Letters to the editor on childhood hunger, blame game, charity, Obamacare, economy | The Wichita Eagle

Join fight against childhood hunger

How sad to read of the “food insecurity” of so many of our neighbors in America (Sept. 6 Eagle). Is it true that 1 in 6 struggle with hunger? Sadly, yes. Even in the “breadbasket of America,” low incomes force families to choose between food and other necessities. About 24 percent of Wichita’s children and youths are at risk of hunger.

For two weeks this summer before school started, more than 250 volunteers with Partners for Wichita Samaritan Community welcomed children and youths at 11 community sites. Every day about 500 children walked through the heat to enjoy lunches. They found encouragement as they took steps to a brighter future. More than 5,500 meals were served thanks to generous donors and the partnership of the Kansas Food Bank.

What next? From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 6, our group will offer a forum on preventing childhood hunger at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 925 N. Waco. It will include personal stories, workshops and a hunger banquet. This is an opportunity for people of all ages to become advocates and help engage community, governmental and faith leaders in fighting childhood poverty. All are invited, and it’s free. Call 316-263-0810 or e-mail partnersforwichita@cox.net for information or to sign up. Thank you for caring.

SALLY C. FAHRENTHOLD

Coordinator

Partners for Wichita Samaritan Community

Wichita

Send him back

President Obama had total control of the Senate and House during his first two years as president, so enough of blaming the Republican Congress for all of Obama’s failures. What happen to “Yes, we can”?

In Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, he kept repeating “fair share.” Well, why didn’t Obama ask the nearly 50 percent of the American population who pay no income taxes to pay their fair share?

It has never been more evident that Obama is the most unqualified president to ever hold office. It is time to send him back to Chicago.

RON PAGE

Derby

Better off now

In his GOP convention acceptance speech, Mitt Romney said the American people cannot say they are better off than they were four years ago.

How easy it is to forget.

In January 2009, when President Obama was inaugurated, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 7,949. Today it is over 13,000.

Those whose retirement accounts, savings or financial investments are tied to the stock market are much better off today than they were after the economic collapse of 2008. The Dow has risen by about 65 percent.

I am a retired teacher. My modest retirement account collapsed in the Bush recession. I am grateful that it has recovered during the Obama administration.

JAMES C. JUHNKE

Wichita

Take care of us?

Much of socialism buries the ambition that stirs the human heart, as the stories of other nations have proved. But some people seem to think that because our conscience should not allow us to neglect the poor, the government should do whatever it takes to take care of them (“We dare not forfeit our common conscience,” Aug. 21 Opinion).

But charity is alive and well in America. And for most of us, our conscience would not allow us to just walk off without paying our bills. Nor would we expect our grandchildren to take care of them for us.

We sent people to Washington, D.C., to represent us, and they do not portray the kind of people we are. They run up these wild bills in our name and promise to take care of us.

MARY C. FRAZIER

Wichita

Love Obamacare

I love how predictable the Republicans have become. Republicans favor everything that is in Obamacare but hate it because of who passed it. According to a Reuters-Ipsos survey from June:

•  80 percent of Republicans favor “creating an insurance pool where small businesses and uninsured have access to insurance exchanges to take advantage of large group pricing benefits.” That’s backed by 75 percent of independents.

•  52 percent of Republicans favor allowing children to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26. That’s backed by 69 percent of independents.

•  78 percent of Republicans support “banning insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, and 86 percent favor banning companies from canceling policies because a person becomes ill. Those positions, respectively, are backed by 82 and 87 percent of independents.

ROBERT DETWILER

Wichita

Obama Zone

You unlock this door with the key of intellectual dishonesty. Beyond this door is another dimension – a dimension of lies, a dimension of deceit, a dimension of unparalleled failure. You’re moving into a land of both darkness and despair, of a downgraded credit rating and a $16 trillion deficit. You’ve crossed into a land where middle-class income dropped by 5 percent, and with the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression.

Congratulations, you’ve just crossed over into the Obama Zone.

GREGORY H. BONTRAGER

Hutchinson