“I have a problem with paying my bills and keeping food in the house with my son’s Riley Hospital appointments. Have to pay for meds, cannot afford enough food. I don’t make enough money to support a handicapped family of four. Doctor bills eat us up. Sometimes it’s hard to pay bills and eat too. Homeless. Hate going out of necessities around the last of the month. Not much food money — 5 cents over the limit for help. Working but still have problems paying bills and buying food. Raising grandchildren, out of work. Single, four young children, self employed. With gas prices and not having enough hours at work, it’s hard. I work a job and still don’t make enough to feed my family — thanks for the help. ...”

These comments came from people waiting for food assistance at a recent tailgate food distribution. They were asked to take a few minutes to tell us about their experience with hunger. We are going to ask many more to share their stories on Hunger Awareness Day on June 5. The theme of the day to be observed throughout the nation is “The Face of Hunger Will Surprise You.”

To raise awareness about how hunger impacts our communities, Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana will do a tailgate blitz this year. We will pass out food to people struggling to make ends meet in all eight counties of our service area. To increase agency involvement, volunteers from pantries and meal programs will assist tailgate clients in completing a postcard in a campaign to pull together the real faces of hunger. The goal of the postcard campaign is to raise awareness and to create a database of real people sharing what the face of hunger is to them.

People needing assistance can meet our trucks on June 5 at the following locations: St. John’s Lutheran Church, 310 E. 53rd St., Anderson, 9 to 11 a.m.; Star’s Towing, 210 E. Washington St., Hartford City, from 9 to 11 a.m.; Jay County Fairgrounds, 806 E. Votaw St., Portland, 2 to 4 p.m.; Ross Community Center, 1110 W. 10th St., Muncie, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Assembly of God, 3600 S. Memorial Drive, New Castle, 3 to 5 p.m.; St. Martin Community Center, 901 S. Branson St., Marion, 1 to 3 p.m.; National Guard Armory, 700 Western Ave., Winchester, 3 to 5 p.m.; and Wabash County Council on Aging, 239 Bond St., Wabash, 10 a.m. to noon.

You have the opportunity to launch your own campaign for hunger awareness. Help fight hunger with a click of a mouse by logging on to SpreadTheSharing.com. Tell your story, no matter how big or small, and Country Crock will donate a meal to a family in need through America’s Second Harvest. This could be your own e-mail campaign — share the link and see how many meals you can get donated!

If you are a country music fan, you will be happy to know that you can find a Web site called CMT One Country where you can track your volunteer hours and win some prizes. You will see a link to Hunger Awareness Day information or you could browse on to www.hungerday.org to register an event or see what’s going on all over the county to help hungry neighbors.

“Not enough money to cover all expenses. Can’t live on $30 a month on Food Stamps. Lost job March 16, no income yet. One income for me and my three grandkids. Economy harder — more bills — less money. I was in bad health because I had no food.”

It doesn’t have to be this way. Join us June 5 as we work to end hunger — starting right here in East Central Indiana.

Lois Rockhill is executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana. She can be reached at lrockhill@curehunger.org.