Unsung (Hunger) Heroes
Posted by Katherine Van Steenburgh on Thursday, July 28, 2011
Editor’s Note: All summer, Share Our Strength staff will be visiting summer meals sites across the country to show our work in action. This post is part of that series. To learn more about Summer Meals, visit strength.org/summer.
Israel Bissell, Avery T. Oswald, Philo Taylor Farnsworth, and James Armistead. Can you guess what this group has in common? Any of their names ring a bell?
These three names share one thing in common: you have probably never heard of them. However, in addition to that, each of these unsung heroes made significant contributions and their life’s work affected millions of people and most likely affects you too today.
- Israel Bissell road alongside Paul Revere on his famous ride to alert American colonist of the British attacks. Although we don’t hear much about Israel, he helped found America.
- Oswald T. Avery was the physician who discovered and proved that genetic materials are made of DNA. I think we all would agree that’s had significant impact on modern medicine and science.
- And lastly, Philip Taylor Farnsworth, is responsible for inventing many of the components that make television possible.
There are many more names like these who aren’t commonly known, but who have affected our culture, our history, and our lives.
In the fight to end childhood hunger, there are thousands, probably tens of thousands, heroes who go unknown, unnamed, and even un-thanked. The work of fighting hunger in our country and feeding our children has dramatic effects of our economy, our national defense, and our future as a nation. I would like to introduce you to one of those heroes who is actively affecting the lives of children in Arkansas and day by day making a huge impact.
Barbara Mickles runs the summer lunch program and New Deliverance Temple in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Everyday this summer she is making sure the children in Arkansas have a healthy, free meal. Last week, the Hinges of Hope tour had the opportunity to meet Barbara and have lunch with the children in her community. She told our group that regularly she has children waiting at the doors of the church before the program begins because they are hungry and are eager to eat.
Barbara has worked at a head start program in her community for years and in her job there she realized that many of the children they served were coming hungry and that they probably weren’t getting full meals at night or on the weekends. This prompted her to question what they did during the summer, when they weren’t coming to the head start program. When she realized that the answer was that many of them went without during the summer, she decided to open a summer lunch program at her local church to feed the kids in her community. Barbara knows all the families and children that come and also knows that this meal makes a huge difference in their lives.
As we’ve shared before on this blog, the dramatic effects hunger has on children, including their brain development. Barbara’s dedication and heroic efforts and helping save children from lifelong effects of hunger. We know that children who struggle with hunger are sick more often, recover more slowly, and are more likely to be hospitalized. They are more likely to experience headaches, stomachaches, colds, ear infections and fatigue. And lack of enough nutritious food impairs a child’s ability to concentrate and perform well in school.
Barbara Mickles might not ever become a household name (although I think it should be) and she might not even get to see all the effects of her work. However I can promise you that her dedication, sacrifices, energy are resulting in a significant impact. Barbara told our group last week even if she only made a difference in one child’s life that was all that mattered because one life would be changed for the better.
Join with me in celebrating Barbara’s effort to end childhood hunger in Arkansas and please take the time to find the unsung hunger heroes in your community, thank them, and share their story with us.
RELATED LINKS:
— Learn more about Share Our Strength’s Summer Meals work
— Help Support Summer Meals Work
July 28, 2011 | 0 comment(s) | Tags: arkansas, chind hunger, heroes, summer meals
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