EDIT: Organizations and Citizens Work To Fill In The Gaps of Hunger

By Harrison Golden

For Amanda Woods, the weeks are more than just days crossed off on her pocket-sized calendar. They are moments filled with sharing, engaging, and interacting with the world around her. Whether she is walking her six-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter to and from school, packing their lunches, or cooking them dinner, she sees how food unites people and develops foundations for the future. Every Saturday morning, she wakes up, makes herself and her family a quick breakfast before riding the subway from her West Village home to the soup kitchen at the Bowery Mission, where she shares her time, handing out food to anyone hoping for a quality meal.

“It’s such a routine I have,” Woods said, in between handing out helpings of potatoes and chicken soup to those standing on line. “Without even thinking, we base our lives around meals. It drives us to connect in ways that nothing else can, which is why there is no reason not to get involved. It strengthens the ties between so many people.”

While these ties are adding up within smaller urban communities, efforts are being made to establish stronger connections with not only government anti-hunger initiatives, but also with other city and state poverty programs.

According to Joel Berg of the New York Coalition Against Hunger, 700,000 more New Yorkers are accessing food stamps than did so five years ago. While he acknowledges that federal initiatives such as the 2008 Economic Recovery Rebate and stimulus funds from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act have allowed for a continuation of citywide anti-poverty, anti-hunger programs, these efforts are still under much daily strain. Minimum wage in the city is currently $7.25 per hour, the same as the federal rate.

Last week, members of the New York State Legislature and newly elected Governor Andrew Cuomo agreed to provide $300 million to hunger programs throughout the state, the same amount as last year. However, state lawmakers also consented to halt the planned increase in basic welfare grants despite a $1.3 billion donation from the federal government. Officials from the Hunger Action Network condemn the move, calling it an act of fiscal regression during a time that should be marked by progress and unity.

“Lawmakers should be ashamed of themselves,” said Mark Dunlea, executive director of the Hunger Action Network, in a statement. “This was the one issue where money goes directly into the pockets of the poorest of the poor. Almost every other program has someone other than the poor that gets a cut of the funding stream. The poor just don’t have the campaign contributions to get legislators to do what is right.”

In an effort to move forward on the city’s fight against hunger without overloading the demand for government-issued food stamps, food banks such as City Harvest and the Food Bank For New York City, as well as activist networks like the New York Coalition Against Hunger, have collectively encouraged everyday citizens and businesspeople to donate increased amounts of time and effort to their cause, regardless of organizational or political preferences.

“Quite too often, people make it about politics, taking partisan business into consideration,” said Triada Stampas, Director of Government Relations, Policy, and Public Education at the Food Bank For New York City. “But these are lives and livelihoods at stake. And the best way to meet these goals is to ensure quality from all angles—government, organizations, citizen involvement. By working together through all these approaches, we have no choice but to help the food banks and poverty programs prosper.”

In light of ongoing statements from Congressional leaders threatening the future of federal funding for food banks and soup kitchens, cities across the nation are also working to find ways of decreasing poverty.

In Los Angeles County, over 1.7 million residents were reported to have struggled with hunger in 2009, the most recent year in which information was available, according to a study from Feeding America, the country’s largest network of food banks.

However, participation for food stamps in California is close to an all-time low. Last year, over fifty percent of the state’s households missed the cutoff for food stamp qualification, earning more than 130 percent of the poverty level. But members of the California Food Policy Advocates group, as well as officials from the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, insist that people and organizations both remain active in the fight against hunger, supporting all citizens facing hunger, regardless of qualifications.

“Over the last two years of this economic recession we’ve seen an enormous increase in demand for food assistance throughout the county,” Michael Flood, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, told the Associated Press.

During the past few years, the food bank has successfully increased its range of impact, distributing food to more than one million people last year, compared to about 600,000 in 2006. Flood attributes the progress to volunteer involvement. In 2010, approximately 24,000 citizens participated in their efforts to decrease food insecurity. In addition, the organization currently comprises of 600 member agencies, which primarily include soup kitchens and food pantries throughout the region.

“With food and fuel prices rising and an unemployment rate in the county at nearly 13 percent, we expect 2011 to be another demanding year,” Flood added, noting the importance of consistent, well-rounded commitment from member agencies, activist organizations, and volunteers alike in fighting to decrease hunger.

In Houston, groups such as Volunteer Houston and the Houston Food Bank are aiming to widen their resources and recruit more volunteers, hoping that doing so will more adequately balance demand for both government food stamps and non-government organizations, or NGOs.

According to a 2009 study from Feeding America, about one in five children in the state experience hunger, higher than any other state in the country. In addition to an 8.8 unemployment rate, over 17 percent of Texans live below the poverty line, including nearly 26 percent of children, leading poverty activists in both Houston and the state as a whole to treat the issue with increased alarm.

“Loss of jobs and lower wages mean more families and individuals need help keeping food on the table,” said Brian Greene, President of the Houston Food Bank, the largest of its kind in the region. “We must count even more on our donors, volunteers, and other community partners to stand with us in alleviating the suffering caused by hunger.”

In 2010, 65 million pounds of food were donated to the bank, up about 40 percent from two years ago. Through its nearly 500 hunger relief agencies, including church food pantries, homeless shelters, and nutrition sites for the youth and elderly, the Houston Food Bank has fed an annual rate of 865,000 people. Public advocates and political analysts attribute this to a rise in volunteerism, as roughly 260,000 hours are spent per year assisting the food bank in meeting demand. With continued involvement, they not only hope to gradually give more opportunities to those dealing with hunger, but to also ease the burdens of unemployment.

“I think Texas is on the comeback, faster than other states,” said Talmadge Heflin, Director for the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Center for Fiscal Policy. “Obviously we got hit by the recession. People are feeling that, but we are coming out of it sooner.”

Meanwhile, as the sun tries to peak its way above the Bowery Mission, Woods hands out her final helping of the day’s lunch and gets ready to pick up her daughter from a friend’s house. Her manner is not in a way that seems rushed or blindly obligated, but rather careful and savory of all that the moments seem to offer her. She makes her way out the front door, holding it open for an elderly couple making their way through.

“Above all, getting rid of poverty involves looking around and realizing the beauty of all that we tend to overlook,” she adds. “The hours, the meals, and meeting the people is crucial, but once you find those small moments, you really see the picture and what it’s worth.”