October 16, 2023 – World Food Day is recognized in celebration of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) founding in 1945.
According to the FAO, it is “a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger,”
“Our goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With 195 members – 194 countries and the European Union, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide.”
Last year, the FAO released their State of Food Security and Nutrition (SOFI) report based on information from the year prior. In the report, it stated that global hunger rose significantly.
As many as 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021. That’s 46 million more than 2020, and 150 million more from 2019.
828 million people without enough to eat means that almost 10% of the world struggle with hunger.
Accessibility and affordability are two of the leading causes of hunger.
Many, many people from all walks of life can struggle with getting enough to eat. From college students to single parents—a lot of people simply don’t get enough food or enough healthy food to maintain their health.
There are several organizations in Clovis that recognize this issue. There are food pantries dotted around Clovis, and most of them have special food drives and events during the holidays.
Some of the organizations that have operated food pantries or coordinated food donations are as follows:
Salvation Army (In need of non-perishable food item donations)
Praise Church of God in Christ (2nd Thursday of each month)
Faith Community Church of the Nazarene (3rd Saturday of the month)
Mountain View Community Church (Last Saturday of every month)
Crush Pantry (Clovis Community College)
Bulldog Pantry (Fresno State, not in Clovis but many students are from Clovis)
Saint Martha’s Pantry (Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish)
Clovis Rotary (Identifies families in need to give 500 food boxes away during Christmas time)
Please consider donating, volunteering, or otherwise getting involved in reducing hunger—in your own community and beyond.
Contact your church, your college, or one of your favorite non-profits to see how you can help. The simplest way to help is to see what kind of items they need donated, and then give that.
The reality is that food insecurity is on the rise. Millions of children worldwide don’t get enough food. 2.4 billion people live in water-stressed countries. One of the FAO’s main emphasis this year is on water. “Water is life, water is food. Leave no one behind.”
Some solutions to world hunger go beyond donations from individuals and organizations. Other solutions include helping people provide food for themselves in a sustainable way, and providing access to education.
For more information about world hunger, visit fao.org and actionagainsthunger.org.
World Vision (worldvision.org) is a great ecumenical Christian humanitarian aid non-profit to donate to crisis response, sponsor a child, and more.