Hunger is a growing problem nationwide. Too often, advocates of food justice look overseas to other countries to implement strategies for eradicating hunger, but the need for food does not necessarily stretch that far. One in six people living in America has to deal with hunger.
Washington State’s food insecurity rate is above average. Food insecurity refers to the USDA’s measure of lack of access to enough food for an active lifestyle for all household members, and limited availability of nutritional foods. Food insecurity may reflect a household’s need to make trade-offs between food or other necessary expenses. One out of every four kids in Washington lives in a food insecure household.
Members from the Pierce County community came together at the Puget Sound for the “A Night of Hope” event. Speakers from the Emergency Food Network, Puget Sound Food Service, McCarver Elementary and St. Leo’s gathered around for a roundtable discussion about food justice issues and methods for alleviating the problems.
“Visits to food banks have gone up 67 percent last year,” the representative from EFN said. About 18 million households are food insecure nationwide. Hunger has serious consequences. Chronic hunger in adults has been found to weaken bones and muscles, increase the risk of illness, worsen existing health problems and contribute to depression and lack of energy.
Children who are hungry may be less attentive, independent and curious. As panelist Kevin Glackin-Coley mentioned, “Kids can’t focus when they’re hungry.” A teacher from McCarver emphasized that “not having enough food is a significant barrier to education.” Many hungry children have difficulty concentrating, and their reading ability and verbal and motor skills suffer.
Salvage Coordinator Betty Popenuck spoke about all the programs that Puget Sound Food Service has been implementing. The food salvage program takes leftover food from the dining hall and delivers it to Guadalupe House three times a week.
A Puget Sound student who wants to help with hunger issues can get connected with the Community Involvement and Action Center. If participants want to help directly with food salvage, Popenuck and the team need another driver to deliver food to Guadalupe House on Fridays between 3 and 5 p.m.
“My main goal is to connect students who want to get out there, and get them doing what it is that they want to do as it’s related to food justice,” Popenuck said.
One of the main setbacks with food access for people who need assistance is the lack of information provided. Students and community members can help by spreading information that programs and options do exist. Communities can also have local public meals where people can come to eat and socialize together and connect with one another.
The solution to food insecurity needs to be a holistic one. It starts with a living-wage job so that people do not have to make decisions between food and living. People still have needs outside of food; they still need clothes and medicine, and have bills such as rent and mortgage to pay. To get a sufficient job, people need to have the right skills and abilities to pass an interview and the training.
Transportation is also an issue. For those without a living-wage job, transportation is still necessary to get to program locations. All of this stress compounds and affects the mentality of family members struggling to make ends meet; rising stress levels can lead to health problems as well.
But before any of these resolutions can be put into place, the first need to be met is hunger; it’s not feasible to do the rest while hungry.
Glackin-Coley insisted that “If you’ve ever experienced hunger in your life, talk to people about it. Make it a human issue. Don’t make any assumptions about who’s hungry and who’s not.” Every person requires food to sustain life, so promoting programs to feed the hungry is also providing opportunities for people to achieve greater goals for themselves and their families.