The Little Green Book

The Little Green Book October 2015 Edition

Computers are not my thing, so I sure hope you all can see The Little Green Book when I hit publish.  If not, can somebody please let me know?  Thanks!

So what is The Little Green Book?  Well…. I was thinking as I was working on this.  Let’s just say I was living outside and I haven’t been able to find a job.  Maybe I’m living with a mental illness, on the typical disability check, $719 per month (yes, people actually survive on that).  I asked myself: would I rather get a “Free Food List” or “The Little Green Book?”  Which one preserves more of my dignity?  Hey, which one sounds like more fun?

So… The Little Green Book was born.  It’s a list of places and times where 21 different groups provide three meals a day, 7 days a week, at 13 different locations, mostly within walking distance of downtown.  Well, almost three meals a day, we’re still missing Thursday and Friday breakfast – there is none.  The daily schedule, distance from Center City Park, and clear directions are all included.  If you can walk, and get to the free food locations, you can eat.  It might not be the healthiest food, but you won’t starve.  As my friend Jeb said to me a couple of days ago, “If you goin’ hungry in Greensboro now, it’s ’cause you ain’t gettin’ your lazy self up to go get some food.”  I love that man, he tells it like it is.

I’ve been thinking a lot about hunger lately.  More accurately, my heart has been breaking about hunger lately. What about those who can’t come downtown, who don’t have a car, or can’t pay bus fare?  What about a single mom with 4-5 kids?  Or maybe more?

I cried when I googled “Greensboro food insecurity.”  Take a look below….  This is from the News and Observer, over in our capital city, where folks make laws, 7/27/2013 edition:

“In North Carolina, food insecurity is rapidly on the rise. In 2007, 12.6 percent of us were classified as hungry. Last year, it was 19.6 percent, or 1.9 million. Twenty-eight percent of our children, over 622,000, meet the federal standard. We have the tenth highest food insecurity rate in the United States. Feeding America has reported that, for children under 5, we’re No. 2, trailing only Louisiana.  The massive 2012 Gallup/Food Research and Action Center study, “Food Hardship in America,” also identified the Greensboro-High Point metropolitan statistical area as having the second highest hunger rate in the entire nation.”

Aside from the heartbreak, hungry children cannot learn.  The long-range effects of that are staggering.  And we’re all in this together.

Different groups of people are starting to work out plans to “recover” food from the school system, picking it up and redistributing what’s left after lunch is served, getting it out into the neighborhoods.   I’ll keep you posted on those efforts.  Meanwhile, comment and let me know if you know folks who are hungry.  I’ll get copies of The Little Green Book to you.

Thank God for each person who faithfully joins in and supports the efforts of the 21 groups who provide food and serve each week. God bless their efforts and their hearts.  If you know some of these folks, help.  Support them.  Greensboro would be in a much tougher spot without them.