Hunger Could be Closer Than You Think

Providing More Food For Families

July 1, 2010 By Maria Stokes Leave a Comment

50% of all food distributed by Second Harvest Food Bank is perishable and includes a large amount of produce

United Way of the Bay Area recently awarded Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties a $28,000 grant to provide infrastructure and capacity upgrades for their partner emergency food pantries. As opposed to a soup kitchen, an emergency food pantry is a program which provides non-perishable and perishable food to families and individuals to take home and prepare.

Because 50% of all food distributed by Second Harvest Food Bank is perishable and includes a large amount of produce, local pantries have a need for additional cold storage capacity and shelving.

“With this grant we will purchase and deliver refrigerators, freezers and shelving to 12 of our partner food pantries, thereby increasing their efficiency and effectiveness in storing and distributing food,” said Tami Cardenas, Director of Development for Second Harvest Food Bank. “In this way we will help strengthen the food safety net in San Mateo County.”

Immediate and long-term outcomes of this grant include: increasing the number of people served by these 12 pantries by an average of 5%, to 10,874 people annually; and increasing the amount of produce and perishable food available at these 12 pantries by an average of 10%, to 159,322 pounds annually.

“We are grateful to United Way for their support,” said Cardenas. “We rely on our pipeline of partner agencies to help us distribute food to people in need in our community.”

Second Harvest Food Bank is the primary source of donated, surplus, and purchased food for nonprofit agencies in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. Food pantries partners receive an average of 83% of the food they distribute to clients from Second Harvest. The Food Bank is committed to providing ongoing infrastructure and capacity support to the Emergency Food Network in order to efficiently alleviate local hunger.

(photo via flickr user storem)

Filed Under: Income, United Way Partners Tagged With: Food Bank, giving, grants, hunger, Income, San Mateo County, United Way Partners

Rising Numbers of Children Living in Poverty

June 8, 2010 By Olu Johnson Leave a Comment

The number of families with children going hungry is on the rise

According to an alarming article in today’s USA Today, “the rate of children living in poverty this year will climb to nearly 22%, the highest rate in two decades, according to an analysis by the non-profit Foundation for Child Development. Nearly 17% of children were living in poverty in 2006, before the recession began.”

The report tracked 28 key statistics relating to children such as health insurance coverage, infant mortality, and preschool.

The worry, of course, is that the so-called ‘Great Recession’ could wipe out many of the gains that families with children had made over the previous two decades. The rise of poverty amongst this population can have far-reaching consequences since being poor sometimes yields even more poverty. For instance, children suffering food insecurity may show up hungry to their classes, which could inhibit their concentration causing them to fall behind in their academic work.

Though this report certainly doesn’t tell the whole story about poverty, it raises a lot of interesting concerns for us here as well. Though the specific numbers cited in this article are national, the reality is quite similar in the Bay Area. According to our recent report on the issue, more than 440,000 households are struggling to make ends meet. And having a job is not enough. Most of these families – 86% in fact – have at least one wage earner but still can’t pay for their household’s basic needs.
Read the full article here.

To learn more about the problems facing Bay Area families take a look at United Way’s report, Struggling To Make Ends Meet.

Filed Under: Income, United Way Partners Tagged With: children, hunger, Income, poverty, report, United Way

Hunger Could be Closer Than You Think

May 12, 2010 By Olu Johnson Leave a Comment

Over at the East Bay Express they have a good article about the USDA’s report (which we discussed here) about hunger in which they highlight a few stories of local people who don’t have enough to eat. The piece focuses on food insecurity which is not just a measurement of people who don’t have enough to eat, but “also those who’ve had to reduce the amount they eat, skip meals, or eat food they know isn’t good for them, because they can’t afford what it really takes to eat.”

These people are forced to rely on food banks and pantries to get by. in the article is says that “almost five million people went to food pantries last year, up from 4 million the year before. About 625,000 ate in soup kitchens.”

The full article is worth reading if only for the snapshots of local families dealing with food insecurity like this one:

Coleen McEneany used to be a private investigator. Her husband worked for Circuit City as an information technology specialist. But the PI work dried up in the recession, and Circuit City closed. With their daughter, they moved into the Fremont home of her mother, a retired sixth-grade teacher. While the home has a pool in back and well-tended garden, the family resources were stretched so thin that they now depend on food and help from Tri-City Volunteers. Ironically, she knew about the food pantry because she and her husband were both donors to the program back when they were working. Nevertheless, with a degree in criminal justice, Coleen has hopes that she’ll somehow find a job. In the meantime, she is taking courses for a degree in early childhood education.

If you or someone you know needs help with food, 2-1-1 is a great place to start to find a food bank or pantry. There are ways to fight hunger in the Bay Area, for ideas go here.