If I come every three days, will you feed me?

"If I come by your house every three days, will you feed me?”

That was the question that the young boy standing at my front door in Bogotá, Colombia, asked. He was a street child and he went through our neighborhood finding people who would agree to feed him. My husband and I agreed and every third day, the young boy arrived at our door. I don’t know who fed him the other two days, but apparently someone did.  He would not come inside but chose to eat sitting on the curb. He never wasted a single bite. Yet, according to the EPA, over 34 million tons of food were wasted in the US in 2010. I am sure that in 2012 the figure will be the same or more.

Can you imagine 34 million tons of food? I can’t. I also have a difficult time imagining 6.5 million. That’s how many people in the world have died of hunger so far this year, as of July 31. Almost 16,000 children will die of hunger-related causes just today. Nearly 1 in 6 people, or 49 million, in the US are hungry (or “food insecure”) as I write these words. These figures are overwhelming. How can I make a difference?

I can get a bread bank, save the price of a sandwich once a week, and then contribute that money to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund.

I can talk with my pastor about doing an emphasis on world hunger in October using World Hunger 101, a CD that describes an interactive experience for all ages of the church.

I can buy an extra can of vegetables when I buy my groceries and donate the extra cans to a local food bank.

I can volunteer at a local food bank.

I can talk with the local school system to see how I could help with children who are hungry when they come to school.

I can pray.

We fed that young boy for over a year, until we left the country. I wonder who feeds him now. There are plenty of ways to help eradicate hunger. But the biggest difference is made when you and I make a long-term commitment to serve in the fight against hunger. So, am I willing to make the commitment? Are you?