HEART OF STEELE

One of the most enduring memories from my teenage years is the image of an emaciated child starving in Biafra.

I can’t remember how to solve for x to save my life, but since the mid-1970s that image has made a permanent home in my brain. Back then, hunger seemed far away–somewhere in the mountains of Appalachia, in the deserts of Africa and war-torn Vietnam, children were starving.

Over the years, I’ve learned hunger, especially in America, wears many different faces. In our community, there are some for whom food insecurity is a constant battle. They rely regularly on the local food shelf at Community Pathways of Steele County to put food on the table.

These days, the folks who are driving the massive increase in families served by Community Pathways aren’t perpetually worrying about where to find their next meal.

According to director Dom Korbel, the one-two punch of the COVID-19 pandemic and inflation that followed hit some families harder than others. Many who had been living paycheck to paycheck, making it on the day-to-day, found themselves knocked out of that precarious position.

Now, an unexpected car repair may force them to cut way back on food. I’ll never forget the story Korbel told about the couple saving up to cover their share of the cost for a needed surgery. They’re supplementing with the food shelf to afford proper medical care.

You won’t see those folks on a poster or in a television commercial. I suspect they would turn down the opportunity–an absolutely unwarranted sense of shame often comes with asking for this kind of help.

I think we’ve come to believe that there are different levels of need and hunger, that some uses of a food shelf are “moral” or justifiable and others are not.

Of course, if you’re planning to take the food and re-sell it for profit… you may want to check your moral compass.

But if you’ve been hit with an unexpected bill or you’re in between jobs or you just need a little temporary help to ease your worries, from the bottom of my heart, I urge you to reach out. Your community is ready and waiting to help.