'I was hungry and you gave me food'

Anyone who knows me knows I am hungry all the time, but that's because I have an overgenerous appetite. My hunger is not because I don't have food. I have plenty of food. Maybe I have too much food.

Not everyone is so lucky.

And these individuals aren't in some far-off, war-torn, drought-stricken region of the world that we only see and hear about on the CBS Evening News. The hungry I'm talking about are right here in Cape Girardeau. Some of them are homeless. Some are traveling through. Some are down and out.

Earlier this week, the front page of the Southeast Missourian had a story about the empty shelves at the Salvation Army Food Pantry. The photograph told the story. A bare shelf is not where you go for help when you are hungry.

The Salvation Army's pantry is among many efforts to distribute food to those in need. The Southeast Missouri Food Bank is the main distribution center for government commodities and donated food from supermarkets and other food suppliers and from organized food drives. The Food Bank serves 16 counties in Southeast Missouri. Food is distributed through 180 agencies in those counties. The Salvation Army is one of those agencies.

Other food pantries in Cape Girardeau are operated by St. Mary Cathedral, Red Star Baptist Church, Christ Episcopal Church, FISH, House of Hope and Rock of Cape. The Revival Center in Jackson also is affiliated with the food bank.

This is the time of year when all of those food pantries have at least some bare shelves. This is the time of year when available food is at its lowest point. This is the time of year when food donations -- to the food bank or any of the individual food pantries -- are so desperately needed.

While gathering information for this column, I tried to remember if I ever, in my entire life, had been truly hungry. For the most part, I've had that gnawing sensation in my stomach only because it was time for another meal -- which was about to be prepared.

I do remember once, in my college years, taking a bus from my farm home in Killough Valley in the Ozarks over yonder back to my college campus in the Kansas City area. I arrived at the bus station in Kansas City too late to catch the last local bus to Liberty, and I had only enough money for a bus ticket with nothing left over for food. So I spent the night on a bench in the bus terminal waiting for the first bus to Liberty. All night I dreamed of being near large spreads of food but unable to reach anything good to eat.

I suspect many of the folks who show up at local food pantries have many nights of such dreams.

Another time, during a seminary class, we joined our instructor, a Benedictine monk, in abstaining from meals for a couple of days. We drank fruit juice and water and limited our intake of a few fruits and vegetables. The idea was to taste the bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist when we were truly hungry. I can attest -- as was intended -- that a morsel of bread and a sip of wine can taste like a feast under the right circumstances.

All of the food pantries are run by volunteers, of which I am privileged to be one. These folks help thousands of families each month have some decent food to help them over some rough patches.

You can volunteer, too. You can donate food to help fill up some of those empty shelves at the various food pantries.

I know you've got a lot on your mind. Thanksgiving is rapidly approaching. Christmas shopping is upon us. Most of us will enjoy bountiful meals for both of those holidays. Thousands of our friends and neighbors in Southeast Missouri won't be so lucky. They will rely heavily on food pantries in the next few weeks.

Will you help?

"I was hungry and you gave me food," Jesus told his disciples. When? they asked. When did we give you food? Jesus replied: "As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me."

Joe Sullivan is the retired editor of the Southeast Missourian.