Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, 11/18/19
Over the weekend I was looking at new recipes that I might try this Thanksgiving. I love to cook and bake, and I really enjoy sharing food with family and friends.
In my life I have been fortunate enough to never have to worry where my next meal was coming from (and I worked in a lot of restaurants in my 20s to ensure this). Sadly, there are too many people in our community who are struggling to keep food on their tables.
According to the Food Research and Action Center, approximately 9.3% of Massachusetts residents struggle with food insecurity, and about 3.2% are considered “very low food secure.” In the Pioneer Valley, the food insecurity rate is higher at 12%, with the greatest impact on children, 20.3% of whom are food insecure.
“Food insecurity” is a policy wonk’s term that means people don’t have enough to eat because they can’t afford food or because they can’t get to stores that sell enough of a variety of foods that would constitute a healthy diet. It means that people are skipping meals or end up with poor nutrition due to a lack of money, transportation and/or availability of healthy food choices. Sometimes it means that people are forgoing food because they have to choose between spending their limited funds on food or medication, gas or rent.
As the holidays approach, we are reminded that some of our neighbors are struggling. On Saturday, I went to my local grocery store, Big E’s, and saw volunteers from the Easthampton Community Center handing out lists of items that people could purchase to donate to the Community Center’s weekend food drive. The Community Center also takes cash donations, which enable them to purchase food at wholesale prices.
The Easthampton Community Center serves about 1,400 families in the greater Easthampton area. Next week, the “Give ‘em the Bird” road race will help the ECC raise money to purchase turkeys and fixings to give to the families they serve.
The Amherst Survival Center provides a food pantry, community meals and nutrition programs to individuals and families in the 13 surrounding communities. They even have a mobile food pantry for people who are not able to get to them.
Similarly, the Northampton Survival Center operates a food pantry in Northampton and another in Goshen. They offer a summer food program that provides approximately 600 kids access to nutritional foods when school is out.
The Center for Self Reliance (CSR) Food Pantry in Greenfield served over 1,700 households across the 26 Franklin County towns in the past year. CSR is a program of Community Action Pioneer Valley and it faces different challenges than its peers in Hampshire County. Franklin County is more rural and has less reliable public transportation, which makes issues of food insecurity even more difficult. Over the past two years, staff at the Food Pantry have seen an increase in traffic and they note that 29% of those who receive food are children.
Each of these places operates with minimal paid staff and a lot of volunteers, many of whom have used the pantry in the past (and likely still qualify). For example, at CSR, 32 volunteers donate more than 4,000 hours each year, hefting boxes, stocking shelves and helping people find the food items they want.
If your image of a food pantry is a dimly lit, dusty, warehouse-like space filled with cans of lima beans and other less appetizing items, I can tell you that you are wrong. Many of the small local farms in the area, as well as area grocery stores, donate fresh produce. The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts distributes food to each of the pantries, and this includes meat, dairy products and frozen goods as well as boxed and canned items.
We are fortunate to have so many places that provide healthy food to our neighbors in need but the fact that hunger and food scarcity is a problem in this country at all is a tragedy that needs to stop. U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern addresses the specific issues of hunger from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on a regular basis. You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter using #EndHungerNow. I am grateful for McGovern’s commitment to keeping a spotlight on this problem (and his actions to stop the administration from further cutting SNAP benefits).
Hunger is an issue that needs a lot of voices speaking together in order to stop it. How can you help? On the local level, you can make a contribution of nonperishable food items, money, or volunteer hours to any of the locations listed above. (In fact, this week if you make a cash donation to the Center for Self Reliance at Community Action Pioneer Valley, your gift will be matched by generous donors in the community.)
You can learn more about issues of hunger in the area (and the nation) and let your state and federal legislators know that this issue is important. Finally, remember that hunger is a problem year round, not just during the holidays.
