Hunger in America

Who’s in the Pantry?

Jenifer2 Comments

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I have seen young and old, men and women and several different ethnic groups using the two food banks where I volunteer.  I now want to try and flesh out how many people are using food pantries and some of the reasons they find themselves there. I will mostly be using statistics from Pennsylvania and/or the county in which I live.

According to statistics from the USDA, 49.1 million Americans, or 14.3%, live in a food insecure household.  These residents do not consistently have access to the necessary food needed to lead an active, healthy life.  Pennsylvania’s food insecurity rate falls below the national average.  State of Hunger: Pennsylvania 2013, a document prepared by the Coalition Against Hunger, states that 1.6 million Pennsylvania residents, or 1 in 8, are food insecure.  In my county the food insecurity rate is 10% in general and 14% for children.  While not everyone who is food insecure uses a food pantry or soup kitchen, the State of Hunger:  Pennsylvania 2013 report states that 105,044 county residents (503,897 total county population) participated in the State Food Purchase Program which provides food to charities, like food pantries, who help feed low income residents.

That’s a lot of people.  Each person who uses a food pantry has his or her own personal story of how they became food insecure.  Most clients of a food pantry come because they have little choice.  For many, they only go to the food pantry when their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits have run out.  According to the USDA, the average monthly household SNAP benefit for Pennsylvania residents in 2014 was $241.05.  This benefit amount has declined every year in Pennsylvania since 2011 and it is projected to decline even more in 2015.  When those meager dollars run out, many turn to the local food pantry to help close the gap.  While volunteering, I have noticed it is busier at the end of the month than it is at the beginning when SNAP benefits are distributed.

With the cuts in SNAP benefits, less and less people qualify for the program.  In my county, 25,614 residents participated in SNAP in April 2014 or 5% of the county population.  The county’s food insecurity rate is 10%, meaning that approximately half of the county’s food insecure are not receiving benefits.  Currently to qualify for SNAP benefits your gross monthly income needs to be at or below 130% of poverty.  It is accepted, however, that families need an income at or above 200% of poverty just to make ends meet.  As you can see, there is a huge gap between the income that qualifies someone for SNAP benefits and what that person really needs to survive.  People falling into that gap are certainly coming to the food pantry.

If all these numbers and words don’t help you put a face on who is using food banks, I encourage you to watch a powerful documentary called A Place at the Table.  A companion book by the same name was also published.  This movie focuses on the experiences of three Americans struggling with food insecurity.  You can stream it live from Amazon Prime or Netflix.

Two things stuck with me from this movie.  The first is the following quote from Jeff Bridges.

35 million people in the U.S. are hungry or don’t know where their next meal is coming from, and 13 million of them are children. If another country were doing this to our children, we’d be at war.

The second item that has stayed with me is the fact that we almost ended hunger in America in the recent past.  In 1969 President Nixon declared war on hunger and called for governmental action to end hunger in America.  In response funding was increased for existing programs and new programs, like the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), were created.  Within a decade hunger in the United States was almost eradicated.

We have tackled this problem before and almost succeeded.  I am saddened that we have allowed so much ground to be lost over the last few decades, but I also have hope that Americans can once again rise to the challenge and eliminate hunger in the United States.  I choose to focus on that hope.

What’s in the pantry?

JeniferLeave a comment

In 1980 200 food banks existed in the entire United States.  Today there are over 40,000 food banks, pantries and soup kitchens.  With all the recent cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called the Food Stamp Program) food banks are doing the heavy lifting in ensuring those who are hungry get the food they need.  Food banks were once considered a place to turn in an emergency, for a little while.  Now they are a necessity to many.  So how do food banks work?

Individual food banks are often networked together with other food banks and coordinated at the county or state level.  State and Federal resources are then funneled from the parent organization to each food pantry in the network.  The individual food banks serve local areas often defined by a local government jurisdiction or school district boundaries.  They have set hours each week when clients can come get their food.  Clients are allowed to come once a month to receive a full allotment of groceries, but often the pantry will allow clients to come weekly to get donated bread/baked goods and perishable items like fresh produce when available.

Most of the food at food banks comes not from donations, but from State and Federal food distribution programs.  The Federal program, The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), provides USDA purchased commodities and has been in existence since 1981.  The State Food Purchase Program supplements TEFAP by providing funds to food agencies.  These agencies buy food in bulk and then distribute it to the food banks in their network.  These two programs provide the majority of food distributed by food pantries.

food driveFood banks and pantries, however,  receive food other ways.  Who hasn’t given a donation to a local organization sponsoring a food drive.  I have sent food in to my kids’ schools and every year a Boy Scout troop distributes empty bags in our neighborhood one week and comes back to collect the filled bags the next week.  Right now (not long after the winter holidays) one food pantry in which I volunteer is still sorting through boxes of food donated during the holidays.

breadBoth of the food pantries I am familiar with get large weekly donations of bread/bakery products.  A staff member at one pantry goes to a local grocery store and takes all the bakery items the store can no longer sell and was going to throw away.  The other pantry has a volunteer who picks up similarly expired bread products from a local chain restaurant that specializes in sandwiches.  In both pantries these items are frozen to be distributed to clients through the week.

produceFood banks and pantries have learned to capitalize on what is unique or abundant in their area.  For instance here in rural Pennsylvania, we have many farmers.  In the summer when produce is plentiful, sometimes too plentiful (zucchini again?!) farmers can donate their extra produce to the food bank.  In addition to taking donations of produce, the main county food bank has partnered with local farmers who grow produce for the county food bank network.  That produce is then distributed to the food banks in the network who are able to take it.  Additionally, food pantries that have the land available grow their own produce in garden plots and/or raised beds.

Finally, living in rural Pennsylvania there are many hunters and many more deer.  Our county food bank participates in a statewide program called Hunters Sharing the Harvest.  Hunters can donate their deer to a participating butcher for processing.  The food bank picks up the processed venison and distributes it to the participating local pantries.  I think this is a  great win win situation–hunters are helping those in need and controlling the deer population.

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Here are some links to websites I found helpful and informative

I encourage you to take a look at what is happening in your area.  Is there a way you can help?  Often food banks have a list of items most needed.  Next time you donate to a food drive, find out what is most needed.  I’d love to hear of any innovative programs offered by other food banks.

 

Volunteering

Jenifer2 Comments

food pantryFor the past month, weather permitting, I have been volunteering in two local food pantries.  They serve our area and are part of the larger county food bank network.  The setting for each pantry is different.  One is affiliated with a church and the food pantry is the only service provided at that building.  It is also on the outskirts of town, so most clients arrive in a car.  The other is located in a building that houses other social services.  It is located in town and many clients walk to the pantry.

Each of the food pantries has its own mix of clientele, but all walks of life are represented.  There are large families, usually multiple generations living in one house and clients who live alone.  There are children and senior citizens.  There are Hispanics, Caucasians, and African Americans.  There are those who are disabled and the able bodied.  In many households someone is suffering from an ailment, sometimes something chronic like diabetes, sometimes just a virus or the flu.  Except for those with disabilities or who have retired, at least one person in most households was employed.  Those who were unemployed were looking.  One client even asked me if I knew anybody who was hiring.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

My primary task is to assist clients with getting their food.  The food in each pantry is similar, often identical, because most of it comes from the same agencies.  The differences that exist are due to what each pantry orders to serve its unique clientele and the donated items it receives.  There are guidelines about what and how much clients can take, but clients also have some input in what they receive.  More often than I expected they do not take all to which they are entitled.  Most only take what they need right then.  Additionally, several clients I encountered came only when they were truly running short on food.  In other words, they do not make appointments to come when they do not need the extra assistance, even though they would still qualify to receive that assistance.

Many of the clients initially seemed wary of me, probably because I am a new face.  I imagine being there is not easy for them.  One of the other volunteers told me that when clients sign up to use the food pantry, particularly for the first time ever, they always cry.  I try to do whatever I can to put them at ease.  I look them directly in the eye and smile.  I make small talk, no talk or offer a handshake.  I try to catch their name so I can address them properly.

The manner in which I complete my tasks at each of these two food pantries has been different, due to the constraints of each location.  What has not been different is what I take away each time I have volunteered.  I always feel that warm feeling you get in your heart when you help someone else, but there is more.  I also feel inspired by the manner in which these individuals meet the adversities in their lives. With each encounter I have I learn more about the reasons people find themselves at a food pantry.  Consequently, I find myself more committed than ever to this endeavor.

Giving Thanks

JeniferLeave a comment

Most people who are passionate about an issue have an event or experience they can point to, that changed the way they thought about the topic.  For me that event happened in November 1999.  At the time I was working as the librarian at a vocational school near Oakland, CA.  Most of our students were women.  A lot of them were single parents and many of them were just getting by.  The vocational school was rather small and had a wonderful tradition at Thanksgiving.  The director of each of program was asked to choose one student most in need of a free Thanksgiving meal.  From these six students, one student would be chosen to receive a Thanksgiving meal–a turkey and all the fixings–from the school.  To prevent the student from feeling self conscious about his or her situation, the student was told that s/he had won a drawing out of all the students’ names in the school.

Thanksgiving dinner I thought this was a nice tradition and listened as the directors tried to decide which one of their students each would nominate.  All of them admitted it was a difficult decision to make as several of their students were deserving.  I had several conversations with the Director of the Dental Assisting program who that particular year had a very easy choice to make.  The student she was nominating was a woman in her early twenties.  She was the single parent of a young child and was struggling to turn her life around.  She was a good student, who gave her all, but financially was barely surviving.  I knew the student.  She was always smiling and upbeat.  The last day of classes before Thanksgiving break that Director stopped by the library to let me know that her student had been selected to receive the Thanksgiving dinner.

I had another memorable visitor stop by the library that day to wish me a happy Thanksgiving and to let me know, with a big smile on her face, that she had won the “drawing” for the Thanksgiving dinner.  She was so happy, she told me, because she and her child had just eaten the last of their white rice for breakfast and they didn’t have any other food, nor did she know where they would get any more food until the first of December when her food stamps  (now SNAP) would come. I’m pretty sure the smile on my face froze.  I know my heart jumped up in my throat and I hope a tear did not spring to my eye.

Several thoughts hit me at once.  Thanksgiving fell on November 25th in 1999.  So my first thought was how many more days were left in the month before the first of December.  Since this was Wednesday, November 24th, December 1st was still a week away.  I could not fathom not knowing where the food for my next meal would come from, let alone where I would get food for the next week. white rice

The next thought I had centered on what she and her child had for their last meal.  Plain white rice.  Not white rice with milk, brown sugar and cinnamon, like I sometimes had for breakfast when I was a child, but just plain white rice.  No fruit, no flavoring, not much nutrition.  I was so happy this woman and child would have a flavorful, nutritious meal for Thanksgiving, and probably several days afterward.

I don’t remember that student’s name and her face is a blurry memory, but I will never forget her story.  That Thanksgiving and every Thanksgiving since I have thought about her and her child.  She completed the program, and I hope with all my heart that she has turned her life around and has never had to approach another Thanksgiving wondering where her meal would come from.

That was my first significant encounter with the hardships of food insecurity.  It opened my eyes and made me aware of how little some in this country have.  What encounters have you had with food insecurity?

Jumping in with both feet

Jenifer2 Comments

I have done it!  Over the past couple of years it has become increasingly important to me to find time in my life to become involved in efforts to assist those experiencing food insecurity, particularly in my own community.  So I said good bye to my job and reorganized some of my household responsibilities to find the time to pursue this endeavor.

I started by doing a bit of research on the topic of food insecurity in America.  While I wanted to understand the problem nationally, I wanted to focus my help locally.  I looked around in my own community to determine what assistance was available for those without enough food.  I discovered two food pantries and I have contacted them about volunteering my time.  In addition to helping immediately by volunteering with existing programs, I want understand where gaps in the assistance that is currently provided exist and propose solutions to fill some of those gaps.

To assist with that goal I have started this blog.  With this blog I hope to connect with others who are similarly concerned about food insecurity.  These folks might be running a program helping people get the food they need.  Maybe they, themselves are experiencing food insecurity or know someone who is.  Or maybe, like me, they are just someone who has reached the boiling point and said enough.

In addition to a chronicle of my experiences, I hope this blog will become an exchange of ideas.  A place where others can offer suggestions and insight.  I want to know what has been successful as well as what didn’t succeed and why.  I welcome all points of view as long as they are presented respectfully.  If you have made it this far and you are still reading, I hope you will join me.  I believe that when people work collectively, great things are possible.