Food Banks and the Need for Help with Food Banks around the World Essay

Food Banks and the Need for Help with Food Banks around the World - Essay Example Increasing unemployment, low incomes, and high domestic food prices have also contributed significantly to the problem. However, FAO (2009) indicated that the major cause of hunger crisis is â€Å"under-investment in agriculture and rural development.† Mucha (2010) quotes the United Nation’s chief food honcho as saying, "If people go hungry today it is not because the world is not producing enough food but because it is not produced in the countries where 70 percent of the world's poor live and whose livelihoods depend on farming activities.† He further noted that the challenge is not only to solve the current hunger problem but also to ensure adequate food supply for the future world population. FAO (2009) noted that to achieve this height, it requires combined efforts of governments, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), companies, people, families, and aid organizations. Therefore, in an effort to alleviate the situation, increased human participation is requi red. This paper looks into the voluntary services and their importance in alleviating the hunger problem around the world. It also probes on the importance of food banks in solving the hunger problem and the reasons behind their increase. The paper goes a step further to analyze the importance of poverty and its relationship with food insecurity. The article also gives statistical evidence of the current situation. Volunteer services Volunteerism is considered as the selfless act of giving one’s life to a worth course without expecting compensation in return. Volunteering is defined as the altruistic action aimed at improving the quality of life of other people as well their welfare. However, people offer voluntary services for other reasons social purposes i.e. to meet other people, to develop their own skills, as an entry route to employment or just to have fun. Volunteerism brings about a sense of self-worth and self-satisfaction. Xu and Ngai (2011) argued that volunteeris m especially at grassroots level can bid different organizations together and thus develop a civil society aimed at achieving a certain goal. This is an essential aspect especially in respect to world hunger problem. According to Meier & Stutzer (2004), volunteerism is self-satisfying. They argue that serving other people increases the happiness of a person. Smith (2000) who observed helping others as a means to increased well-being also echoed this. He said, â€Å"Concern for our own happiness recommends to us the virtue of prudence: concern for that of other people†. Meier & Stutzer (2004) argued that an individual’s well-being is positively affected by volunteering because of two reasons i.e. intrinsic motivation and extrinsic reward. Volunteers are internally satisfied by just helping other people since they require no material reward for motivation. Internal satisfaction comes about in three ways; care about the recipient’s utility, intrinsic work enjoyment and helping other people. According to Fehr and Schmidt, (2003), utility of people increases is other people are much better as a result of a volunteer’s work. In this contest, a volunteer becomes more satisfied by participating in feeding the hungry people. Furthermore, volunteers enjoy doing their work i.e. intrinsic work enjoyment. In this case, volunteering increases people’s sense of competence and self-determination (Deci and Ryan, 2000). In addition, people get