Waste, Hunger in a Land of Plenty

In a county where the median household income is $41,000, an estimated 320,000 men, women and children don’t know where their next meal is coming from. That’s tragic. It’s also unforgivable because with just a little bit more thought and effort, many of them could be fed.

Some homeless people last Thanksgiving Day showed that you don’t have to be rich, just caring, to help. The people were at the Christian Temporary Housing Facilities shelter in Orange. When they finished the meal prepared for them, they took turkey sandwiches and other holiday fixings to the parks and other places where they knew other homeless and hungry people such as themselves would be.

There are other, more organized efforts to make life better. For example, the Food Distribution Center of Orange County, run by the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and the 191 nonprofit relief agencies that rely on the center for food to distribute to the hungry. There are also the Community Development Council and the stores that provide these organizations with tons of surplus food.

Despite their efforts, an estimated 30 million tons of edible food are still going to waste each year in the county while thousands go hungry. Helping to feed them on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day is a generous gesture. But we need that kind of caring to extend beyond the holiday season, or too many of our neighbors will continue to needlessly go to bed hungry in this county of plenty.