It’s no surprise that the global economic crisis is hitting the word’s poor and economically vulnerable the hardest. As Sonni Efron wrote in Thursday’s LA Times, jobs and income are receding, while food prices are not, leaving people in the poorest parts of the world even hungrier. Public and private resources for feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless are decreasing, while the need for assistance is growing. In the U.S., where homeless shelters are full to overflowing, tent cities have popped up in places like Reno and Sacramento, while the “hidden homeless” live on friends couches, in their cars, or in motel rooms. As families line up to receive food assistance,  soup kitchens struggle to keep up with the demand. Though the U.S. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes funding for homeless prevention and re-housing, a temporary extension of the food stamp program, and other provisions for “protecting the vulnerable”, it will take time for the funding to make its way to communities and to have an impact. And while the federal funds should help, they will still be inadequate to meet the needs of America’s poor. Meanwhile, other governments have done little so far in the way of economic recovery efforts, and developing nations will continue to be unable to take care of their poorest citizens.

So what’s a concerned citizen to do?

• If you’re still feeling comfortable sharing some of your hard-earned cash for a good cause, donate to an organization like the World Food Program, Feed The Children, Share Our Strength, or Feeding America,who are all working to solve the problem of hunger. Or,

• Donate to the National Alliance To End Homelessness, the National Coalition For The Homeless or Homeless International. These organizations will put your contributions to work fighting to end homelessness.

But if you’re experiencing your own economic crisis, there are still things you can do to make a difference.

• Free Rice is a knowledge building game. For each answer that you get right in categories like vocabulary, math, geography or art, Free Rice donates 10 grains of rice to the World Food Program. So far, donors have contributed more than 61 billion grains of rice. You can get smarter, impress your friends and fight hunger at the same time!

• At the Hunger Site, just click and sponsors donate staple foods that are distributed by Mercy Corps and Feeding America. For each click, two cups of food are donated. Last year, 8,279,486 pounds of food were distributed as a result of clicks at the Hunger Site.

• Add this search engine to your IE or Firefox search box and use it whenever you search the web. You can designate the National Alliance to End Homelessness to receive a donation every time you search. Or use this link to access the online shopping portal GoodShop to shop at stores like Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, ebay, Macy’s and Barnes & Noble. Choose the National Alliance to End Homelessness and they’ll earn money for every purchase you make, with no additional cost to you.

• The Mercy Corps Action Center has links to hunger and poverty fighting actions requiring time commitments of anywhere from one minute to a lifetime. There you can also train for action against hunger and poverty by learning about the problems that cause hunger and strategies for approaching them. And if you live in or are visiting New York, you can visit the Action Center, an interactive public space that “educates and empowers visitors to tackle the challenges posed by hunger and poverty”.

• If you have a web page, blog, Facebook, or Twitter account (and who doesn’t?), Share Our Strength has a list of ways you can fight hunger by spreading the word.

• Finally, volunteer. Not only will you be helping others who are in need of a hand up, you’ll be doing something good for yourself as well, especially if you’re unemployed or struggling yourself. Search VolunteerMatch, Idealist.org, Volunteer Solutions, or Network For Good using the keyword “hunger”, “food”, “homeless” or “housing” to find soup kitchens, food banks and homeless shelters in your area. You can also find homeless shelters here, food banks here, and soup kitchens by searching for “soup kitchen” here.

Tags:   economic crisis · Feed The Children · Feeding America · food banks · GoodSearch · GoodShop · Homeless International · homeless shelters · Homelessness · Hunger · Hunger Site · Mercy Corps · National Alliance To End Homelessness · National Coalition for the Homeless · Network For Good · Share Our Strength · soup kitchens · volunteer · World Food Program