A Piece of Roll on Her Neck

Reva Lachica Moore

Have you ever gone to bed hungry? I have. But not because there was no food in the house. I’ve gone to bed hungry because I was on a “crash” diet. And I felt pretty miserable.
According to world statistics, 1.3 billion people live in extreme poverty today. And tonight, 800 million people will go to bed hungry. Real hunger is a reality for millions of people in the world – even here in this blessed country of America . You’re probably asking - Why in America when there’s abundance of food? And who in America goes to bed hungry?
The hungry person in America is the child who goes to school each day having gone to bed hungry because there was no food in the house. He may be the child of a single parent whose income isn’t enough to pay for house rent, transportation and food.
The hungry person may be a child whose parents are working but only make minimum wage. Money is spent on living expenses and very little on food.
The hungry is an elderly on fixed income who often spends his money on expensive medications and try to live on less food.
For families in unexpected situations such as illness, death, or other tragedies that consume household income, food is often sacrificed.
I only think about this problem when I receive letters from working students or very poor folks in the Philippines who said they have no money for food.
Not long ago I saw on CNN a most horrible news; I was stunned and felt horrible. Some of Haiti ’s poorest people in the worst slums who can’t afford even a plate of rice are using inconceivable ways to fill their bellies. They eat cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau. Dirt, salt, and vegetable shortening have become their regular meal – a remedy for hunger pangs.
But one day, a sobering thought came to me upon seeing something quite unusual. Our elderly friend, Frances , 81, was a guest in our home for several weeks. At mealtime, Frances would eat every piece of food on her plate. Any leftover, she’d carefully put in containers and stored in the refrigerator. The next morning, she’d warm the leftovers for her breakfast. How nice! We’re not throwing away food. I said to myself.
As I cleared the table after supper one evening, I noticed Frances wrap her leftover roll in a napkin. I didn’t say anything. I thought she was going to throw it away later. During supper the next evening, I noticed Frances wrap her leftover roll again so I said, “Here, let me throw that away for you.”
“Oh no,” she said, “this is for my snack later.”
“But why a piece of roll? Here I have cake and ice cream for desert. And you are welcome to all the goodies and drinks that I left on the dresser in your room.” I usually have all kinds of snacks and drinks placed in our two guest bedrooms.
That evening Frances told me her story.
“Reva, I have suffered so much hunger as a child during the depression years that even today I cannot waste food. Let me tell you, when things started to get better during those years, my father would wrap a roll and place it on my neck after tucking me to bed at night. The roll or bread is to remind me that I will never get hungry again.”
Stunned for what I had heard, I asked, “But why on your neck?”
“So I could feel it and know that I have food when I get hungry.”
So even today, Frances still wraps a roll or a piece of bread and places it by the nightstand at bedtime and in the middle of the night, she eats her roll.
Can you imagine how it would be like if something like the Great Depression happens again? God forbid that it does because it would be a very, very horrible thing.
But it’s easy to see that happening. During Huricanes Katrina and Rita back in the summer of 2006, the shelves of grocery stores in my town were wiped out by customers in such a short time; we couldn’t find a loaf of bread, bottled water, eggs, etc. And even everyday necessities such as batteries, ice, toilet paper were gone. The line of people who wanted to purchase things such as generators was unreal. J.R. stood on line for 2 days only to be told there weren’t enough to sell and we never got one.
Not trying to be foreboding, if indeed there comes a time when food would become scarce, what would you do? I remember seeing on CNN during the Y2K hype when many folks stored food and water for a year.
If indeed extreme situations should happen, the Holy Scriptures say not to worry. During the Bible times, God took care of His people like Elijah who was fed by ravens with bread and meat day after day. I have also read about a prisoner during World War I who was fed by a cat who brought a piece of bread every morning to the prisoner’s cell window. I’ve also written the story of my friends – The Singing Baterzal Family – who didn’t have money to buy food but the mother prayed, and rats brought the family dried fish, sugar and bread three mornings in a row. The rats dragged the neighbors’ food to the Baterzal’s apartment.
Just like Frances’ father who assured her when she was a child that she will never be hungry again, our Heavenly Father likewise has assured us in Isaiah 33:15, 16: Those who are honest and fair, who refuse to profit by fraud, who stay far away from bribes, who refuse to listen to those who plot murder, who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong—these are the ones who will dwell on high. The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress. Food will be supplied to them, and they will have water in abundance.