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Your town has a big problem! Right now, there are kids in your community who don't have enough healthy foods. You can make a difference and help out!

The Story and Service Guide includes instructions for how to start a vegetable garden, but do you want to dive even deeper into serving your community? Hunger is a global challenge, in that people all over the world struggle to find enough food each day. You can learn more about food insecurity here but, in short, food insecurity is a daily struggle to provide healthy food for a family. A mom or dad may start to skip meals so that their kids have enough to eat, after receiving a surprise medical bill. A family may be forced to substitute healthy foods with unhealthy foods because they are cheaper, or because there are no healthy foods available where they live. A grandparent may rely on someone to deliver food to them because they are no longer able to cook. A student may have to skip meals in order to buy an expensive book that is required for their class. A whole country might lose the food it usually relies upon when insects kill off all the crops they've grown, a draught prevents crops from even growing, or a war blocks crops from moving to where they are needed. Hunger is all around us. 

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We can be sure that one of the big issues that Deborah had to help people navigate, while she served as a judge beneath the big palm tree, was hunger. The stresses and injustices faced by her people while they lived under the oppressive rule of Jabin would have certainly forced many people to go hungry. Deborah did not judge people for being hungry. Everyone gets hungry! It is the unfair ways in which food is shared amongst people that Deborah judged. Hunger injustice is still with us, so Deborah's fight is not over. Here are some ideas for how you and your family can make a difference when it comes to hunger and food insecurity in your community.

• Deborah's palm tree was a community hub that many people visited. You can bet that food was shared there. Are you part of a group that meets often or are you in charge of a community space?

  • Consider offering food at your meetings or events. Food insecurity is often invisible, in that you might never realize that the person right next to you is going hungry. Simply offer the opportunity for food to be shared at your event and that person will have something to eat.

  • If you have access to a community space with a kitchen, offer that space as a place for people to celebrate their food culture and traditions. For many people, a big part of food insecurity is lacking access to expensive appliances like refrigerators and ovens. Many people have wonderful skills for preparing delicious foods and long for the chance to share those gifts with others. 

  • If your community space includes unused square footage, consider allowing a community garden. Vegetables can be planted directly into the ground, into planters placed on pavement, or even into boxes indoors. Kids, youth, adults, and elders can all contribute to a community garden.

  • Consider starting up a food pantry, but be sure to check on any local regulations in place to ensure that the food you help provide is safe. Kids are taking the lead on this by setting up little free pantries in their front yards or at their schools!

• Like Deborah and her army marching for justice, you can join a hunger walk, or even host one. Hunger walks or protests take many forms. Crop Walk has some great resources for hosting a walk. Also consider how hunger intersects with other injustices facing your community. You may be moved to join a climate justice protest that addresses how a changing climate affects our ability to grow foods, or a peace protest that addresses how a war is causing hunger, or a indigenous rights protest that addresses how an essential water source that native people protect is under threat.

• If you normally drive to the grocery store, the next time you do, pay attention to whether their are sidewalks on the way there or if there is a bus stop nearby. Can people who do not own cars get to the grocery store? If not, bother your city council or mayor about making sure your whole community can get to the grocery store.

• Check online to see if your state or county collects data about food insecurity. They may even use those data to create maps of food deserts, or areas where food is unavailable to most of the people who live there because they are no grocery stores, farmers markets, or restaurants that offer healthy foods. Food deserts exist all over the country--in rural areas, in cities, on reservations, and maybe even within your own community. Educating yourself about local hunger issues is the first step in becoming an advocate for change. ​​