Expressing Support of House For Organizations Providing Emergency Food Assistance

EXPRESSING SUPPORT OF HOUSE FOR ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDING EMERGENCY FOOD ASSISTANCE -- (House of Representatives - October 05, 2004)

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 261) expressing the support of the House of Representatives for the efforts of organizations such as Second Harvest to provide emergency food assistance to hungry people in the United States, and encouraging all Americans to provide volunteer services and other support for local antihunger advocacy efforts and hunger relief charities, including food banks, food rescue organizations, food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters.

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Mr. McGOVERN. I want to thank my good friend, Mr. WOLF, for sponsoring this resolution and for his leadership in the fight to end hunger here in the United States and around the world.

I also want to thank Chairman GOODLATTE, Ranking Member STENHOLM, and the members of the Agriculture Committee for moving this resolution forward for consideration by the full House.

I rise in support of H. Res. 261. America's Second harvest, the food banks that operate across the country, and the volunteers who help provide assistance at these organizations deserve to be recognized and thanked for their diligence and hard work in combating hunger in America.

Mr. Speaker, I believe hunger is a political problem. There is no reason people-both here at home and around the world-should go without food. America is known as a country of plenty, and it is shameful that our prosperous nation still has children, veterans, seniors, and other individuals and families who simply do not know from day to day whether they will have enough to eat.

The system of food banks throughout the United States provides a safety net where individuals and families can go to get a meal when they really need one. In my own congressional district and hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, the Worcester County Food Bank provides this invaluable service to the people of Central Massachusetts. Jean McMurray, the executive director of the Food Bank, helps provide food for soup kitchens and food pantries throughout Worcester County.

The food bank also runs and operates a kitchen where they prepare food for soup kitchens and train people in food service and food preparation skills in order to find good-paying jobs. These are excellent programs and an excellent food bank, and I am so very pleasing that this resolution recognizes and honors the work of Jean McMurray, her staff and their counterparts across the country.

Mr. Speaker, our food banks are stretched thin. Every day they are called upon to provide more and more assistance. Sadly, more people go without food every day in our country, and the safety net provided by these food banks, the assistance that help the food insecure escape starvation, is strained to the breaking point.

As Co-Chair of the Congressional Hunger Center, I have worked closely with America's Second Harvest and local food banks. The Congressional Hunger Center, dedicated to training tomorrow's leaders in the fight against hunger, places Emerson Trust Fellows in food banks and other anti-hunger organizations across the country so that they may see and learn first-hand from the work carried out by these groups.

Mr. Speaker, like my colleague Mr. WOLF, I am committed to ending hunger in America. We have a blueprint researched and developed by the Alliance to End Hunger on how Congress and the American people, working together, can achieve that goal. This resolution honors many of the groups and individuals who are on the front lines of that battle, and I thank Congressman WOLF once again for his leadership. I hope passage of this resolution will help energize this body to make a full commitment to ending hunger in America once and for all.

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