My post today is in response to Global Food Crisis Day.

Did you know there are people in this world who eat dirt just to calm their hunger pains? No joke. In Haiti, this is becoming a growing trend referred to as “dirt cookies.” It is combination of dirty (clay), salt and vegetable shortening and while it does fill their stomachs in a desperate attempt to prolong their lives… it is actually killing them.

So, why are they doing this?

Food prices around the world have spiked because of higher oil prices, needed for fertilizer, irrigation and transportation. Prices for basic ingredients such as corn and wheat are also up. These things, on top of already impoverished nations scarce of food and clean water, what we get is the Global Food Crisis.

You can help.

Give to Compassion’s Global Food Crisis Fund

Your gift will help provide:
• food vouchers to children and families needing immediate relief.
• seeds & agricultural tools so that families can grow their own food as well as earn extra income.
• supplemental nutrition services offered at Compassion-assisted centers around the world.

The Numbers:
* your gift of $13 can feed a child for about one month.
* your gift of $78 can feed a family of six for one month.
* your gift of $520 can feed 40 children for about one month.
* your gift of $3,250 can feed 250 children (an entire child development center) for one month!

OR even consider sponsoring a child.

Facts about Hunger:

• One person in seven goes to bed hungry every day.
• One-third of the world’s population is undernourished.
• There are 25,000 starvation-related deaths each day.
• Each night more than 300 million children go to bed hungry.
• Every day, over 12,000 children (one every 7 seconds) die from hunger-related causes.
• Approximately 146 million or 27 percent of children under age 5 in developing countries are underweight.
• Nearly 17 percent of babies in developing countries are born with a low birth weight compared with only 7 percent of babies in industrialized countries.
• More than 4.4 million children die from malnutrition each year.
• Worldwide, 161 million preschool children suffer chronic malnutrition.