothered by the poverty situation in this country when it ceases to be. I hope everyone who has the luxury of sitting down to a nice meal will think about all the hundreds if not thousands of people in this richest country on earth who are not so lucky and who are in fact hungry at this very moment. I hope everyone who has the luxury of a nice comfy bed and a climate controlled bedroom will think about the 3.5 million people in this country, many children and elderly, who do not have a roof much less a bed or an air conditioner/furnace.

Again, prove you are a Christian and do the work God has given you. Help those less fortunate than yourself to get back on their feet if they are able to do so. Assist them in reclaiming their human dignity even if they are not able to help themselves. That is what Jesus said Christians should do many times over when He was amongst us. If you are not a Christian, then do these things because they are right no matter what your religious beliefs may be, and elevate yourself above the cacophony of heartless brayers.

Ms. Peggy, I know you have a kind heart, but not everyone does, and I am speaking especially to them.

With less than 2.5% of people testing positive for drugs due to being drug tested for food stamps, millions of money that could be spent on food is instead going for useless testing. Although I understand that some people actually sleep better at night knowing the children of a minority number of drug users are going to be hungry. Nothing like teaching good judgment to newborns and young children by starving them so they make better future decisions than when they picked their junkie parents.

One big reason children, veterans, active military families, and the elderly (over 62) are hungry is that our overpaid public servants whose base pay is 172,000 a year are continually cutting back on public assistance programs, in particular food stamps. Personally, I would like to see all congress people who vote to cut food stamps, Medicaid, social security or medicare, cut from Federal and state payrolls. Sharing this article. Also pinned to Aweseome HubPages.

We are experiencing a heatwave again up here. Mid 90s for 2 days now and more to come. Hope all is well there.