“While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight; while children go hungry, as they do now, I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight. I’ll fight to the very end!”

William Booth

founder of the Salvation Army Most American children never have to lay awake deep into the night trying to ignore the pain of hunger in their bellies.

But some do.

Many children have parents who work — day and night — to feed and clothe their families.

But some don’t.

It’s an unfortunate truth in today’s society that there are still hungry children in all of our neighborhoods. Through no fault of their own, these children suffer, especially during the summer when there has previously been no free or reduced lunch program.

The Courier recently received several letters to the editor with opinions on the Summer Food Program hosted by the Safford School District. All of the letters contain valid points as to the pros and cons of the program.

I am, as are many people in the Valley, part of the pull-yourselves-up-by-your-bootstraps school of thought. I think if adults can work in any way or at any thing — they are obligated to do so. I abhor a welfare system that has so many loopholes that some people make collecting welfare money a way of life rather than a stopgap when the need is greatest.

The Safford School District is not, however, asking families to hand over the responsibility of feeding their children to a government agency. It is fulfilling a need.

The Summer Food Program is more than a soup kitchen. The fact that children with parents from all walks of life are also being fed through this program may be a point that could be argued, but I see no negative connotations attached. The lunch sites are places for children to socialize, to learn how to avoid alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse and, of course, to be fed. The program is funded by the federal National School Lunch Program through the USDA program, which also funds the free and reduced lunch programs during the school year. Mothers, fathers and babysitters can also eat breakfast and lunch during the program, although they don’t eat free.

There is also a problem with identifying those who are doing without at home.

Do you just walk up to skinny children and ask them if they are being fed? Do you wait for their parents — who may be absent or involved with drugs — to report themselves to the authorities?

Yes, it is our taxes paying for this program. There are millions of other programs that I morally oppose, and without my having much say-so except with my lone vote, my tax dollars support them. If there were a way to accomplish this through private enterprise, then I would support that as well.

Don’t hand our hungry children a stone of political posturing when they are silently asking for bread.