Imagine what this time of year is like for the one in four children living in our state who don't have enough food to eat. Now, imagine that you can make a difference.
The State Press is doing a food drive from Monday to Friday next week to benefit St. Mary's Food Bank. We will have boxes set up at locations throughout campus for you to donate nonperishable food items. The donation sites will be listed in every edition of next week's State Press.
This is your chance to stuff your backpacks with a little extra something to help fight hunger in our area.
We had been talking about adopting a cause for quite some time now. The subject first came up in September, once we'd settled into the daily routine of getting this newspaper onto the streets every morning.
"How about doing a donation drive for Thomas J. Pappas, the school for homeless children?" asked one person. Great idea! Everyone agreed that was a worthy cause. But somehow, with deadlines looming, calls to make and not enough staff to go around, no one made a flier that day to spread the word. No one made a phone call to the school to see what items were most needed.
October rolled around. Midterms, more stories, still a staffing shortage ... still no coordination for a good cause. Many of you can identify with having good intentions and a stubborn schedule.
But, instead of feeling guilty about what you haven't done, it's time to move forward. Together we can make a difference.
More than 250,000 Maricopa County residents live in poverty and many of them are hungry. Government programs manage to provide help to about half those people. The rest of it is up to us.
The proportion of working poor families has increased 82 percent since the 1970s. Arizona's poverty rate is growing three times as fast as its population, according to statistics from the Arizona Association of Food Banks.
So, all of you students who aren't "starving" yourselves, please try to bring in a can of soup, tuna, ravioli -- whatever -- to help St. Mary's Food Bank. The food bank distributes more than 18.5 million pounds of food annually to service agencies throughout Arizona.
Here's your chance. Don't make another excuse. We know it's en vogue to give to charity during the holidays, but don't let your cynicism stop you. Hunger is a year round tragedy, especially in the wealthiest nation on earth. If you need to, just pretend it's July. But bring in some food will 'ya?
Fill up your backpacks and let's send hunger packing.
