This morning, you likely started your day with a cup of coffee or tea.

If you’ve got young ones at home, you may have packed a lunch — maybe a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, some chips.

If you’re one of those extra-prepared people way more ahead of the ballgame than I ever am, you may have thrown a meal in the crockpot or prepared a casserole, so dinner will be ready to go shortly after you get home from work.

If you’re anything like me, you may have taken these meals for granted.

It’s easy to forget how fortunate we are to have food in the fridge and full bellies at night when we have a pantry full of food to prepare, but too many people in southwest Michigan aren’t quite so lucky.

As summer comes to an end, food pantries across the region are struggling to help those in need due a shortage of donations.

With many children at home all day all summer long, some families struggle to provide the extra meals that would usually have been provided in school cafeterias. Various programs throughout the community work to continue filling that need throughout the summer, but without transportation to the serving stations, a good portion of the community is left to rely on their own cupboards.

Folks who have fallen on hard times and are unable to afford groceries for themselves have access to several local food pantries — The Salvation Army in Niles, Helping Hands in Cassopolis, Redbud Area Ministries in Buchanan, the Edwardsburg Food Pantry at Our Lady of the Lake and a number of other pantries sponsored by local churches.

But with kids home for the summer, there was a greater need, and the shelves grew empty more quickly.

As Jan Nowak with the Niles Salvation Army put it, she’s “two weeks from a great big ‘oh my gosh!’”

Of course, families of all sizes and income levels must work to manage their pocketbooks. Many of us are just scraping by from paycheck to paycheck, and feeding our own families must come first.

As you plan your monthly budget, I encourage you to make a little room for helping your neighbors in need.

Pack a lunch one day that you would have eaten out, and use your savings to buy a box of cereal for the local food pantry.

Skip the Starbucks a couple days a week, and grab some boxed meals at the grocery store instead.

Allocate $10 that you would have spent on a couple of cocktails to buying juice boxes for some of the children in your community.

And while you’re out picking up those extra items to donate, bring a friend along to do the same. Remind those more fortunate of the need in your local food pantry, and encourage them to help out as well.

This little bit may not seem like a big contribution, but when several people give a little, that little bit becomes a lot.

Most importantly, whether you are able to spare the change to help the cause or have to wait for another time when the finances are in better shape, keep in mind as you sit down for dinner that many people right in our backyards may not be quite so lucky. Remember to say thanks that you are one of those fortunate enough to go to bed with a belly full of food.

 

Ambrosia Neldon is the managing editor at Leader Publications. She can be reached by phone at (269) 687-7713, or by email at ambrosia.neldon@leaderpub.com.