It has now been more than a month since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, but the memory?augmented by the subsequent U.S. Military action’s against Afghanistan’s Taliban regime and an ongoing anthrax scare in our own country?remains fresh in our minds.
In the face of so much senseless destruction and loss of life, however, humanity’s compassionate side has manifested itself, as average citizens have taken an active role in offering whatever relief they can, via donation of time, of blood and of money?leading to millions of dollars going to appropriate charities such as the Red Cross and the Sept. 11 Fund.
However, while our attention and our efforts have been riveted upon aiding the victims of these attacks, many of those who are in need every day but do not have the tabloid headlines to illustrate their cause, continue to suffer.
While the charity given to disaster-relief funds is both appropriate and appreciated, causes such as food banks have suffered from the resulting invisibility.
As well-intentioned individuals have supported charities devoted to the relief efforts, the support they might normally give to a food bank has waned.
As a result, the shelves and the cupboards of the Utah Food Bank are bare.
This problem is not new to the organization, as all too often, it is stocked only around the holidays, when the average person emerges from the self centered reverie of everyday life just long enough to recognize there are people less fortunate and in need of help. However, such people do not exist except when Thanksgiving and Christmas draw nearer.
Nevertheless, the opportunity exists to remember and recognize those in need year-round. Several campus organizations, including the Bennion Center, the Associated Students of the University of Utah and The Daily Utah Chronicle, are conducting food drives and are asking for support from students, staff and faculty.
While any donation made is appreciated, please treat this as an opportunity to do more than rid your pantries and freezers of long-forgotten items that you have no use for. Quantity is certainly needed, but quality is also welcomed.
Please bring whatever items you can to Union 101, 236 and/or 240 to help this ever important cause; as has been proven with the efforts surrounding the disaster relief in New York City and Washington, D.C., your act of kindness and selflessness can make a tremendous impact.
By all means, do not stop contributing to those in need as a result of the tragedy which befell this country a month ago. Please remember, however, what a tragedy it is that people in our own country go hungry every night, when they shouldn’t have to.