On October 16th, the world recognized World Food Day. Starting in 1945, the United Nations outlined and recognized food as not a privilege, but as a right. And then many years later, starting in 1979, the United Nations created World Food Day, which has been recognized annually ever since. On that day, we draw attention to the plight of the hungry and re-commit to working to end hunger across the globe.
We have all seen commercials on television with starving children in third world countries, but did you know that 1 in 7 Missourians struggle with knowing where to find their next meal. Food Insecurity is a reality for so many of our neighbors. And each of us can do something to help!
To remember this year’s World Food Day, let each of us re-commit ourselves to do something that will make a difference for the over 800,000 individuals across Missouri that face food insecurity as well as those across our country and our world.
Each of us can:
– Donate food, time and money to local food pantries, food banks and other emergency food programs.
– Support small family farms by shopping at a local farm directly or at a local farmer’s market.
– Educate your legislators about hunger in their county by sharing county-level hunger statistics from the Missouri Hunger Atlas with them.
– Advocate for a strong Child Nutrition Reauthorization, a comprehensive piece of legislation that authorizes most federal policies governing kids feeding programs like School and Summer Meal Programs and WIC.
– Get involved in the Empower Missouri Food Security Task Force by contacting me at [email protected].
Thank you for your support!
In Solidarity,
Christine Woody
Food Security Policy Manager
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