PERSPECTIVE ON CHARITY : It Takes More Than One Meal : The people who bask in our generosity today will still be needy tomorrow, but a year-round effort could eliminate hunger.
It’s that time of the year again. Every day, poignant newspaper ads for downtown missions beseech us “For the love of God, please help this Thanksgiving.” In photos on accompanying pages, smiling elementary school students and Scout troops pose proudly by mountains of canned food they have collected for local food pantries. Donations by the truckload are flooding into the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, a clearinghouse that distributes food to 700 Southern California charities. Dozens of holiday appeals stuff our mailboxes. Opportunities abound for volunteers to serve Thanksgiving dinner at soup kitchens and shelters.
This outpouring of holiday beneficence represents our finest instincts as Americans and as concerned, generous human beings--but nagging questions remain. Wouldn’t the same charities that express heartfelt gratitude for the help we give in such abundance during the holiday season benefit most from a year-round commitment? Is it really more important for a hungry child to eat a Thanksgiving dinner than to eat a nutritious dinner every day? Can’t we extend the generous spirit that engulfs us at Thanksgiving into a commitment to help brighten the lives of thousands of needy families throughout the year?
At the House of Ruth, a shelter for homeless women and children in Boyle Heights, cash donations during November and December last year totaled more than $32,000--but only $5,087 came in during June and July. Harbor Interfaith Shelter in San Pedro relies on cash contributions from individuals to make up about $40,000 of its nearly $500,000 annual budget; more than half of that amount is raised during the Thanksgiving-Christmas season. In February, when just as many poor people seek help, donations trickle in.
Numerous local charities, deluged with volunteer meal-servers on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, are forced to turn many of them away, only to have none show up the next day.
This year, as we make holiday donations of time, money and groceries to our favorite charities, we must resolve to remember that people don’t go hungry just between Thanksgiving and Christmas, that hunger and poverty are dismal facts of life for millions of Californians day in and day out. Tragic numbers of them are children: According to a study by the Food Research and Action Center in Washington, more than 1.3 million California children under age 12 are hungry or at risk of hunger.
More than 15% of all people in Los Angeles County live below the poverty line, not just at the holidays, but every day of the year. Thousands of them hold jobs, but fail to earn enough money to adequately feed, clothe and house their families.
Hunger in California and elsewhere in America is not insoluble; we have the food and the resources to eradicate it. What we need is the collective will to bring our energies to bear on the problem year-round.
It is not just a matter of donating to charity, but also of advocating government policies that will provide jobs, housing and income to impoverished people. Pantries providing monthly food boxes to hungry families need our support, but so do the federal food programs (such as food stamps and school meals) on which millions of low-income Californians rely every day. Strengthening government food-assistance efforts will greatly reduce the ranks of the hungry--and the burdens on beleaguered charities. We must push our elected representatives to work for improvements in these vital feeding programs, so that soup kitchens and food pantries can do what they originally were set up to do: help those who fall through the holes of America’s social safety net, not be the net itself.
Giving enriches both the giver and the recipient. We feel good, even blessed, when we give; they are blessed by receiving. But we cannot let our generosity of spirit dissipate once the holidays pass, or let the warmth we feel at this time of year lull us into thinking that serving Thanksgiving dinner at a shelter is an acceptable substitute for year-round support of the programs and policies that truly help those who need it most.
On this Thanksgiving, as we give thanks for the ability to share our bounty with those less fortunate, let us also resolve to open our hearts, our minds and our checkbooks throughout the rest of the year.