In the first article called “The Return of American Hunger” By Ned Resnikoff, Resnikoff tries to get us to understand the increase in Hunger in America. Resnikoff explains that even though the economy has gotten some what better and job opportunities are opening up with still have an increase of people and families who are not “food secure”. He says “approximately 17.4 million homes across the United States, populated with more than 48 million hungry people.” That is such an alarming number. Because of the financial struggle, hunger remains and the requirements for SNAP (food stamps) are even too much for these people to even qualify. For some states you have to have work requirements and drug testing. I do agree however with the drug testing, if you are receiving food benefits from the government, you shouldn’t be doing illegal drugs.
The second article is called “Why Does America Have So Many Hungry Kids?” by Them Patterson. A woman named Elle Dingman was volunteering and ran into a little boy who just stood there and held her hand, naked and hungry. Reading this part of the article made me really sad to think that there are so many children at need. The article says approximately 13.1 million children are living in food insecure households as of 2015. That is such an alarming number. The author explains that people now and days just don’t have time to help people in need and that we no longer “help our neighbors”. Patterson explains that a few volunteer groups such as Jesus Was Homeless I trying their best to get these families what they need. There is other programs as well like “Blessings in a Backpack” which gives children meals for the weekend during the school year. But as mentioned it is only during the school year. So although there are people helping out, it is just not enough to feed everyone all of those 13.1 million hungry children.
For the photoshoot I want to use an empty plate with a fork and a spoon next to it to show the emptiness. The lighting will be dim or dark I don’t want bright light.
Another option for the volunteering one is someone handing someone else food or pouring something into the plate with a spoon. The light could be brighter for this one to show both the negative and the positive.
