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Consider This - Hungry Children

By Matt Miller - bio | email

I have a very scary statistic to share with you: According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly 49 million Americans - 17 million of them children - are considered food insecure. That is just a very fancy way of saying they are hungry.

Even more troubling, that is a 36 percent increase from 2008.

Now we can spend all the time we want arguing over what is causing this and pointing fingers at which economic crisis contributed to the numbers, but all that won't change the fact that we have some starving children right within our borders.

And even living in a wonderful beachfront community like the Grand Strand, you don't have to look far to see some of those hungry faces close at hand. Just within walking distance of our studio off the US-17 Bypass, several major agencies daily feed those in need.

Consider This: As we approach the time of Thanksgiving, even the smallest of donations can help put some much-needed food on the table.

Studies show that for every $1 donated, seven meals can be provided, and even a generous gift of $100 can provide 700 meals.

So please, at a time when local food-banks are suffering, maybe think twice before buying an expensive new gift and instead dig a little deeper this year and find a way to give back, either with food or monetary donations and let's see if we can cause those hunger numbers to drop as we approach thanksgiving again in 2010.

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