ORANGE COUNTY VOICES : Feeding the Area’s Hungry Should Be Ongoing Priority : Many residents need assistance throughout the year, not just at Christmastime.

While we applaud that the U.S. Marines do the job of protecting food en route to starving Somalians overseas, Americans must also realize that we have a job to do here at home, feeding our own hungry.

Despite our own county’s affluence, hunger is very much a possibility for many in the Orange County community. The Food Distribution Center Serving Orange County of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul estimates that nearly 400,000 Orange Countians are at risk of going to bed hungry sometime each month. This is an astonishing 16% of the county’s population.

Among the key factors which bring many in our community to a point where they are threatened with hunger are:

1. The Economy: When the economy is in a recession, and people lose their jobs, the high cost of living quickly drains savings and soon there is little money left for food.

Additionally, a slow economy leads to reduced tax revenues which shrink government contributions to social services as well as reduced charitable giving by individuals and corporations.

2. The Breakup of the Family: Single-parent families, “dysfunctional” families, domestic violence and other circumstances which erode the traditional family unit are on the rise. When individuals experience hard times, an extended family structure can provide needed moral as well as financial support to that person until better times arrive.

Living with a grandmother, borrowing money from dad or getting some words of encouragement from a sibling might be what it takes to keep food in a person’s stomach and a roof over his or her head. However, as this family support structure decays, the number of those who fall into the at-risk category increases.

Additionally, those who are raised in a dysfunctional environment often suffer from a lack of hope and self-esteem, and when they try repeatedly and fail, they despair, which hardly makes them attractive candidates for employment.

3. Health Issues: The number of persons suffering from drug and alcohol abuse, emotional breakdown, physical and/or mental disabilities or other health problems which adversely affect their ability to hold down a job is on the rise. Persons with these health problems quickly fall into poverty.

4. The High Cost of Orange County Housing: With the median monthly rent for an apartment in Orange County at more than $750, much of the income of the poor must be devoted to housing, leaving less money available for food and other necessities. An estimated 119,800 Orange County households earn less than $10,000, yet pay more than 60% of their income for rent. This puts them in a precarious situation should a serious accident or illness occur, quickly draining their financial resources and preventing them from working.

While community leaders and activists might disagree as to the long-term solutions to these and other social problems which lead to hunger, on one thing all can agree: There is a large number of the poor in our midst who need our immediate and continued assistance.

At Christmastime, people generally become more aware of these less fortunate members of the community and give generously to aid them. Members of churches, businesses, schools and many other organizations work enthusiastically to provide for the needs of the poor, including holding food drives, participating in adopt-a-family programs and sending volunteers to work in shelters for the needy. The storage facilities of social service agencies swell with donated food and other necessities for the poor.

Yet for the remainder of the year, awareness of hunger in the community declines.

People tend to focus less on giving, sharing and the Christmas spirit and more on their own day-to-day problems and struggles of life. Vital supplies of food for the poor are quickly depleted in the New Year, forcing many charitable agencies to turn away needy families.

Unlike the mission of the U.S. Marines in Somalia, our mission, our challenge as a community, is ongoing.

We must continually remind ourselves of the hungry here at home and make a year-round commitment to aid them.

The shelves of charitable agencies in the county must be stocked in July as well as December. We have the resources, we must now develop the resolve and provide the effort to make them available for all. We needn’t wait until Christmas to remember the poor.

Let us do our part to keep the Christmas spirit alive every day of the year.