Head Butler Holiday Project: Suffer the Children

By Mad Dog
Published: Nov 17, 2009

The New York Times reports that hunger in America is at a 14-year high –and it’s 14 years only because the government didn’t start tracking hunger until 1995. That’s 49 million people who “lack consistent access to adequate food”, up 13 million from a year ago. One figure that leapt out at government officials — and at me — was the number of households in which children faced “very low food security”. It’s 506,000, which is up from 323,000 the previous year. 506,000 is the population of Oklahoma City! That’s just unacceptable to me. (As are the figures in my city: 1.3 million New Yorkers rely on emergency food.) So….in previous years, this site has approached the holidays with the attitude that, along with gifts, it’s good to share with people who could use some help. And I created lists of worthy causes, many suggested by you. I’ll share them again, but this year, I’d like to focus on feeding kids. If you have favorite hunger programs, please let me know. I’ll post my suggestions soon.