Taking Stock: Hunger Across America

by Greg Plotkin

categories: Cities, Guest Bloggers, Hunger, Jobs & Unemployment, News, The Economy

Published August 20, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT

In previous posts, including this one, I've talked about the need for adequate summer feeding programs in order to make sure that children do not go hungry while school is out of session.

But as the economy continues to contract and unemployment continues to rise (although apparently levels of joblessness are beginning to level off), I've come to realize that it's not just children who are in need of food assistance this summer, it's everyone.

From middle-class families to single parents to young couples trying to support themselves on minimum wage jobs, it seems as though no one is immune to the pangs of hunger this season.

With this in mind, I decided to take a look around the country to see how bad it really is out there:

-In Detroit, where unemployment was over 16 percent in July, food pantries are beginning to notice that more and more middle-class families are using their services.  They also note that it is particularly difficult to serve these families because they have never had to navigate social service bureaucracy before, and that pride often gets in the way of asking for help.  Not to mention, in some Detroit neighborhoods, there are armed security guards protecting groceries as they are delivered to stores, for fear that hungry residents might try to steal them.

-Moving out west to Oregon, we see the same sort of stories as we did in Detroit and an even greater increase in those seeking supplemental food assistance.  One of the state's largest food providers reported a nearly 60 percent increase in demand for its services over the same period last summer, and other agencies have estimated that they would be able to double the people they serve if the resources were available.

-On the east coast, community food banks in the Boston area are beginning to see demand at such high rates that they are actually running out of food to distribute.  Mae Lang, who operates a food bank out of the basement of a church in Brockton, has had to turn clients away several times over the last few months as food resources have run dry.  The town is now considering starting a major distribution center that will be able to hold more goods than any of the individual food banks in the area are currently able to.

-In New Jesery, an 83-year-old woman gets up at 7am to stand in line at the Crisis Ministry's farmers market in Trenton.  Living on only $600 a month through Social Security, she depends on the farmers market for access to fresh, nutritious produce.  The market serves about 1,350 households a month, and has already distributed more than 10 tons of food this summer.  Still, the organization's leaders are worried about another spike in clientele when unemployment benefits start to run out at the end of August.

-And back in middle America, the Missouri Division of Family Services is reporting that the number of state residents receiving food stamps passed the 1,000,000 mark in January, and it is now estimated that more than one in five Missouri citizens rely on government support to pay for their food.

It's scary out there, folks.  Everywhere.  No part of the country is without its share of hungry citizens.

But as bad as things are, there's always things you can do to make them better.  You can volunteer at a local food bank, offer to pick up food donations from area businesses or even organize a gleaning trip to a local farm.  This is prime gleaning season, with many farmers offering their leftover fields for volunteers to pick through.

So I pose the question to all of you: what are YOU doing to help combat hunger in your community this summer?

(Photo credit: Chris Breeze on Flickr)