Feed the Hungry: Some ideas
To Feed the Hungry: who are the Hungry?
Hunger has many forms and many faces:
Hunger Statistics
Useful facts and figures on world hunger.
1. Some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active
life. That's about one in nine people on earth.
2. The vast majority of the world's hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 %
of the population is undernourished.
3. Asia is the continent with the most hungry people - two thirds of the total. The percentage
in southern Asia has fallen in recent years but in western Asia it has increased slightly.
4. Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest prevalence (percentage of population) of
hunger. One person in four there is undernourished.
5. Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five - 3.1 million children
each year.
6. One out of six children -- roughly 100 million -- infeed
developing
countries is underweight.
the hungry
7. One in four of the world's children are stunted. In developing countries the proportion can
rise to one in three.
8. If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the
world could be reduced by up to 150 million.
9. 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world,
with 23 million in Africa alone.
10. WFP calculates that US$3.2 billion is needed per year to reach all 66 million hungry schoolage children.
FOCUS: Corporal Works of Mercy -
Source : www.wfp.org/hunger/stats
Hunger is also not measured in comparative dollar terms: a dollar in NZ and a dollar in Sudan can
purchase different things, so it is perfectly possible to be hungry in NZ, or for us to not to be able
to afford those things that are defined as needed for our sustenance: trips to this or that event,
or place for our school aged children, this or that ‘device’, this or that element
Hunger is also a metaphor; “we can have hunger for…” friendship, a voice, recognition, a visitor,
knowledge,
Identify where hunger and need is in our local / national society and act justly. Get involved with
MPs and policy on issues of deepest need and the fundamental hungers of our society. Protect the
vulnerable, ensure just wages and distribution of resources, lobby for refugees and those in need;
and be informed in your opinion and then in your vote.
JUBILEE OF MERCY
Dec 2015 – Nov 2016
Diocese of
Palmerston North
Feed the Hungry: Some ideas
So what can we do? ( this is a starting point, please send us your ideas and we will
update as we receive them)
Parish
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Have a “long table this Christmas, and next Easter, an open meal where
the parish feeds those in need, the hungry, the shut in, the lonely
Who are those away from home, the post grad student, the Philippino
man working on a farm, the agricultural worker in the Bay; invite them
for Christmas
Ensure all know when Mass is, welcome by name, transport, coffee, and
invite home
A freezer full of meals, one a month from every family, from a full meal
to a single serving, that can be given to the bereaved, the new, the new
baby, the stranger
support the Food Bank through Vincent de Paul;
focus on adopting a village through Caritas
support Caritas Challenge in the School in March
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Family
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take one dish off your table ( the chicken, the ham, the salmon, the
third bottle of wine) and give to Vincent de Paul;
This Advent and Christmas: invite someone to your table, to share food
and remove the hunger of loneliness;
take scones to the shut in neighbor( take the grand kids with you);
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School
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support Survive a Slum or Caritas Challenge through Caritas
identify and adopt a project as part of curriculum
a meal for every new family in the school, for every family with a
bereavement, every new baby
a box of baking for first day at school
take on the first communion breakfast as a PTFA event
PTFA: all parents on roster for packing food parcels at ST V De P
Identify and visit all the housebound in the district, list from parish
Links to Resources
www.pn.catholic.org.nz/mercy
www.wfp.org/hunger/stats
www.caritas.org.nz
JUBILEE OF MERCY
Dec 2015 – Nov 2016
Diocese of
Palmerston North