Hunger in Johnson County is Rising

I attended the Hunger Banquet Thursday night benefiting the Crisis Center. This is a fundraiser where one is assigned an economic status and that household income is divided up to what you are able to afford for dinner. We were served everything from nothing to lobster and steak.

9% of us have a household income of $15,000-24,999. That group was served ramen noodles.

9% are $25,000-34,999. They were served a salad.

28% are $35,000-74,999. They were served a hamburger and fries and no greens.

33% are $75,000-199,999. They were served a salad, chicken and gravy and vegetables.

6% are $200,000 and up. They were served salad, vegetables, lobster and steak.

And in Johnson County 14% of us are food insecure and have no idea where their next meals will come from. They were served nothing and had to rely on their tablemates for food.

Over 19,000 Johnson County residents are food insecure. That's a bit less than the size of Coralville. That includes 4,000 children. That is about four of our elementary schools full of children without enough food, let alone healthy food.

The Crisis Center serves over 1,000 families a week and distributes 1.6 million pounds of food. The Crisis Center also does mobile pantries and school based pantries. They do emergency assists of cash for rent, utilities, etc. They do vouchers and cash for clothing, fuel, tools, boots and more to help people get started to work.

As some of us are grieving celebrities that have committed sucide in recent days, remember the Crisis Center is there for all kinds of crises. The Crisis Line, Crisis Chat, education and mobile crisis are important to our community. Mental health crisis does not discriminate on the basis of wealth and Crisis Center is there for all.

Last night they showed some very moving videos featuring the words of past clients. There were many tears in the room and acknowledgements that most of us had moments in our life or still do that one lost paycheck could put us there.

I was tired and distracted when I rushed into the event. I carried only my phone, keys and sunglasses. After hearing all this and knowing how important Crisis Center is to our area, I wanted to dig deeper in that moment. Without a wallet, credit card or checkbook, I was just going to leave. Then I remembered, I usually have emergency money in my phone case. I counted it and found $35. I recalled that the Crisis Center can turn a  $1 contribution into 4 pounds of food. I decided they needed 140 pounds of food more than I needed that emergency money.

I always love giving to the Crisis Center. They can make humanity better for our neighbors with $5 or $500. Everything helps.

https://www.jccrisiscenter.org/