As mentioned in yesterday’s post, I decided to launch a 3½-week Help Fight Hunger campaign – beginning today (August 14) and ending on Saturday, September 7, 2013, at 5:00 PM (EDT) —  For every $20 book purchased directly from my website, I will be donating $5 from the proceeds of each book sale to either Feeding America or The World Food Programme (the purchaser chooses).

All too often, we waste food — sometimes without giving a second thought to whether or not the person sitting next to us may be living in a food insecure household.  An alarming number of middle-class families are now, for the first time,  experiencing what it is like to be hungry.  Their stories will break your heart. Their stories will make you want to kneel down, bow your head and say a prayer of thanks for the food on your table, for being spared the suffering, despair, and indignity of being hungry. 

Below is a vignette from my book, Casualties of the (Recession) Depression.  This is a true story.

“Young and Hungry“

“He sat in the coffee shop, his fingers restlessly turning the pages of his textbook.  He had been there for three and a half hours, nursing a cup of coffee.  “Thank God for free refills!” – he thought to himself.  He was trying hard to focus on the words in front of him, willing the gurgling in his empty stomach to go away.  His hands were slightly shaky.  He could smell the toasted ham and cheese sandwich that someone was eating at a nearby table.  Freshly baked bread had just come out of the oven and the lady behind the counter was stacking the loaves on the shelf.  His mouth started to water and he felt dizzy.  He willed himself to block it all out. Two more hours passed by.

It was closing time.  The coffee shop lady was rushing to close up. She grabbed all the leftover loaves of bread (two were left), bagels (all seven of them), and two donuts – and threw them roughly into a big garbage can, which she wheeled into the back room. He swallowed, throat dry.  A tear escaped from the corner of his eye. He was too proud to ask. And the coffee shop lady didn’t see, nor would she probably have given him a second thought if she had. He clenched his jaw and grimly packed his book into his bag. 

He glanced once at the lady behind the counter. Her face was blank when she looked back at him. Oblivious.  She tapped her fingers on the glass, impatient to close the lights.

He left quietly, not looking back.  He wondered whether things would get better after he graduated from college. He wasn’t so sure.”

Casualties of the (Recession) Depression – Copyright © 2013 by Heather Joan Marinos.  All Rights Reserved.

Help Fight Hunger. 

Drop by www.heatherjoanmarinos.com.

Image (of young man) via   abcradionewsonline.com (Jupiterimages/Thinkstock).