I am not a moviegoer, but this weekend, while surfing the Web, I came across a documentary "A Place at the Table."

The documentary, which features actor Jeff Bridges, examines the issue of hunger in America through the eyes of three families in Philadelphia, Colorado and Mississippi.

My mother, Dorothy, 84, offered her comments after watching the movie.

"It's [hunger] bad here at home," she said. "You do not have to worry about going to another country to see it."

She is right.

Hunger, once considered a problem in Third World countries, is on the rise in America.

According to the documentary, 50 million Americans do not have enough food to eat. This number includes one in four children who do not know where their next meal is coming from.

The documentary pointed out that while money is provided for the federally-funded school breakfast program and the national school lunch program, food banks and charitable agencies cannot fix the rest of the problem alone.

Qualifying income levels for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [formerly known as food stamps] need to be adjusted so more Americans, struggling in this down economy, can survive.

Second Harvest of Lehigh Valley provides food to more than 63,000 people each month through a network of more than 200 emergency pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and child care, rehabilitation and senior centers.

Meals served by the Lehigh County Conference of Churches Ecumenical Soup Kitchen have doubled in 10 years.

In 2010, the agency provided 37,467 meals, with 1,393 of those for children.

This represents an increase of 15,500 meals since 2004.

Hunger not only affects single mothers with children, but also takes a toll on families and senior citizens, who have to choose between buying food or medicine and paying their monthly bills.

Meals on Wheels of Northampton County, which serves Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties, prepares 1,900 meals daily for senior citizens.

Residents of the Lehigh Valley can help their neighbors in need in several ways:

·Donate food or money to a local food bank or charitable agency.

·Volunteer at a local soup kitchen serving food to hungry children, adults and senior citizens.

·Donate bags of food or deliver a home-cooked meal directly to a family in need.

· Buy a hot meal for someone you know is hungry.

· Volunteer for a church or other organization that collects and packages food for families in need.

Bridges said it best in the documentary.

"If another country were doing this to our kids, we would be at war. It does not have to be this way."

Susan Bryant

editorial assistant

Parkland Press

Northwestern Press