“Someone ought to do it, but why should I?” – “Someone ought to do it, so why not I?” Between these two sentences lie whole centuries of moral evolution. — Annie Besant

In mid-January I was privileged to spend “flood weekend” at the OSU Conference Center in Corvallis, attending the Oregon Hunger Summit, convened by the Oregon Hunger Task Force and Partners for a Hunger Free Oregon. Besides enjoying the perspectives of a bevy of informative and inspirational speakers, probably the one thing I carry forward from that gathering was the experience of being in a conference hall full of some 300 people whose working lives focus with great passion on the same thing mine does: feeding the hungry; offering a hand up to neighbors in need; providing a voice for the voiceless; and striving to make the invisible so in-your-face visible that nobody can pretend that it just isn’t there.

There were people from social services, government, and media. There were people from the healthcare and childcare professions. There were educators, gardeners and farmers, and community organizers. And there were college students, dropping in and out of sessions as their class schedules allowed, the next generation of teachers, doctors, parents, legislators, and journalists, people like you and me, who by their very presence, already have the moral jump on things. “Someone ought to end hunger, so why not I?”

Sometimes the work I do every day at Marion-Polk Food Share seems like a Band-Aid; just barely enough to stay one step ahead of the wolf at the door. It’s discouraging, I won’t lie. I feel the need to do something about hunger so acutely that sometimes I can’t fathom the way other people seem to turn a blind eye to it; or try to blame it on its victims; or figure that somebody else will take care of “those people.” I’ve been in this fight since I was 17. I’m angry that I’m still in it. But I’m idealistic too.

I believe we’ll get to that tipping point someday where finally there will be so many people standing up and saying, “NO MORE,” that we’ll stop settling for “the poor are always with us” and be on the phones and at the doors of our legislators every single day to demand an end to distractions and a beginning to living wage jobs, adequate health and childcare, excellent public schools, unmatched mass transportation, and access to fresh, healthy food for all.

It has to start somewhere. Ready to take that leap with me through those “centuries of moral evolution?” Someone ought to end hunger, so why not you and me?

Kat Daniel is program director for Women Ending Hunger and the MPFS Community Kitchen. She can be reached at 503-581-3855, ext. 322, or kdaniel@marionpolkfoodshare.org.