For a human to survive, they need three things: clothes, shelter and most importantly food. I personally am very lucky to have three meals each day and many of those who are reading this article are lucky like me. The saddest thing about our beautiful world is that one of human’s most important needs is expensive and not every single person out there sleeps with a full stomach. 

Over a billion people suffer from starvation and at least a thousand of them die per day. Isn’t it insane how we throw away food because we can’t eat anymore, but people in the world are dying due to hunger? I’m sure none of us want to throw food away, it’s just that we don’t really have an option. We get lunch, but we either get too full from eating just a bit or we don’t have enough time to finish our lunch. So, since we can’t finish lunch nor do we get the option to bring it back to class, we throw it in the trash. Almost 530,000 tons of food waste comes from schools. It’s not necessarily our fault. It’s not anyone’s fault, but wasting food affects people. It may seem like a very minor thing to be concerned about but just imagine how many children out there sleep with a hungry stomach.  

Schools have a major impact on the food wasted, whether you realize it or not. North Forsyth recognized this problem and has taken the  initiative to prevent food from being wasted. North Forsyth has established bins across the cafeteria for food that has not been damaged or is opened to be donated to those who need this food. North Forsyth is a Helping Hands Ending Hunger chapter run by student support coordinator, Amy Dykes. This allows them to legally collect food and distribute them to students and families who need this food. Amy Dykes explains how “a group of specialized students…count and clean the food, and place it in our school pantry, The Source”. The Source is an open school pantry to all students before and after school. It is also available to families for ordering. North has realized the importance of food and is doing its part to help the community. 

“Throwing away food is like stealing from the table of those who are poor and hungry,”  is a famous quote by Pope Francis. Food is a basic need for humans. It’s ridiculous that we have to pay for it. It’s even more ridiculous that people are dying due to hunger. Little kids shouldn’t die and cry because they didn’t get proper nourishment. Entire countries suffer from starvation, this problem shouldn’t even exist. You don’t need to feed millions of people or donate millions of dollars to support people who are struggling with starvation. If you choose to give your leftover food to those in need, rather than throw it away, you may help more people than you could ever imagine.