I listen disbelievingly. But there they are, the voices over the radio who have responded to a radio 'phone-in request to tell their personal stories. We know that hunger exists in our communities. But we certainly are not aware of the extent to which it pervades society. We are, after all, one of the wealthiest countries on the globe, a country with immense natural resources, a high standard of living, and a relatively small population base.

That privation haunts a significant segment of our population is beyond belief.

Yet, among us are those unable to find employment, those who live at the subsistence level, the low-wage earners barely able to keep pace with the growing cost of fundamental commodities that we depend upon, and most of us think little of, regarding the rising expenses to obtain. Those of us who are comfortable economically give few thoughts to the hardships that prices we take for grudging granted, are catastrophically experienced by those whose budgets have been strained beyond their capacity.

They are people from all walks of life -- including those living an endless gap between the generational cycle of the poor and the middle-class -- who depend upon public welfare for a myriad of reasons; those suffering from catastrophic illness diminishing their ability to care for their own needs and perhaps those who might otherwise depend upon them; the children living in families whose struggle to provide the basic necessities of life overwhelm them; the elderly for whom retirement has been anything but the golden years; and university students for whom the on-campus food bank aids them to attain the basic nutritional level growing bodies and minds require.

Some are those with less than high school education who have never aspired to leaping over social barriers to attain the independence of financial stability. Others are people who have achieved the goals of educating themselves, people with university degrees in the humanities who worked as social service providers and know the welfare system inside-out, now finding themselves in a situation where that knowledge has had to be turned to their own personal needs.

It is difficult beyond belief to digest the reality that these daily struggles occur from within our communities. Those of us who are able to live a comfortable life, for whom the occasional need to address unusual expenses represent an irritant, have no idea what it is like to live with the spectre of indigence hovering constantly.

When we are reminded, as we must be occasionally, it is obvious that if we have any conscience, we have little option but to augment whatever we normally allocate to charity by extending our view of our obligations to the society in which we live and thrive.