Hunger Fast Day 4

Today is day 4 in my no third meal fast to raise awareness of the draconian cuts to hunger programs by Congress. And to raise my awareness of hunger.

I spent the day in Over the Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati with some of my students. We heard from the homeless and discussed poverty, gentrification and educational inequities. We walked around the friendly neighborhood and worked on cleaning up a few areas. Something like 300 abandoned buildings.

We bought lunch on a food stamp allotment at the wonderful Findlay Market - such beautiful food, had to pass it by. I ate a gorgeous big tangerine and a bag of carrots.

In the afternoon we spent a couple of hours at the Freestore warehouse where over a million pounds of food are stored for shelters, food pantries and other outlets. Assembly line - we put together hundreds of packets of "weekend" food for children on the school lunch programs to take home for the weekend (a very food insecure time for the kids). A good percentage of this vital food comes through the federal government...but for how long? Our guide at the warehouse explained that in September they were packing 2500 of these weekend meals for the 13 county area, but now it is 4000 meals EACH WEEK.

The meals themselves would have made Mark Bittman cry or perhaps yell. Mostly sugared foods and canned meats. All I could do while packing was think "May THIS child be happy" "May THIS child be happy"....each bag.

I'm noticing how seriously I take my own hunger. And how many reasons I have for eating: distraction, pleasure, substitution, fear, boredom, entertainment. Nothing wrong with all of that but just noticing, when hunger arises how automatic my response is, then just sitting with that little bit of discomfort and thinking about the kids.