Those of us with full bellies are responsible for doing something to stop this crisis. Throwing a couple of canned goods and a box of macaroni and cheese into the church food pantry is a start, but what’s really lacking is an acute awareness of the widespread crisis.

That’s why the Muslim Student Association is hosting an event to educate the community about the hungry here in Story County, according to a Nov. 14 Daily article. Those participating plan to fast during the daylight hours to increase empathy for the hungry. Last weekend, the “Stuff the Bus” campaign was organized as a joint effort between the university and community. The goal was to fill boxes in every seat of a CyRide bus with food.

According to co-chairwomen Lisa Flammang and Susan Kloewer, overflow of the first bus necessitated a second bus. They reported a total of 300 boxes of food were donated to MICA. That amounted to $15,000 worth of donations for the Ames community — three cheers for “Stuff the Bus!”

Tomorrow, the Leadership Enrichment Action Program (LEAP) will hold its third annual Hunger Banquet from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Memorial Union. The Hunger Banquet is a dramatic representation of the unequal distribution of the world’s abundant food supply. Laura Bestler-Wilcox, LEAP adviser, says it’s an amazing opportunity for students to experience what the world is truly facing on an hourly basis.

These events and the people who organize them deserve much recognition, but keep passing the bread: More help will be needed as the hunger crisis mounts.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released national data in 1999 to track hunger and food insecurity in the United States from 1996 to 1998. The data was taken from the annual Food Survey Supplement, a questionnaire which is part of the Current Population Survey of the U.S. Bureau of Census. Based on this survey, the USDA estimates that in 1998, 10.5 million households were food insecure, meaning they did not have access to enough food to meet their basic needs.

Recently published national studies show approximately 4,000,000 children and millions of adults are suffering from hunger. Although this data is based on surveys that are a few years old, their recent experience suggests hunger has not declined and may have actually increased if the analysis from America’s major providers of emergency food is used as a guide. Food is not being produced and distributed equally around the world. Food is not even being distributed equally in our own communities. This issue is far from being solved.

If you have access to this newspaper, it’s likely you have no idea what it feels like to go to bed hungry every night. The university supports or sustains you in some way whether you’re a student, teacher or employee. Most of us have the resources with which to fill an empty refrigerator or cupboard or quiet our growling stomachs. We take for granted the luxury of buying whatever we need at our local grocery stores whenever we need it. We take for granted the store shelves are always stocked, that the food we do need is always available.

While most of us are pondering the best way to cook the bird, the best time for the office holiday party and how to keep those extra pounds off during the holidays, the single mom living on your street may be relying on food stamps to feed her three children.

While most of us who have secure jobs and a roof over our heads fret about what to buy Aunt Edna for Christmas, the guy from your church who was just laid off may be left out in the cold, digging for scraps in dumpsters to take the edge off his hunger.

While most of us look forward to baking our traditional holiday goodies, the pale-looking kid with no coat always hanging around your backyard hasn’t had a full, hot plate of food in weeks.

There is enough food worldwide for everyone, even in densely populated Third World countries. But hunger continues to be a problem due to unequal distributions of resources.

Perhaps we can start more equal distribution in our own community by donating 10 percent of our monthly groceries to the food bank.