I think about them, on days like this. When we’re out running errands after church and skipping into the big toy store on the corner for some bright happies to fill the boys’ stockings.

It’s 2:30 in the afternoon and we’ve skipped lunch. We ate egg sandwiches on oversized bagels late in the morning and munched cheese sticks coupled with M&M sprinkled cookies just a bit after noon.

But my babies’ tummies are small and, of course, we didn’t eat a normal meal at the normal time.

“I’m staaaaaaaarving,” says the older one in the back seat. My own stomach, now sitting high above the baby growing beneath it, rumbles a bit and I glance at John.

“There’s a Panera across the street. Or, hey, isn’t there a Cracker Barrel off the next exit?”

“Staaaaaarving, Mama!” The littler one echoes everything his brother says.

And I think of them. Those mothers.

Their babies cry, too. They whine over empty tummies that rumble strong as their bodies are feeding off of themselves.

There’s no Panera across the street. There isn’t food within a few days’ walk.

But their little ones cry and the babies growing in their wombs are malnourished before they’ve taken a breath.

And my mama heart wonders how their mama hearts manage when there isn’t a normal noon meal to be skipped.

***

John, the boys and I sponsor several children through the amazing work being done by our friends at both Compassion International and World Vision. We also support women and children’s communities in Uganda and India, which provide food and care for mothers and their young babies.

But there are still entire groups of men, women and children who are starving – and dying – each day because food is nowhere to be found. For these, further help is needed.

I have never been truly starving. I haven’t ever needed food and been forced to wait more than a few hours due to convenience and immediate circumstance. But I’ve been told that when starving, one can feel their own body begin to eat itself, searching for protein in each muscle once all fat stores have been reduced. It is a slow and intensely painful reality, often resulting in extreme illness and premature death for its victims.

Nobody chooses a hunger riddled life. But nearly 1 billion people on our earth are currently living a life of starvation.

***

World Vision is fighting the global food crisis with donations given here. Thanks to grants and food donations, each gift, regardless of size, is multiplied five times to feed hungry people and aid in food production.

Samaritan’s Purse provides food and educates families on nutrition.

One.org and this article on CNN both host long lists of various organizations on the ground in the Horn of Africa, a region facing severe famine.

The Hunger Notes of WorldHunger.org gives current facts and numbers regarding the hunger crisis in our world today.

Can we, the ones who ate three meals yesterday and likely a snack or two, help these parents and their children caught in hunger’s vile grip?

***

This post is part of the Twelve Causes for Christmas series, begun by my dear friend Joy Bennett. Through simply sharing our thoughts and telling our stories, a group of friends and I are spreading the word about some of our most passionate causes and encouraging each other to heap love and compassion throughout this season. As Joy says, we can’t all do everything, but we can all do something.

Click around below to discover if any of these causes become dear to your heart, and if you’d like to write and add your own post to the group, please join us!