My city of 115,000 people is considered one of the fastest growing in the country… and the people are hungry.

I was on duty with the fire department’s crisis response unit, refueling at the municipal gas station, when a beat up Chevy Cavalier drove into the lot. Out of place, we asked if he needed help. He was looking for food.

Next to the fuel station is the city’s food bank. Mr Cavalier had simply turned into the wrong lot. But the food bank was closed. People surely don’t get hungry during weekends.

Now, Mr Cavalier came off as a proud man and deeply ashamed that he needed just a couple days of food for he and his wife until his paycheck. Looking at him, appearance disheveled and mismatched, you wouldn’t be surprised to learn he was a man down on his luck.

Figuring we could help we began making calls to various food banks throughout the valley. All closed. Of course. While waiting for a return call from the Red Cross to see if they offered emergency food assistance another vehicle pulled up…

This one was a newer SUV driven by a young pretty woman, hair done up, baby in the rear car seat. She, too, was looking for food. Looking at her you never would have guessed it.

The Red Cross called us back. They no longer provide food assistance. We had nowhere to send these folks to get the food they needed. All we could do was tell them what time the food bank opened on Monday morning.

As you can imagine, it was frustrating not being able to provide the resources these good folks needed. It became even more so when we returned to the fire station to learn that the US had just launched 125 missiles at Libya, each costing about $1 million a piece. And here in my community, within the span of 45 minutes, I encountered two families in need of food. And our food banks can’t afford to keep their doors open on weekends to feed them.