Hunger is real. Hunger in America is real. And I’m not talking about hunger for entertainment, hunger for success, hunger for money. I’m talking about people who have no food to feed themselves or their children. According to “Feeding America,” 41 million people in the United States, including 13 million children, are in need of food. You might think that in Virginia, especially in Northern Virginia, this wouldn’t be much of a problem. However, as of 2017, more than 56,000 people in Fairfax County alone don’t have access to enough food. As a whole, Virginia has about 8.5 million people who are in need of food.
As a Muslim, in this month of Ramadan, I fast for almost 16 hours a day and get a first-hand experience of the pain endured by those millions of starving fellow human beings. However, I go on to break the fast with a good meal in the evening, unlike the millions who don’t have the luxury of even one meal. I encourage everyone who reads this, to donate at least the value of one meal to various organizations that are trying to help with this very real problem, like Humanity First, a nonprofit organization with 14 food pantries and three soup kitchens across the USA. For example, donating just $3 can feed a child for a day and/or donating $25 can feed an entire family for a day. Also, I encourage those who read this to skip a meal in the day to get just a little experience of what it is like to be hungry so that we can appreciate the food that we eat, and so that we can go out and help those in need.
Haris Qamar
Clifton