Affordable: The Reality of SNAP Cuts

In a letter to Congress in May, 1969, President Richard Nixon wrote:

"We have long thought of the United States as the most bounteous of nations. In our conquest of the most elemental of human needs, we have set a standard that is a wonder and aspiration for the rest of the world. Our agricultural system produces more food than we can consume, and our private food market is the most effective food distribution system ever developed. So accustomed are most of us to a full and balanced diet that, until recently, we have thought of hunger and malnutrition as problems only in far less fortunate countries.

"But in the past few years we have awakened to the distressing fact that despite our material abundance and agricultural wealth, many Americans suffer from malnutrition....That hunger and malnutrition should persist in a land such as ours is embarrassing and intolerable."

In this letter, President Nixon called for improvements to what is now called SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), urged a new model of nutrition assistance for mothers and children (that became WIC), and called for food processors and distributors to join this fight for improved nutrition across the country.

Forty-four years later, hunger and malnutrition are still affecting millions of Americans. SNAP now serves one in seven Americans, mostly children.

Now, in the effort to cut government spending to the bone, a 2009 increase in SNAP benefits has expired and Congress shows no intention to reinstate it. For many people still struggling from the recession and the continued lack of jobs, the cut to their SNAP benefits may leave empty plates on dinner tables. For families already living in poverty, a reduction of just 20 or 30 dollars can make the big difference.

Our agricultural production has more than kept pace with population growth. In 2006, American farmers produced enough food for each person to consume 3,900 calories per day, almost double the recommended caloric intake for an adult. And yet, not everyone is getting the bare minimum.

Surely, if it was "embarrassing and intolerable" for hunger to exist in our country (or our world, which also produces more calories than needed to feed everyone) in 1969, it is even more true now. The reality of the SNAP cuts are that more people will go hungry; food banks will be busier than ever, but unable to make up the shortfall; and stores in under-served areas that rely on SNAP purchases will suffer. 

The most important part of that is that more people will go hungry. And that is embarrassing and intolerable.

Healthy. Sustainable. AFFORDABLE. Fair. (Part III)

For two years, I lived in the remote community of King Salmon, AK. There were 400 residents and one road, which led 16 miles to the coastal town of Naknek, with 600 residents. If you were a resident for at least a year, you could get a subsistence fishing license that allowed you to take almost 1,000 salmon, of various types, from the Naknek River and its mouth. This provided a great and almost free source of protein, and if you had the patience, you could gather gallons of blueberries and cranberries from the six-inch-high tundra berry "bushes" for vitamin C. Everything else, however, was flown in via Anchorage or barged in on one of six or seven massive barges that circled around the tip of the Aleutians once a month when the weather allowed.

In other words, food was expensive. Eight dollars for a gallon of milk and seven for a loaf of bread or box of cereal. That kind of expensive. By the time produce reached us, it was long past its prime, but still outrageously priced.

We were a one-income family at that point and even that was an entry-level salary, so we learned tough lessons about affordable food, or lack thereof.

It is a lesson that many Americans live every day, not just for two years because of an extreme location. One in four children in the United States live in food-insecure households, meaning that the adults in their life don't always know where the next meal is coming from. In households considered "very insecure", adults are often skipping meals on a regular basis.

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food..." and yet, around the world, many people do not have access to adequate healthy food for themselves and their children.

This year, a high-profile film, A Place at the Table, focused attention on hunger in America. Part of the aim of the film makers is to make Americans as dedicated to ending hunger as they were in the past. Our political leaders have cut funding to SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a federal program that supplies a maximum of $1.50/meal to low-income Americans) and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children, a program that supplies healthy foods to pregnant and nursing mothers and children under the age of five). People who use these programs are demonized in the public conversation about these cuts, despite the fact that most "facts" presented in these arguments are actually myths. One myth is countered in the image above; for more of the myths and misconceptions about the hungry, read this article that includes the entire infographic.

Because of the rhetoric surrounding the hungry in the media, there is a stigma attached to needing nutritional assistance. People don't want to be seen going into a food bank; they don't want their neighbors to know they are unable to feed their families.

In Del Norte and the adjacent tribal lands, there are people who cannot afford to buy adequate food for their families. There are people who live more than an hour's drive from the nearest supermarket. Most of DNATL is classified as a food desert. There are people who need help, but don't seek it for fear of what people will think.

Food Day is not just about a single day each year. Food Day is an ongoing attempt to make our food system better for everyone. Wouldn't it be great if, because of work we do over the next year, everyone in DNATL would have enough healthy food by the time Food Day rolls around next October 24th?

To join this conversation and action, please come to a Community Food Council meeting, follow this blog, "like" us on Facebook, and help our neighbors. As a community, we are only as strong as our weakest members: Shouldn't we work to make everyone strong?

International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day. It is a celebration, a call to action, a time for reflection, a day to inspire. In the past year, as in all years, women have made new discoveries in science; acted to change their communities; taught children to read and write; worked with their partners to create loving homes; gained new freedoms; and grown and cooked food for their families and local markets. In the past year, as in all years, women have also been hungry; struggled to feed their children; suffered from preventable illnesses; died in childbirth; survived violence both inside and outside their homes (and sometimes, not survived); and faced unequal access to agricultural land, tools, knowledge, and credit.

This year, the theme for the United Nations celebration of International Women's Day is "Empower Rural Women: End Hunger and Poverty".  In explaining the theme on their website, they write:

"Key contributors to global economies, rural women play a critical role in both developed and developing nations — they enhance agricultural and rural development, improve food security and can help reduce poverty levels in their communities. In some parts of the world, women represent 70 percent of the agricultural workforce, comprising 43 percent of agricultural workers worldwide.

Estimates reveal that if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20–30 percent, lifting 100-150 million out of hunger."

In some parts of the world, women produce most of the food grown for home use. Research has demonstrated that women who have secure land tenure -- that is, women who own or otherwise have full control over their agricultural land -- produce more food per acre, put more time and resources into improving their land, and are more likely to live above the poverty line. And yet women are often denied land ownership, access to agricultural education, and development dollars that are poured, instead, into high-value crops for export.

When women are given access to business opportunities, whether it is through micro-enterprise programs like the Grameen Bank and Kiva or through non-profit development organizations like Bead for Life and Heifer International, they are less likely to live in poverty. And because poverty is one of the best indicators of food insecurity, women with opportunities are also less likely to be food insecure.

Women have the ability to raise their families out of poverty and food insecurity, but if women continue to have restricted access to land, capital, opportunity, and education, "ending hunger and poverty" will remain a theme of International Women's Days for years, if not decades, to come.

The Hunger Games

Over the past three weeks, I have been fairly obsessed with The Hunger Games trilogy, written by Suzanne Collins. I'm not entirely sure how I overlooked this series. I love speculative fiction and the books closely resemble Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and sequels. But I have made up for my lapse, reading all three twice. I'm in the middle of the first book for the third time. I'll have to think hard about seeing the soon-to-be-released movie. These are the kinds of books that I want to know really well before seeing someone else's imagining of them.

You may be thinking, "Other than the title, what does this have to do with food, hunger, and community?" Well, those themes run through the books, definitely, but there is a more direct link. The World Food Programme and Feeding America have teamed up with the film debut to bring hunger into public discourse. Their Hunger Games website features a video message from the stars of The Hunger Games, a quiz about hunger, and information about how to donate to both organizations.

For one in six households in the United States, hunger is no game. It is a stark reality they face every day and it affects us all whether we directly experience hunger or not. Hungry employees and coworkers cannot work at full capacity. Hungry children cannot learn as well as their peers. And more and more, it is clear: children who fall behind in early grades will likely struggle for much of their lives. Our whole community -- whether you view community locally or globally -- is hurt when members of the community are hungry.

The Hunger Games is fiction, of course, but hunger, in this country and around the world, is very real. If you are able, please consider making a donation to one of these fine organizations, or locally to Community Assistance Network, Rural Human Services, or Our Daily Bread Ministries, all of whom work to prevent hunger in our community.

Thanksgiving And The Economy

At a time when many people are already struggling financially, Thanksgiving dinner is expected to cost 13% more than it did last year. Commodity prices have gone up, raising prices in the store on everything from bread to flour to cranberries. And, of course, the main feature on many Thanksgiving tables: the turkey.

Soon Ray's and Safeway will begin their Fall Food Drives. Each store has put together a bag of groceries worth $20 that shoppers can buy for $15 and donate to CAN. Our food bank will get the food onto tables throughout our community that would otherwise look a little bare on November 24th. Please give generously so that everyone in our community has a comforting meal to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Safeway Summer Food Drive

A lot of people think of food drives as something that happens around Thanksgiving and Christmas. But did you know that summer is one of the hardest times of the year for many families? Children who receive free breakfast and lunch at school don't have that option in the summer. Families that are already stretching a tight food budget have to find food for those ten extra meals per child every week. In the 2009-2010 school year, more than half of Del Norte students received free school meals.

This summer, Safeway is recognizing this need and holding a food drive in July to help Community Assistance Network meet the need. Starting tomorrow -- July 6th -- and running through July 24th, all Safeway stores will have a display of prepackaged bags at the front of the store. The bags contain pasta, canned vegetables, canned tuna, mac and cheese, peanut butter, and more. All you have to do to help CAN feed your neighbors is pick up a bag as you begin your shopping. At the checkout, you'll be charged the $10 donation (which will appear on your receipt for tax purposes), and the checker will mark the bag as paid. Drop it off in the collection barrels on your way out of the store. It's that easy!

CAN will pick up the donated bags as frequently as the barrels are filled. (Can you help make it every day for the whole drive?) The non-perishable goods in the bags will help provide basics for families and children served by the food bank -- our neighbors!

Hunger is a serious issue at any age, but children are especially vulnerable. Research shows that children who experience hunger:

• Are more likely to go to the hospital
• Are more likely to be overweight than children who eat three balanced meals a day
• Have trouble concentrating in school and therefore have less success academically

You can help change this in our community. Help make sure every child is ready to start school well-fed and eager to learn. Pick up one of Safeway's prepackaged bags and donate it to our community's children.

Thank you, Safeway! And thank YOU for helping make this food drive a success!

Don't Let Good Fruit Go Bad

Do you have fruit trees in your backyard? Do you only use some of the fruit and would love the rest to be used by someone else? Or does time get away from you sometimes and suddenly the fruit is rotting on the ground? We have a solution!

CAN is working with Del Norte 4-H to develop a Community Gleaning Project. Modeled after many successful programs like the Illinois Valley Gleaning Project, Food for People's Gleaning work, and many others around the country.

Gleaning is traditionally associated with farm fields, with gleaners harvesting grain and produce left behind after the farm's harvest is over. Especially in machine-harvested fields, there is often a great deal of food left behind that will just be plowed under if it is not gleaned. But gleaners can also harvest food grown in home gardens or backyard orchards. This is where CAN and 4-H are targeting.

If you have a few fruit trees in your backyard and don't pick or use all the fruit, please consider donating it to CAN's food bank and other critical venues for distribution. It's easy! Just call Connor at CAN at 464-9190 ext. 119 or 4-H at 464-4711 to "register" your fruit trees. You can also email gleaning@canbless.org. We will map your trees onto a registry. When your fruit is almost ripe, let us know and we will schedule a harvest team to come pick and distribute the fruit. (Veggies are also welcome, so consider Planting a Row for the Hungry! We'll still come pick.) In return, you will receive a thank you letter including information about your donation for your tax records. You'll also have the satisfaction of knowing that local families are eating healthier because of you.

Join the fun! Become part of the Community Gleaning Project either by registering your trees or signing up to be part of a harvesting team later in the summer or fall. If you are part of a youth group or organization that would like to field a harvesting team, please let us know at any of the contact information listed above. The more the merrier!

What Can YOU Do?

Hunger is a persistent problem across the United States and especially here in Del Norte County. Hunger is not always visible and you may never know that a person you encounter during the day has trouble getting sufficient calories for their health and well-being.

If you have never thought about hunger in our county, consider this: the California Center for Rural Policy (CCRP) conducted a health survey for the North Coast in 2006. One question asked was, "In the past twelve months were you or people living in your household ever hungry because you couldn't afford enough food?" One in ten respondents answered, "Yes." This was before the current economic downturn.

So what can we do as a community to help alleviate hunger? What can we do as individuals? There are many things. One is to acknowledge that hunger exists in our community, but there are many others.

Tomorrow, May 14th, for instance, you could put a bag of non-perishable foods near your mail box. It's the 19th Annual Help Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, put on by the National Association of Letter Carriers. Your carrier will pick up food left at your mailbox and take it back to the post office. The food collected locally stays right here in our community -- CAN and Rural Human Services both receive the donations for their food banks. This is late notice, I know, but every little bit helps!

If you've ever wondered what food banks need most, think about non-perishables that are very nutrient-dense. Peanut butter, canned or dried beans, vegetable-rich soups, canned tuna or salmon, canned fruit (in its own juice), 100% juice, and shelf-stable milk are always welcome in a food box.

If you're a gardener, you can help, too! Plant a Row for the Hungry is a project of the Garden Writers Association. When you plan your garden, plant one extra row of veggies to give to your local food bank. CAN distributes food boxes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and we always need more fresh produce! If you would like to give back to the community by growing food for your neighbors who need a little extra help, please call Angela or Connor at 464-9190.

Many of our neighbors worry about where their next meal will come from. If we work together, we can help erase those worries.