Hungry

“Mama, wake up!” three year-old Cindy cried as she shook her mother’s shoulder. She was asleep on the couch again. “I’m hungry.”

“What?” her mother mumbled. “There isn’t anything to eat. Go play in your room. Mama’s tired.”

Cindy wiped a tear away and went into the kitchen again and searched the empty refrigerator. She pulled a chair up to the counter and pulled open a cabinet door. The cereal box was empty. She pulled a box of what she thought might be mac and cheese going by the picture off the shelf but thought she shouldn't try to cook that. The last time she had almost started a fire and her mother yelled at her. There was nothing else; even the peanut butter jar was empty. She left it on the counter and opened another cabinet. She pulled out a plastic bowl and grabbed a spoon out of the dish rack and climbed down.

“Mama, are you getting up today?” Cindy asked her mother, trying to wake her once more. Her mother just rolled over and snored.

Cindy sighed and walked to the door. She set her bowl and spoon down on the floor so she could use both hands to open the door, retrieved the items and went outside and next door to her neighbors’ house.

Cindy knocked on the back door. When Mrs. Donnelly opened it she smiled sadly down at Cindy. “Mom asleep again, honey?” Cindy just nodded and held up her bowl. “Come on in,” she said, taking Cindy’s small hand and leading her inside.

“Thank you,” Cindy said in a voice slightly louder than a whisper.

Mrs. Donnelly set a plate of eggs and toast and glass of milk in front of Cindy. “When was the last time you ate?”

“I had a peanut butter sandwich yesterday sometime,” Cindy said matter-of-factly.

Mrs. Donnelly patted the child on the head. “Alice!” she called to her eldest daughter as she peeled a banana and placed it on the place next to the eggs. “Eat this too if you can hold it.”

“Wow! So much at once,” Cindy said in amazement, although she was used to Mrs. Donnelly feeding her at least three times a week.

“What is it Mom?” her daughter asked walking in to the kitchen.

“I need you stay with Cindy while I go over and talk to her mom,” she said. As her daughter nodded and sat down with Cindy, she walked out the door.

Mrs. Donnelly didn’t even bother to knock, she just went on in. She looked around and was surprised at how clean the small house actually was. She thought there would be trash and alcohol empties strewn all over, but she had to admit that Cindy was always clean when she came over. She found Cindy’s mother on the couch asleep and shook her hard to wake her up.

“What?” Tara, Cindy’s mother said drowsily. She sat up. “Cindy, stop waking me up,” she said before she realized it wasn’t Cindy standing in front of her. “Sandra? What’s up?”

“You!” She said angrily. “I don’t mind feeding a starving child; in fact, I’d rather Cindy come over to my house to eat than stay hungry, but you have got to get some food for that child or Social Services will be notified.”

Tara threw the blanket off she had pulled over herself when she crashed on the couch. She was rail thin herself and her eyes were gaunt. She stood up. “I will go get her. I didn’t know she was going over to your house to eat.”

“There’s no need. I told you, I don’t mind feeding her, but a few mornings a week is barely enough to keep her alive. It looks like you haven’t been eating much either,” she added, more calmly, now more concerned than angry. She sat down on the couch and pulled Tara with her.

“Tell me what’s going on Tara. Why is there is nothing to eat?” she asked.

Her face reddened and it spread down her neck and to her pale, rough hands. “I barely make enough to pay rent on this place and believe me, I’ve tried to find something less expensive. Short of drug-filled housing project, there isn’t anything. I clean office buildings at night and they cut my hours, so there isn't enough for a lot of food, okay! I’m lucky we have lights on still and water. That’s why they are usually off.”

“Tara, have you gone to the food pantries?” Sandra Donnelly asked her.

“Yes, I did, but they can’t give out a whole lot either. They don’t have enough to go around and it’s just the two of us. Her father hasn’t paid a cent in child support.” She pointed in a corner where an old television sat. “That thing isn’t plugged in so it doesn’t run up the electric bill and that’s the only entertainment we have. This place is so clean because the pantry has plenty of cleaning supplies, laundry soap and even bath soap. I wash her clothes in the bathtub. Maybe you’ve noticed the clothes draped over the clothesline out back.

“Yes, but I just figured you like air-dried laundry. A lot of people do.” Sandra stared out the window. “Tara, where’s your car?”

“I sold it,” she said. “I couldn’t afford gas or upkeep, much less insurance. I take the bus or walk to work.”

“Tara, get dressed. I’m taking you to Social Services. You need to sign up for some assistance. Don’t let pride stop you either. You need help before they take notice from someone other myself calling them and then they take Cindy. They’ll help you pay for childcare too, although you could have just asked if we would watch her.”

Tara looked up her a moment then slowly nodded agreement.

***

Many people think that hungry children only belong to the addicted or mentally ill who are unable to care for themselves, but the truth is that employed Americans are also unable to feed their families. Many children only receive nutritious food at school and when school is out, they either do not get adequately nutritious food or little to no food for long stretches of time.

According to the website www.nokidhungry.org 48.8 million Americans, including 16.2 million children are in what is termed ‘food insecure’ households; the largest number being in the inner city, but by no means only there. Rural areas and suburban areas – outlying areas- also suffer from hunger.

 

You can help by donating to food pantries, buying products labeled as donating proceeds of the purchase to food banks (and actually following the instructions on the package), participating in food drives such as by the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, United States Postal Service, Salvation Army, churches, Future Farmers of America and holiday food drives at participating grocery stores. There are also many organizations that supply food banks around the country.

In a country as great as ours its citizens, and especially its children should not have to go hungry.

Some organizations:

www.feedthechildren.org

www.bread.org

www.feedingamerica.org

www.nokidhungry.org

www.fmpfoodbank.org (West Central Wisconsin, where I live)

New Article On Fraud Released

I must say when my parents got called out of the blue and told they had won a lottery they had never even joined, I was glad my mother had the sense to say 'no thanks' in a sense. A lot of elderly people accept that they have won and think maybe they just forgot about it. With the advent of research online it is easier for confidence artists to know all about their mark(s). I have noticed, though, that one has to pay for the information; it is no longer free as it once was to get at least some information just by typing in a telephone number into the search engine (such as Google). I've tried it a few times when we got called by people leaving messages but did not tell us who they were. We also see ads in the paper with telephone numbers but no names or locations. At least it says where the number is from (city) if nothing else.

Where is this seemingly lost strand of information leading? One way con artists can find the city you are from is using a phone number if they get hold of discarded entry forms for drawings which often only require a name and phone number. Then all they have to do is type in the name and city and providing they have an account with an information company - BINGO! They have a whole lot of data you will wish they didn't have. They use this information to scare the elderly or uninformed into thinking they know where they are and can get to them at any time. My mother called law enforcement and filed a report and got information when the calls kept coming on how to stop them. That didn't stop her or my dad from being wary that they were being watched or followed. They knew not to fall for the scam, but they did not know that the people involved were not coming after them for turning them in. That's not to say they have no better sense than that. These people are very good at convincing other people they have won a contest and that they know where they are and can get to them at a moment's notice if need be to deliver the prize, so logically, they also can get to them in retaliation.

The reality is that they won't bother. Their telephones are not traceable, or burners (disposable), and the numbers can be set up to be call out only so that one couldn't call back if they wanted to - the call wouldn't go through. No one has seen them yet and therefore cannot identify them and so there is no reason to retaliate for anything. They will simply move on to the next person on their list.

Speaking of lists...Lists are sold all the time; it's a part of business. That's where all your junk mail from people with whom you have never done business get your name. These same lists are available to the scam artists. The people selling them don't ask their customers (in most cases) what they are going to do with the lists. States sell the names of driver's license recipients and they don't screen the customers who buy them. Most states do offer a opt out for those lists, so ask if one is available and opt out. The telephone con artists are not the only con artists buying those lists and it is possible to come up against an in-the-flesh con artist, a face-to-face meeting, and unless they are disguised, then you can identify them, although they rely on people being too embarrassed to report them and they are often correct in that assumption so they are at least 'safe' until they leave the area.

To read the article Don't Get Caught in a Con on Yahoo! Voices (formerly Associated Content) you can follow this link: http://voices.yahoo.com/dont-caught-con-10692677.html.

The article covers one type of con. There are numerous others out there, so be careful.