While the U.S. is busy minding everyone else’s business, child hunger rose 50% In 2007

You know, they say that charity starts at home, and the measure of a society can be seen in how they care for the least among them; their poor, their elderly, their sick, and their mentally challenged.

The [U.S. Agriculture] department’s annual report on food security showed that during 2007 the number of children who suffered a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat was more than double the 430,000 in 2006 and the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998. Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who struggled with hunger during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006. […]

The findings should increase pressure to meet President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign pledge to expand food aid and end childhood hunger by 2015, said James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger group. Source: Newsnet5.com

So what does this say about the United States of America when child hunger rises 50% in one year? It says that we are not nearly as civilized as we think we are.

These statistics clearly illustrate that poverty has not been a priority in this country, and that needs to change. For all the talk of the waning middle class, we have heard very little about the condition of the poor in this country. If the middle class has been relegated to struggling for survival, where does that leave those who’ve already been struggling to survive?

One of the things that I would like to see addressed by the Obama administration are issues facing the poor. Obama’s “to do” list gets longer by the day, but we cannot ignore the issue of child hunger in our own country.

So I ask you, do you feel that child hunger should be a priority for the Obama Administration?

Filed under: Barack Obama, By Cheri Thomas, hunger, Obama Administration, Poverty, Social Commentary