That fat kid? He's starving to death.

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This is the season of bounty. Of farmers harvesting crops, produce arriving in the stores from all over the hemisphere. The papers are chock full of coupons...for cranberries, and pumpkin pie mix, and turkey, and..... Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

But for too many kids, there is no thanks-giving. These are the kids who go to school with empty bellies, or who eat foods empty of nutrition, so that even if they look overweight, inside, their bodies are dying. Deficiencies of essential minerals will stunt their growth, trigger diabetes, slow their metabolisms.

The statistics on hunger are shocking in their growth. But every statistic is a child, a single mom, struggling to stretch too few groceries to last not long enough. A food pantry trying to provide food with too few supplies on their shelves. Christy has more at firedoglake.

Charities are already appealing for help, more help this year than ever. So many to choose among, how can we possibly supply them all? It seems so daunting. Yet who can turn a blind eye to the need?

Next time, every time you go to the grocery store, look for the collection bin or cart for your local food pantry. Next time, every time you get an envelope in the mail, send back a check. Next time, every time you walk past a red kettle, drop in some coin.

Who me, you think? What difference can I make, just one person. And then you remember...one person built a presidential campaign. Because so many pitched in that even when amounts were small, they added up to a mountain.

Can we do any less for one hungry child?
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When I launched this blog nearly a year ago, one of the earliest posts I wrote was about the dire state of hunger in Haiti, "Let Them Eat Mud Cookies." 'tis a sorrowful thing indeed that instead of progress, things have gotten worse even here at home.

We've a chance now for a fresh start. Start today...help your hometown hungry as well as those far away. And you'll enjoy your own Thanksgiving turkey a whole lot more.
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(crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette)