A nation of riches often forgets the invisible communities that could benefit from its largesse. Follow the work of Food for Free, a Boston-based effort which transfers healthy food that wouldotherwise be thrown away to the poorest and neediest in the city. A model program, Food for Free and its volunteers prove there are simple steps and significant solutions to hunger and poverty in our abundant nation. Join David Freudberg as he rides in the Food for Free truck to a local food distribution center, and then onto the food pantry where he talks with the people who receive the donated food. We’ll also meet volunteers of Food for Free–some who have been hungry themselves and have not forgotten what it feels like. A look at what it means to be hungry, on this episode of Humankind.

Themes

• How can people go hungry in the United States and what does the fact that people go hungry in the richest nation on earth tell us about American society?
• Why do people who have been hungry and poor come back to volunteer to help others who are in need of food?
• What does it feel like to be hungry and how does it feel to seek assistance at a food pantry?

Sometimes I’d go home and I couldn’t even eat my own meal because of all those people, living in abject poverty, and in terrible housing, and who weren’t eating… so I ended up doing this and have been pretty much doing it my whole working life”

—Janey Murray, staff member at Food for Free