Hunger

In the United States, hunger is a health problem. It cuts the chances that children can succeed when they get to school. And it affects more people than you think. In today's America nearly 1 out of every 4 households with children is what experts call "food insecure" — or in terms we all understand, hungry. Although much of the attention from the recession of 2008, the worst in recent history, focused on national attempts at recovery, low-income families living on the margin often suffered the direct effects of the recession through layoffs, cutbacks and lack of resources.

Poverty in Baltimore, a serious problem in the best of times, has worsened with the current recession. A recent New York Times article on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - what used to be called Food Stamps - states that 1 in 8 Americans and 1 in 4 children now participate. Here in Baltimore, as of Oct. 31, the public school system had 83.6 percent participation in the free and reduced price meals (FARM) program, an increase of 10 percentage points or 9,000 more students compared with the same date in 2008.

September saw the passing of Norman Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution that lifted millions of people out of hunger through the production of high-yield varieties of wheat. In the four decades since he began his work, we have made significant progress in the fight against global hunger. Thanks in no small part to U.S. foreign assistance and the generosity of American citizens, the percentage of chronically hungry people declined from 37 percent of the world's population in the 1960s to about 13 percent today.

My mouth waters for traditional Baltimore summer cooking, a commodity that seems to grow more elusive. Then, on a recent trip to Rehoboth Beach, Del., came a revelation: remarkable coleslaw. It was served at a grand Baltimore institution that has moved - Jake's Seafood House, run by the Klemkowski family, who for years seemed to have a corner on good food in Locust Point in South Baltimore. I'm not a seafood eater, so why do I go to Jake's? Because the owners are old-time South Baltimoreans who know how to make coleslaw.

Applause to retired Judge Tom Ward, who is among the organizers of a historical tribute to recall Ireland's Great Hunger, a period between 1845 and 1853 when thousands left the Emerald Isle and sailed for America. "When the Irish government suggested the worldwide memorialization of the Great Hunger, our group, the Irish Railroad Workers Museum, decided to accept the leadership and have a memorial Mass at historic St. Peter the Apostle Church," he told me this week. The Mass is scheduled at 1:30 p.m. May 17 at the church at Poppleton and Hollins streets.

Here's a conundrum. If anti-hunger organizations like ours are really good at what we do, Americans will respond - and do the wrong thing. That's because of a widespread misunderstanding of why we still have kids who are hungry in this country. Simply put, the problem is not a lack of food. Rather, the bigger issue is a lack of access to services. Fortunately, this is a problem that can be solved - and Maryland, to its credit, is attempting to do just that. During holidays and economic downturns, people and businesses increase donations to food banks and soup kitchens, while society beefs up appropriations for food stamps and other public feeding programs.

The second full moon since the winter solstice rises over Baltimore tomorrow at 5:59 p.m. Our ancestors knew it as the Wolf Moon, the Snow Moon or the Hunger Moon. It's easy, and chilling, to imagine why. This one rises nine hours after a "penumbral eclipse," a slight darkening of the moon as it passes through the edge of the shadow Earth casts into space. It will be visible from Asia and the Pacific.

Baltimore is not New York. It is not Boston or Charlotte or San Diego either. This is not a shortcoming, it is a point of civic pride. While football teams from those cities were expected to go deep in the National Football League playoffs, it is Baltimore's Ravens, not the Giants, Patriots, Panthers or Chargers, playing this Sunday for a trip to the Super Bowl. What's our name? How perfect that the Ravens have been inspired by a defiant Muhammad Ali's quest for respect four decades ago from an opponent who would refer to him only as Cassius Clay.

State officials announced several partnerships and federal initiatives yesterday aimed at ending childhood hunger in Maryland in the next five years, programs that would serve more than 150,000 children living below the poverty line. Gov. Martin O'Malley, state school officials and representatives from Share Our Strength, a national nonprofit organization, said at a news conference that they were looking to enroll 65,000 students in the School Lunch and School Breakfast Program and increase participation in the federal food stamp program by 15 percent.