Our Daily Bread

There is a line in the Bible from John 6:35 that says: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”. It is a very powerful line that speaks to people about their faith. There is a very definitive line between spiritual and physical hunger though. Each day in our country, millions (approximately 1 out of 8 Americans) go without the food they need to survive. Even right here in our great state of Delaware, about 17,500 different people receive food assistance on a weekly basis; according to the Food Bank of Delaware.

In Delaware, many businesses have jumped in to help in any way they can, mine included, to fight this growing epidemic. From Walmart donating a new refrigerated truck to the Food Bank, along with a large monetary contribution, to Johnson and Johnson’s employees donating service time to helping out, to Perdue donating their poultry products on a regular basis, and Burris Logistics working with their grocery store clients to make contributions, just to name a few.

Unfortunately not all companies share in this philanthropic spirit. In a conversation I had with a fellow business owner, when discussing our efforts to help wipe out hunger in our state, he said to me “These people won’t get a dime from me, let them go get a job, and buy their own food.” He didn’t want to hear that hunger doesn’t discriminate based upon race, sex, age, creed, or even job status. He was locked in his thinking that these people are just lazy, which we know isn’t the case.

Hunger is the end product, not the cause, of the breakdown of the socioeconomic status of people and families. The effort needs to be made to eradicate the root causes, such as: lack of job training, childcare, health care, and literacy, In doing this we can make great strides forward towards ending hunger and making our state an even better place than it already is.

As a community, we need to come together to help out. We need rally around our pride in this great state Delaware of ours, and stand united with our brothers and sisters in need.

Are you with me Delaware?