Argentines chipping in to feed the hungry

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- It's nearly midday and the tin-roofed dining hall of the Los Piletones soup kitchen is starting to fill up for lunch: mothers with hungry infants arrive, then empty-bellied schoolchildren in search of a square meal.

With bowls in hand, the line of youngsters awaiting a simple plate of corn mush and meat stew soon spills out from the building into the surrounding dirt lanes of Villa Piletones, one of the growing slums ringing Buenos Aires.

Argentina's deep economic funk has plunged half of the 37 million population into poverty. But across the country, volunteers are linking up to feed the staggering numbers of hungry and poor.

So-called "solidarity networks" have sprung up in a country in crisis, filling the gaps left by a cash-strapped government unable to satisfy dire social needs amid a four-year economic slump.

The volunteers at Los Piletones say the number of people receiving three meals a day at the soup kitchen has doubled to 1,600 during this year of economic crisis. Some journey two hours each way for a meal.

Margarita Barrientos and her husband, Isidro, who started the soup kitchen six years ago, say they dedicate endless hours to ensuring the program endures.

Community activism

"The soup kitchen was a necessity," said Margarita Barrientos, sitting at one of the long, wood-plank tables.

Fabian Repetto, of the Interamerican Development Bank, said the economic despair has been the catalyst for a surge in community activism, with volunteers lending a hand that the government can barely give.

Since the recession began in 1998, the number of volunteers jumped by 12 percent, with close to 1.4 million Argentines now helping the country's 105,000 civic organizations.

"The increase in poverty and weakened ability of the state to respond has made any type of effective government action impossible," Repetto said.

At Los Piletones, donation drives by private schools keep the soup kitchen's pantries stocked with macaroni, rice and cooking oil.

Donors say a sense of solidarity triggered them to act. One mother, Sandra Garzzola, said even her 5-year-old child now collects food for children who lack what she has.

The government, too, is helping. President Eduardo Duhalde's government has joined with international charities this month in launching "Operation Rescue," an emergency campaign to send food and doctors to the poorest provinces.

Duhalde's wife, Hilda, took charge personally, recently joining mothers with underfed babies in Tucuman and announcing at a news conference on Tuesday that she would lead a "house-to-house" effort to combat hunger.

But a government that has defaulted on much of its $141 billion public debt has only so many resources to reach a staggering number of poor and needy ---- many hit hard by the January devaluation that saw their income cut by 70 percent against the dollar.

Against such economic shocks, a new soup kitchen opens almost every week in Argentina, usually by community or non-governmental groups.

Looking back on a year marked by street riots, a failing currency and economic crisis, Margarita Barrientos said acts of kindness stood out.

"This past year might have been one of the worst ever for Argentines," she said. "But the increased community support has meant we are able to help out."