1 in 6 ...

that's what the Wal-Mart commercial just listed as the stat for those in AMERICA living in poverty.

It's hit home at school these past few weeks (why does it seem like years?) as students and their stories have started to come out.

She is 16.  and pregnant (or so the test tells her).  Her mom is in jail, having signed over custody to her drug dealer.  She lives in a trailer with no water or electricity.  and no food.  She's in the "system" ... having just returned from drug treatment herself.  But the "system" is not yet meeting her needs.  Is it any wonder that school is not her priority?

In suburbia, USA, we have kids who will not eat breakfast, or lunch, or dinner.  We have kids who will exist on raman and the occasional carbs.  There are families who grocery shop once a month and when the food is gone, it is gone. 

Poverty is not just a product of third world countries, neither is hunger.

For the SALT bowl last week, Benton and Bryant competed to bring peanut butter for the Rice Depot who supplies food to schools for kids in need.  Local churches sponsor a backpack program in elementary and middle schools for kids who won't eat on the weekend.

And at my own school, there are kids living in some sad situations ... even without water or electricity, with guardians who aren't making wise choices ... with single parents struggling to keep their kids in shelter and food.

And, yes, there are "systems" to provide for these kids.  But sometimes systems just don't work.  So, building 15 has been feeding kids on our own these past few weeks.  And it's been the sweetest thing to see the "church" be the "church" when it really matters.

I asked my mom a couple of weeks ago what her church could do for "our kids" ... and while they collect food, they are not a distribution point.  When the answer she got at church was "the counselors should be able to get them food" ... we realized that if that was the case, we wouldn't be asking the church.

So, she was able to go to another local church who had their weekly food distribution that day.  They were willing to forget their rules and procedures and load up 4 bags of food for these families that wouldn't have eaten last weekend otherwise.  Did I mention that one of the girls without food in pregnant?

My Mom's Sunday School class has collected breakfast and lunch foods the last 2 weeks.  They've brought 7 boxes so far.  We have our own food pantry in the biology department and it works because those kids trust their teacher.  And because it doesn't take an awkward system or waiting period.  Those kids are hungry TODAY and they are getting food TODAY.

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.  Proverbs 19:17

My department head got involved and shared the need and another local church is trying to put a couple of HS kids in the backpack program (again ... not the "system" ... but responding to the need) ... and some teachers are trying to get them in the free lunch program.  It takes a village.

Our principal was visiting classrooms last week when he heard my department head and one of our teachers talking about feeding these kids.  He was shocked that we had kids at our school who did not have food to eat.  I think that's the biggest heartbreak to me.  We have chosen to ignor the root of the problem.  We've chosen to think that those around us have what we have.  Kids who do not have their basic needs met aren't worried about a biology grade or an EOC exam.  They aren't concerned with getting into college.  They are just trying to survive to another day.  They hope somewhere along the way they have clean clothes and someone who cares. 

I was telling my mom this weekend how hard it is to put myself in their shoes ... to truly run out of money before I run out of month.  To have to choose which bills will be paid and what I will spend the $20 on.  Our school district serves a middle class - affluent demographic.  But it also serves some very rural areas with housing that we'd consider a trailer at best, a shack at worst. 

This is know.  The poor are important to God.  Scripture is full of instruction to give to the poor and those in need.  As a matter of fact, God goes so far as to define "true" religion as caring for those in need. 

This is what Isaiah 58 says,
“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

... If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.

(v. 6-12)

Statisics tell us that if 1 in 6 are hungry, then our shool of 2600 has not 2 or 4, but 433 kids who go to bed hungry ... and I'd venture to say physical hunger is not the greatest of needs.  There are kids hungry for acceptance, for love, for health, for success.  There are kids who need clean clothes and safe housing.  They need a warm dinner.  They need a parent there (not having to work 2 or 3 jobs).  They need to know they matter.  They are good.  They have a future.