What About the Moms Who Can't?

11/15/2014

Nov. 10-16 is Guest Blogger Week at ngumc.org. The Conference has invited leaders of Action Ministries to write about hunger issues and how NGUMC churches can and are making a difference! They'll be posting all week and you are invited to share the messages with your own church and community. Follow along on social media by using #‎ngumcHungerAction.

What About the Moms Who Can't?

By Erica Rountree
Guest Blogger

Last summer, my family was spending a few days together in the North Georgia mountains. My then-9-year-old daughter was having several digestive issues that we had not yet figured out. While spending time with the grandparents usually entails a more relaxed parental policy toward meals and sweets, we noticed that she’d stopped eating meals – what we call “real food” – and was subsisting on dessert alone, which included ice cream, candy, cookies and homemade fudge from the country shops. One night, we threw down the gauntlet.

If you don’t eat your dinner tonight, there will be no dessert.

That’s not the kind of pronouncement a parent wants to make on vacation, in front of other family members! But we felt she was working us. She reluctantly accepted it at first, but as it grew closer to bedtime, she began to wheedle for something to eat. She refused anything I offered, including items that she typically liked such as fruit and cheese. She only wanted dessert.

As I put her to bed, she cried and looked at me with big brown eyes.

“But I’m hungry, Mommy.”

Can I tell you what a bad mom I felt like at that moment? No parent wants to hear that sentence from their child. It breaks your heart and makes you feel like an utter failure.

I was so grateful that I actually did have something to feed her. Tons of choices were available upstairs in the kitchen including fresh fruit, milk, meat, vegetables and cheese. I thanked God I had the power to take away that plaintive cry of “I’m hungry.”

But what about the moms who can’t?

I’m pretty sure you can’t think about anything else when your kids are hungry and you don’t have anything to feed them. All other concerns fall away.

As parents, or anyone who’s been responsible for another person’s well-being, we can understand the desire to provide the basics of life for our kids. Hunger comes back every day. With 1 in 4 of Georgia’s children facing food insecurity, I’m glad there are hunger relief programs, like the ones at Action Ministries, to feed families in need.

It doesn’t matter why someone is where they are, how they got there or how they’re going to get out, although Action Ministries does address those issues in their efforts to lead people out of poverty. It’s more about coming alongside another family at a point of need and saying, “I will help you through this.”

November 15-23 is National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. You are now “aware.” What will you do with that?

Want one simple way to help today?
Text FOODBOX to 41444 to sponsor a food box for a needy family.

Gratefully,

Erica Rountree
erountree@actionministries.net
Director of Communications
Action Ministries