Peace can have many different meanings for different people. Peace can be a positive state of mind, a feeling one gets, or a place we go. Maybe it’s life without illness, anger, or fear. Perhaps it’s a world without racism or war, one of relative harmony for all. Regardless of how you view peace, one thing is certain; there is no peace in hunger.Hunger robs an estimated 800 million people of Peace every day in our world. In Cincinnati alone, this year over 200 thousand people will go without the food and nutrition needed to lead a healthy life, including a growing number of children and elders. Imagine trying to read or write a paper when you haven’t had a real meal in a day or more. People of many walks of life live with hunger, bringing a cycle of worry, illness and despair. They will make hard choices everyday: deciding between buying medicine or food, food or gas. Too many will go without food.
Thankfully, most of us don’t have to make the hard choices; instead we have the opportunity to help those who do. Through the Peace Village’s Hunger and Peace project (The Peace Village is an organization committed to promoting peace and healing through creative projects and thoughtful discussion by working with a variety of individuals, schools, and organizations at the local and international level), Raymond Walters College, among many local schools and groups, is making an effort to end hunger this holiday season. RWC students, faculty, and the entire administration will be working together to make a difference. “A Case For Hunger” is a challenge to every classroom, office, and department to each raise enough money to buy at least one case of non-perishable food. The drive runs October 18 through November 8. The cases of food will then be donated to the Free Store Food Bank (FSFB) in time for Thanksgiving.
The FSFB will distribute approximately ten thousand pounds of food reaching over five thousand people a day leading up to the holiday. Over twenty thousand people in Cincinnati will have the choice of food over hunger through the holidays. According to Jonathan Adee, Director of Clinical Services at the FSFB, there has been more than a twenty percent increase in the demand for food, but only a two percent increase in actual donations, reminding us of the importance our donations will make. Here is an example of how a little from all of us can go a long way. It is through this effort that we can help bring Peace into the lives of so many.
For more information about this project or the Peace Village, please contact:
Scott Pardi
Peace Village-RWC
freespeech@fuse.net