Remembering the empty eyes of hunger

Life has been good to me. I've never known real hunger.

My dad was a good provider and I've always had a job. We always have food at home. When we feel like eating in a restaurant, we do it. Our next meal is a matter of scheduling, not a desperate wish.

I've seen hunger, though. When we lived in Kenosha, Wis., my wife, Debbie, regularly planned and organized a Saturday afternoon meal in a soup kitchen. It was a big, complicated job, so I always helped. The meals were offered in a dreadful neighborhood; some of our guests had fresh black eyes or newly missing teeth. Some were soiled, incoherent or intoxicated.

Others were just down on their luck - laid off, left behind or the victims of various crimes. Some of those people were accompanied by children, some clutching worn blankets, others cradling a stuffed animal. They had the emptiest eyes I ever saw. If I sit quietly and think about those kids, I nearly weep.

Everyone who ate in the soup kitchen, or received canned goods from the adjacent pantry, desperately needed the food. I'd sneak some of the guests larger portions, based on what my heart told me.

I thought about those poor souls this week after getting a call from Len Novara, the athletic director at Murphysboro High School. Novara told me about an effort to pack our region's food kitchens that he said came from the Murphysboro Athletic Booster Association.

All of the schools in the River-to-River Conference are asking spectators at the Friday, Dec. 12 games to donate a non-perishable food item or canned good. It will be collected by the schools hosting the games and then donated to community food pantries - which are dealing with growing demand linked to the region's slumping economy.

"We can pack our community food pantries while we pack our gyms," Novara said.

What a great idea! Almost everyone who attends a high school basketball game should have the ability to bring at least one food item to the game. And in some gyms, including the one in Murphysboro, that could yield 2,000 food items.

Novara believes the idea might spread to all schools in Southern Illinois, not just those competing in the River-to-River Conference. He hopes word of the food drive spreads all around the state, with collections occurring across Illinois.

I told Novara the newspaper would be glad to help. You'll be glad to help, too, if you've ever seen the empty eyes of a hungry child.

Gary Metro is the editor of The Southern Illinoisan. He can be reached at 351-5033 or gary.metro@thesouthern.com.