Opinion: Feed Utah food drive demonstrates what Utah does best
Mar 23, 2021, 7:13 AM
The first annual Feed Utah food drive will provide food to the thousands of Utahns facing hunger. (PHOTO: KSL Newsradio's John Wojcik)
(PHOTO: KSL Newsradio's John Wojcik)
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I agree with Hillary Clinton, it does take a village. My difference is I believe that the village is not the government. It is the abilities of the people and what they are willing to do. We saw this over the weekend right here in Utah. I’m talking about the first annual statewide Feed Utah food drive.
Feed Utah food drive helps the hungry
The Feed Utah food drive will help feed an estimated 511,000 Utahns who are facing hunger this year—many for the first time due to economic fallout resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox summed up the food drive well. He said:
The thing that Utah does best, the thing we’re recognized for around the world, is giving back.
There were all kinds of organizations that came together for the food drive, including KSL, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Utah Food Bank, Associated Food Stores, the National Guard, The Boys and Girls Club. They all came together for a food drive in a significant way, in an important time for Utah.
It just reminded me of what we can do together when we are willing to.
How often do we allow other things to just get in the way? We allow politics to get in the way. We allow big government sometimes to get in the way. Now government has a role to be sure, especially when it comes to something like feeding the hungry. But you simply cannot outsource the soul of society.
It’s up to us
Government can’t be it all, government can’t do it all. Any government that can do it all is one that you should be very worried about because that means it would have ultimate control over everything.
So often it is the things that are outside of government. It’s space in between government and the people. That’s really where extraordinary things can happen if we can come together.
What we really need is not bigger government. We need bigger citizens, we need more heroic communities, we need more people who are willing to come together and do those things that we cannot outsource.
It’s up to us.
Related:
Rain cannot stop Utah food drive
Inside Sources with Boyd Matheson, who is also the opinion editor of the Deseret News, can be heard weekdays from 11:00 a.m to 12:00 p.m. on KSL NewsRadio. Users can find the show on the KSL NewsRadio website and app.
