BLOG: When I Was Young—What It Meant to be Hungry

When I was young, summer vacation meant no alarm clocks, the sound of my Mother’s voice radiating through our modest sized house, fresh chocolate chip cookies dunked in milk, hours upon hours of riding bike through my hometown of 5,000 people, swinging on the backyard rope swing with my brother, swimming at the local beach and anticipating dusk for night games with my friends. 

Although I grew up in a single parent household, my Mom prided herself in the fact that she could provide for her three children. There were always baked goodies and plenty of food at every meal. Oh, that’s not to say I wasn’t ever hungry. But hunger for me was a choice, a momentary physical pang in my stomach because I was too busy playing with my friends to come home for lunch. Or I was hungry because I didn’t finish my meal so I could return to the “pick up game” with the kids in my neighborhood.

It wasn’t until recently that I reflected very personally on the distinction between being “hungry” (a temporary pang) and being “food secure” (where is my next meal coming from?) and what it meant for me as I grew up. I was taken aback when I thought about how my Mother would have felt if she couldn’t have provided food for her family! Was our family always food secure? I had never asked, so I gave her a call today. I wanted to know if she ever had to make the heart-wrenching decision between buying food and paying other bills. I was relieved to hear she always found a way to make it work. I warmed inside when she said our garden provided for our family to supplement her grocery budget. 

You see, for our family, “food is love”—our familial culture which has been passed down through generations. As a child, we always sat down at the kitchen table to eat together. We talked as a family and sometimes laughed so hard that food escaped from our mouths and noses. Just thinking about these memories put a smile on my face today!

But, yet all it would have taken for our family to be food insecure is an unexpected medical bill or a loss of my Mom’s job. This is an all too common story at the Eagan & Lakeville Resource Center food shelves where I work.  Families that were once financially secure now choose between buying food and paying for the mortgage or their necessary medication. Reflecting on my past in relation to the current state of the families we serve intensifies my desire to assure they are supported in a dignified manner—that families are provided wholesome, nutritious foods to help move their families from a state of crisis and insecurity to food stability—so mealtime is not about stress or anxiety, but about love and happiness.

Hope Speaks! is a one day food and fund drive held on the first day of the first full week of summer vacation for children.  Help support children of Dakota County on Monday, June 11th.  Get involved!  Learn more at www.eaganrc.org .