With the memory of Thanksgiving dinner surrounded by friends and family still fresh in our minds, it is appropriate for the overstuffed to give some thought to the people of southeast Queens, who spent their holiday preparing and serving holiday meals to the borough’s neediest.
While families throughout the area were preparing and enjoying turkey with all the trimmings, volunteers were working in soup kitchens set up in church halls and community centers throughout Queens. They sacrificed their day to make certain that those going through tough times had a warm meal on Thanksgiving.
Anyone who follows the news knows that hunger is growing by the day in America, but we suspect most readers would be surprised to learn how much is being to help the needy in these difficult times. Next time you are sitting at your computer, search for soup kitchens and food pantries in Queens. You may be stunned by what you will find.
Soup kitchens serve thousands of meals every day to people who would likely go hungry without their help. Food pantries hand out cartons of food to families who may have a home but little or no food to put in it. Sadly, the unemployment crisis that has hit particularly hard in this part of Queens is straining the pantries and food banks.
Our thanks go out to everyone involved in this important effort on Thanksgiving and every day of the year.
A Shameful Reality
If this is even close to true, it is unacceptable.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, a poll commissioned by the nation’s largest food bank shows one out of every four households with a military veteran in the city does not have enough food to put on the table.
It has been reported that the men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been hard hit by the nation’s unemployment crisis. That is a problem that needs to be addressed. Despite the commercials, many of these men and women have not learned a marketable skill. They need and deserve help.
But under no circumstances should the challenges they face in making the transition to civilian life result in their families going hungry. This must not happen.
