It’s something most people see living in any major city; the homeless huddling in corners, walking aimlessly through trains, and sleeping in park benches. Many of them go about their day without a hot shower, fresh clothes or a single meal. I could never imagine walking around for days with that grumbling sensation bubbling in my stomach after not eating anything. It’s truly a blessing to have food in my home everyday. One young woman hopes to help make the lives of the homeless a bit easier.
McKenna Greenleaf Faulk, a 13-year old teen, has launched 37 Degrees From Hunger with her classmates to help end hunger in her neighborhood of LA. TakePart took some time out to talk with this impressive young woman to discover the journey she took to helping the homeless get a good meal:
McKenna Greenleaf Faulk knows her hunger statistics.
In a recent interview with TakePart, she explained that one in six Americans are at risk of hunger. Meanwhile, this country wastes about 40 percent of all edible food. If Americans wasted just 15 percent less food, it would be enough to feed 25 million people. Not to mention how it would help the environment since nearly 33 million tons of waste end up in landfills.
“The average American wastes about 28 to 43 pounds of food a month,” McKenna, 13, says. “If we wasted less food, we could feed more people.”
That’s why she and some classmates at Thomas Starr King Middle School in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles are working to curb food waste. They have launched 37 Degrees From Hunger at their school and hope to become a model for other schools across the country.
“There was all of this unwanted food lying on the table, and we thought why not take that and give it to someone who needs it, like to the homeless people in the neighborhood who may want it,” she says.
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