It is a scary feeling…not knowing where your next meal will come from.
Fifty percent of children in the Valley face this issue every day.
After our report on ‘Hungry children in the Valley’ aired, we got an overwhelming response from the Action 4 Listens line.
One of those comments said, “On your recent report on ‘Hungry kids in the Valley’….you must point out that these kids that do go hungry are illegal aliens. Mexican-American and legal's who need food get food stamps. You must also point out that about 35 to 40 percent of people that live here are illegal.”
“Until you’ve walked in their shoes don’t try to make a judgment,” said Carter Robinson with the Food Bank Rio Grande Valley. “Hunger is hunger.”
Robinson said legal or not…children should not have to go hungry.
“If a child is here they should get fed,” said Robinson. “Bottom line is this is Texas. We grow our own beef, vegetables, and fruit. No one should go hungry in Texas.”
Another person wrote in and said,
“Our Food Banks would not have a problem if the food was distributed properly. If you would go to these locations you would see the people getting food are driving really nice cars, have on nice jewelry, and dress nice. People like that do not deserve free food.”
Action 4 News spoke with David Chan, the mobilization pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen where one of the food distribution sites are set up and got his take on this comment.
“Everybody has a need sometime,” said Chan.
He said it could be that someone just needs help that one month or a couple of months.
It is there job to help---not judge.
"I think we can all relate to having been in a time of need...sometime unexpectedly,” said Chan. “There are plenty of government regulations that call for screening requirements....whenever there is an emergency situation everybody needs it from time to time."
Chan said, unfortunately, this problem is not going away anytime soon.
They will continue to do what they can to help fight hunger.
For more information on how you can help fight hunger you can visit the Food Bank Rio Grande Valley website at Food Bank RGV
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