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Hunger And You

million are kids. Struggles around food and
is a common ground. Even clergy of
nutritional programs in America boil down
different faiths find agreement when
to reinventing the process of making food
talk turns to the global scourge of
accessible so emergency services become
hunger.
the exception. The thought of raiding a
We know starvation stems from wide-
dumpster should be enough to mobilize us
spread poverty as in Haiti and Vietnam,
behind Mazon and other hunger relief ini-
from economic distress as in Argentina
tiatives. Metro Detroit is blessed with secu-
and South Africa, and from the effects of
lar hunger fighters like Forgotten Harvest
war as in the Middle East.
and Gleaner's Food Bank as well as the
In America, hunger also is a byproduct
kosher food pantry Yad Ezra.
of wasteful habits, such as throwing away
Shockman affirmed the notion that
tons of usable food while
charity should supplement, not take the
hungry stomachs growl.
H. Eric Shockman
place of, the government having the ulti-
Americans take pride in
mate responsibility to feed the people liv-
stocking food banks and
ing
under
it.
Jews
must join the chorus of Americans com-
soup kitchens. But we haven't been able to
mitted
to
bringing
down hunger. We must not only help
isolate the 'conditions that cause millions of
our own, but also embrace religious pluralism to feed the
people to go hungry, become malnourished
starving stranger as well. It's the right thing to do.
and die while we fill waste bins with excess
The Mazon leader is confident we can beat hunger in
edible food. We produce more food than we
ROBERT A. consume in today's throwaway culture. As a
America by devoting $15 billion
SKLAR
result, we neglect the starving, to whom our more a year till 2015. I'm leery
Editor
that our tax-burdened nation can
table scraps would be edible gold.
raise or re-allocate that much.
Worldwide, 42,000 people die each day
But scrutiny of the federal budget
from hunger complications.
should find enough dumb spend-
A shoddy food distribution system causes us to waste
ing to provide leverage for the
nearly a third of usable_ food despite the U.S. being the most
president and Congress to boost
advanced society ever.
the $90 billion, or 1.21 percent
"Hunger in America has gone up for the last three years
of all spending, now budgeted for
and so has the poverty rate," says Dr. H. Eric Shockman,
Joel Jacob
food and nutritional programs.
president of LA-based Mazon: A Jewish Response to
Then
we
could
make
significant
Hunger. "Those are solid data. And they are benchmarks for
,,
inroads toward where we need to
all of us.
be.
They sure are.
We must fear the alternative.
I broke matzah with Shockman and two local Mazon
Says Shockman: "We'll get the
leaders, Barbara Levin and Joel Jacob, at my Southfield
rippling effects of children who
office on April 29, the sixth day of Pesach. Shockman's mes-
drop out of school, who see their
sage was both grim and inspiring.
cognitive development suffer and
Mazon teaches, advocates and funds on behalf of grantees
who can't concentrate on the aca-
that directly feed the hungry worldwide. It exends as far as a
Barbara Levin
demie material. In the end, we'll
$1.2 million operating budget fueled by donations permits.
have a dysfunctional society."
Paul Yedwab of Temple Israel, Norman Roman of Temple
Strong stuff. But it's real. Why else would the U.S. Senate
Kol Ami, Jonathan Berkun of Congregation Shaarey Zedek
create a bipartisan caucus to fight hunger?
and Robert Levy of Temple Beth Emeth are among Mazon's
Yad Ezra is an independent, donor-funded agency. It sup-
rabbinic champions in Metro Detroit and Ann Arbor.
plies groceries and healthcare items to 2,500 Jews a month
Levin, wife of U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, is a char-
from a Berkley warehouse; last year, it delivered 840,000
ter board member who has seen Mazon grants grow from
pounds of food, a 15-year record. Client families discover
$20,000 in 1986 to more than $3 million to 300 grantees a
they're part of a mishpachah, the larger
year. Jacob, who owns the Bottle Crew, a
Jewish
community.
IRO
West Bloomfield commercial bottle sup-
Points
To
Ponder
Mazon
has fallen under the radar
plier, has been on the Mazon board for
among younger Jews. So it's great to see
two years. He hopes the American Jewish
Mazon grabbing them now — from teen
Have you helped fight
community adopts hunger, via Mazon, as
movements, to campus Hillels to local
a principal cause after Israel advocacy and
hunger directly or
leaders like Ricky Blumenstein and
Jewish continuity .
with a contribution?
David Victor. Wise mentors like Lois
The Torah directs us to provide food
and U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn of
for the poor and the stranger.
How can Detroit Jewry
Bloomfield Hills support Mazon, too.
. Shockman put a human face on hunger
elevate
Mazon
as
a
As Joel. Jacob put it: "Just like it is a
in telling how 16th-century shtetl rabbis
bipartisan interface and an interfaith
wouldn't allow a simchah until the poor
charitable option?
interface, hunger is an intergenerational
were fed. The story reinforces that sup-
interface;to6."
porting Mazon is a metaphoric way to
For more on Mazon:
Judaism may be practiced differently,
invite the hungry' to dinner.
www.mazon.org
but
Jews indeed must stand as one to
The numbers are daunting. The U.S.
Yad
Ezra's
Web
site
is
battle
hunger.
clias 35 million people deemed hungry; 13
www.yadezra.com

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