A few years back this time of year when the Heart of America Foundation was just getting started, we visited an elementary school in Prince Georges County Maryland. At the end of the day after we had distributed our books and finished our library makeover project I went looking for the school’s principal.
I found her outside watching the kids pile into their school buses. Many of them stopped to give her a hug, clinging to her dress and holding on to her in a rare display of affection.
I watched her seperate herself from the children with some difficulty and send them on their way. She was tired frustrated.
“You must be looking forward to the holiday,” I said.
“Actually, I hate this time of year,'” she said.
She caught me by surprise,
“What do you mean?” I said.
“At least when their here,” she said. “I know they’ll be fed. I know they will be warm. I know there will be someone for them to talk to.”
It was the first time I heard that response, but not the last. Stuffed to the gills, I am reminded yet again how much I have while many go are hungry.
Billy Shore and our friends at No Kid Hungry have put a sobering number on it. They say one fifth of the children in this country go to bed hungry.
We can do better than this.
