Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, today released “Map the Meal Gap 2012,” which provides estimates of food insecurity at the state, county and congressional district level for 2010. Food insecurity  is a social and economic condition where there is limited or uncertain access to adequate food, commonly known as “those at risk of hunger”.

The map also provides updated data on the additional money required to meet food needs, the average cost of a meal, and income bands within food insecure populations.

How many in Texas and in CAFB’s service territory suffer from hunger?

Similar to the rest of the nation,  there is no county in Central Texas free from food insecurity.  Texas and our 21-county service territory, fares worse than the national average of 16.6%. One in six Central Texans is at risk of hunger.

What would it take to solve this problem?

We know that providing millions of dollars in cash assistance to every food insecure person would not end hunger.  Because hunger is both an economic and social condition, issues such as food systems and access, nutrition education, and sustainability must also be addressed.

Food banks play an important role in providing hunger relief, but the data shows that we cannot do it alone, nor should we. Hunger isn’t a charity problem, it’s a national problem that requires the commitment of our nation’s leaders.

What can you do today?

Yesterday, the Senate Agriculture Committee approved a Farm Bill that includes a $4 billion cut from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) also known as food stamps.  While the proposed budget cuts are not as severe as the House Committee on Agriculture’s budget which slashes SNAP by $33 billion, it still speaks to the misguided priorities of many in Congress.

We need you to call and write to your Congressional leaders today and let them know that hunger is unacceptable and that reductions in anti-hunger programs is not the way to address the hunger crisis.   You can contact your elected official and learn more about the Farm Bill through our website.

How can I learn more about the Map the Meal Gap?

Visit  http://j.mp/MapTheMealGap.

For many children, it can be hard to imagine life without three square meals a day. But for 1 out of 4 children in the US, hunger is a reality they must face each and every day.

In order to address the issues of hunger and poverty and encourage discussion among youth, Sesame Street will be airing a primetime special introducing their newest muppet, Lily, who comes from a struggling family. The episode, produced in collaboration with Feeding America, will highlight the strategies used by families in need, such as school meal programs, community gardens, and food pantries.

Feeding America hopes that the episode will help children understand that those struggling with food insecurity are people just like them with their own stories to tell. Furthermore, by helping children become aware of the hardships of poverty and hunger from a young age, they hope that children will also gain an understanding of how they can help their communities.

For parents who want to discuss poverty, hunger, and volunteerism further with their children, several books also touch on these subjects:

The Lady in the Box, by Ann McGovern
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
A brother and sister help provide food to a homeless woman. As their mother notices missing pantry items, the family begins to understand the woman’s story and decides to volunteer in a soup kitchen.

Tight Times, by Barbara Shook Hazen
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Told from a young boy’s view, a family struggles with tight times and a job loss when he finds a hungry kitten in a dumpster.

Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen, by Dyanne Disalvo-Ryan
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
On his day off from school, a young boy visits his Uncle who works at a soup kitchen.

About half of the 591 billion pounds of food produced in America each year is wasted.  Meanwhile, more than 50 million Americans are at risk of hunger.  That might mean going to bed hungry or having to make the choice to either buy food or keep the power on.  Being food insecure is painful, physically, mentally and emotionally.

The Capital Area Food Bank confronts the disparity between hunger and food waste in our community by organizing food pickups from local H-E-Bs, Walmarts, and other grocery stores.  Central Texas Food Rescue coordinator Jessie Curran explains, “Food Banks were founded on the model of matching excess food with hunger relief charities.  Most people understand that the problem of hunger in the US is not due to a shortage of food, but rather people in need not having access to it.  CAFB’s mission in running a Food Rescue program is to provide businesses with a way to reduce waste by donating unsalable, but edible food to the Food Bank.  This is a win-win for everyone; stores reduce their waste costs and increase their employee morale, and much needed food is distributed to people who need it.”

Bryan Bickham of Springfield Farm with CAFB Central Texas Food Rescue Coordinator, Jessie Curran

The program’s newest initiative, Market Harvest, picks up the unsold produce from farmers markets. Although farmers are vigilant about composting their unsold product, they are eager to participate in a program that connects their food to those in need.  The project is being piloted at the Sustainable Food Center’s farmers market at the Triangle on Wednesday evenings.  Participating farmers fill boxes with leftover kale, arugula, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, persimmons, and more which is then transported to a Food Bank Partner Agency (specifically soup kitchens) to be prepared the following morning.

SFC Farmers' Market

VISTA volunteer Catherine McKinney who builds capacity for CAFB programs Healthy Options for the Elderly (HOPE) and Kids Cafe comments, “People are always asking for fresh produce. In particular, our older adult clients are thrilled when they have the chance to cook fresh produce.”

According to a 2009 study by the Center for Disease Control, only 17 percent of low-income Texans consumed the recommended daily minimum of five or more servings of fruits and vegetables. This consumption is lower than any other income bracket. No wonder that data also shows a higher prevalence of chronic disease such as diabetes and poorer overall health in low-income Texans compared to those in higher income brackets.

Market Harvest participant Bryan Bickham and owner of Springfield Farm says, “We are so happy to give to people who care about people.  The last thing we like to see is food going to waste.”

The Capital Area Food Bank sincerely thanks the Sustainable Food Center and the following local farmers for their partnership in helping nourish our neighbors in need:

Engel Farms

Harvest Time Farm Stand

Lightsey Farms

Milagro Farms

Ottmer’s Family Farm

Springfield Farm

Johnson’s Backyard Garden

Hillside Farms

If you are interested in being a Market Harvest volunteer please email Volunteer Resources Coordinator, Amelia Long, at amelialong@austinfoodbank.org or call 512-684-2551. Click here to view a description of this volunteer position.

by Kelly Waterman, SNAP Outreach Coordinator

I should start this post by explaining that I’ve always had a special affection for my elders.  I love their stories, their unapologetic personalities, and their insightful words of wisdom.  Perhaps I’m just an ‘old soul’ myself, but I distinctly remember being as young as 12, spending an afternoon with some women at a retirement community and having a blast!

In high school, I established an especially close relationship with an elderly couple, Lloyd, and Margaret, who, unfortunately, couldn’t have children. We met when I was in the 10^th grade and became a fast friend. Since then, they have supported me and watched me grow into the woman I am today. Only last spring, Lloyd lost the love of his life to her battle with cancer. She died at 84, just 10 days before their 60^th wedding anniversary. Since then, I have gained a new and intimate look at the realities of aging, here, in America.

Lloyd has freely admitted to me that growing old is not easy, especially growing old alone, while facing illness, loss of mobility, and a small social support network. All of these difficulties are only further compounded by the fact that he is scraping by on a fixed income.

Lloyd’s situation is not unique; in fact, population experts estimate that by 2020 there will be 50 million Americans over the age of 65. However, the unfortunate reality is that our society oftentimes turns a blind eye to our elders.  Not only do elderly people have to deal with typical issues associated with aging, but oftentimes they do it on a tight fixed income. Many retired individuals in the US rely solely on their income from social security to keep them afloat. It’s no surprise that after paying medical bills, rent or mortgage, utilities, and prescriptions, there isn’t much left for things as vital as food.

As a SNAP (food stamps) Outreach Coordinator with the Capital Area Food Bank, I see the struggles seniors face daily, and it hits particularly close to home.  It’s a painful experience to explain to a person that because of their income from Social Security (usually around $900/mo), they are only eligible for $20 in food stamp benefits. I get mixed reactions when I tell people this information. Some feel angry or upset that they cannot receive more, others refuse to jump through the “government’s hoops” for such a small amount of money, and, many of them gratefully apply, insisting that something is better than nothing.

With so many seniors eligible for only $20 or less a month in SNAP benefits, it’s no wonder our hunger study revealed that more than a third of older clients go for extended periods without food, and that Partner Agencies are seeing an increase in the amount of older adults in the hunger lines.

I don’t pretend to know the solution to this dilemma; I’m simply sharing my experience in an effort to inform our community about this real and often silent problem.

I encourage you to spend some time getting to know the older people in your neighborhood, or apartment complex this holiday season.  Hunger has no age limit or expiration date, and it’s up to all of us to make sure our community is well cared for!

Today, the Food Bank hosted a press conference with Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Todd Staples and Jeff McAllister, Walmart Senior Vice President for Texas, to announce Walmart’s Fighting Hunger Facebook challenge. The community with the most “likes” on the fightinghunger.walmart.com page will be awarded a $1 million grant, and the five runner-up communities will be awarded $100,000 each.  Texans have been officially challenged by Commissioner Staples to be the top four communities and bring $1.3 million dollars of this award home.

This past year, we’ve seen a record growth in our distribution, and with unemployment insurance running out, we’re bracing ourselves for a very busy year. Since every $5 donated provides $25 worth of nutritious food, this $1 million gift can provide millions of meals for hungry Central Texans.

Let’s bring Texas to the top of hunger relief efforts, and not just hunger. Click here to “like” Austin Round-Rock. Please email your friends and post this challenge on your Facebook page.

by Josh Stephens (Head Geek at SolarWinds)

Me and hunger just don’t get along very well. It could be hypoglycemia or maybe I’m just a big ole’ cranky guy, but if I don’t get something to eat for lunch every day, you probably don’t want to be hanging around me. Many days, it’s not too big a deal as I’m spending the afternoons in the lab or in meetings and it’s OK to be grumpy, but on a day like today where I’m filming I really need to be able to put on a happy face and my hungry face always seems to trump my happy one.

So, as I was working through lunch today, I decided to see what was in the refrigerator. I admit it – I stole someone else’s food. Turns out it was my brother’s (yeah, he works at SolarWinds, too), but either way I took it. Being hungry sucks. And while I can make a joke about stealing my brother’s food, the hunger many folks face day-to-day isn’t funny. SolarWinds’ Geeks that Give community outreach program decided to step up and help out the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas’ “Turn Hungry Holidays into Happy Holidays” food and donation drive this season in a BIG way.

With today’s economy there are more people struggling to put food on the table than ever before. So far here at SolarWinds we’ve raised over $13,000. The stats on what that can do are amazing. For every $5 donated, CAFB can provide $25 of food. SolarWinds’ donation will provide 28 children with nutritious after school meals for a year, provide 122 families with food for a meal per day for a year, and provide food enough to feed 62 seniors a meal a day for a year. Those are some pretty amazing things when you think about it.

So, Zach, sorry about stealing your lunch. I guess I owe you one. But now that you know what it feels like to be hungry maybe you should visit this site and donate some more? For everyone else out there, I hope that you too will help either the Capital Area Food Bank here in Austin or a local food bank in your area. Be part of the solution.

To help SolarWinds and the Capital Area Food Bank “Turn Hungry Holidays into Happy Holidays,” learn more at http://www.solarwinds.com/donate/ and donate online at austinfoodbank.org through December 26.

Flame on…
- Josh

Follow me on Twitter

This story was submitted through our online Hunger Stories.

By Pamela U. Wilson

Have you ever had to ask for help, knowing your children will suffer unless you get it?  Welfare offices call to tell you they have a job for you, but there is no money to get you to work. Questions run through your head: how long will I see my children living in poverty? How long will the cycle of welfare continue?

I was a child living on welfare in the projects with my mom, brothers and sisters. I remember days of no food, clothes and old shoes. I used to see my mom going to trucks for powdered food so that we could eat. To clean our clothes, we had to bend over a tub and wash them by hand, without laundry soap. Our family was often sick with sores, and flies were on us.

The lifestyle of a poor person often comes with loss of pride and of dignity as a human. Poverty is a lifestyle where shame and low self-esteem become a norm. I can remember the terrible conditions families like mine experienced when times were hard.

Imagine if your family lived in extreme poverty: no money for clothes, shoes, medicine, hot water, soap, heat, transportation, hospital visits, or furniture. The beds smell terrible since there are no sheets for the mattresses. The house has a stench of rotten food, milk and old urine. Most of the time food is cooked with old grease. It’s possible that you cannot wash the dishes because the water is cold. The refrigerator doesn’t work and has been broken for weeks. Clothes must be washed out by hand, without warm water.

Perhaps your children go to school wearing smelly, dirty clothes, old shoes, and without school supplies. Your babies have runny noses, open sores, pink eyes, worms, and suffer from malnutrition. The gnats cover the rotten food and trash that you cannot get rid of, since there is nowhere to take it. To see kids living in such poverty, makes me angry.

Now, imagine trying your best to climb out of poverty by begging for help from office-to-office. You circle a few blocks trying to figure out what you will say, until you find out this was the wrong office, and then you have to do it all over again. The county, state or government welfare offices will maybe allocate to your family $75-$250 a month for rent, food and bills. Getting the other necessities for your family is out of the question. Many food banks and clinics are there to help, but there is no way to get there since you don’t have enough money to ride the bus.

Years later, when I started a family of my own, my husband lost his job and we went to the welfare office for help. The state gave our family $259 for the month. This money did not pay all the bills. We had no way to pay for things we needed. We couldn’t use our cars because there was no money for gas. 

Without a steady source of income, food is hard to come by. Sometimes I go home with a can of green beans and old bread, and that is all I can feed my kids. Sometimes our income is so little that we have to ask for help. There are other times I have given my food away to help someone else.

It is still hard waiting for food between pay checks. We have to save money in order to buy gas and get to work. As a diabetic adult, I must take care of what food I can eat being mindful of fats and sugars. When times are tight, I am very grateful for all the food I have received from the Food Bank.

I can understand why people live in shame and despair while living in poverty. Living in this condition has a way to make or break families. Families must get help when they need it, but not lose their dignity as a human beings. My husband and I were fortunately aware that our dignity was the most precious thing we had besides our kids, and our pride remains strong.

Thank you, Pamela, for sharing your story.

Elizabeth, 9, says she would give half to the Boys and Girls Club of South Austin and half to other charities. She lives with her parents and three younger siblings.

She says one of the happiest moments in her life was when she met her father, previously incarcerated, for the first time at the age of four. “As soon as he came home,” she recalls, “he picked me up and twirled me around.”

When we asked her how she likes the food at Kids Cafe, a CAFB sponsored program, she says “It’s yummy! The Food Bank puts a lot of time into delivering it.” If there wasn’t a Kids Cafe, she says “I would feel like they didn’t care about us. I probably wouldn’t come to Boys and Girls Club anymore. They know we’re hungry after school.”

Elizabeth hopes to be a doctor or a nurse someday (her mom is currently training to be a nurse). She’s in elementary school and says she is often hungry during the day. “When I miss breakfast, I’m hungry all day,” she says. “I feel grumpy like the Grouch in the trash can on Sesame Street.”

Can you imagine what it’s like to be food insecure? To not know when or where your next meal will come from? Do you know someone that’s experienced or experiencing hunger? We love to hear your stories. Share your comments with us below.

Molly Robbins
Community Events Coordinator

Fasting to lose weight, fasting to detox, fasting to find spiritual happiness. These are all human quests that can be met by avoiding food. Yesterday, I fasted for an entirely different reason. I fasted with the Muslim Students Association at The University of Texas at Austin to ‘go hungry for a day so someone else doesn’t have to.’

Every year, the Muslim Students Association at UT sponsors a charity event called Fast-A-Thon. Students, faculty, and people outside of the UT community volunteer to fast (abstain from food and drink for one day) and are brought together in the evening to break their fast and enjoy a free dinner. For each person that fasts, up to $1 is donated to the Food Bank. 

This was my experience with hunger: I woke up hungry, drove to work, turned on my computer, and began my daily routine… hungry. I continued working through lunch and could smell the food in the workroom and down the hall—the smell of food was everywhere. I went to UT to make a presentation and all I could focus on was my hunger pains.  As someone who normally struggles to get from one meal to the next without snacking, this wasn’t easy. Throughout my day, hunger never left me. I knew at any time I could eat, that I was ultimately in control and could choose to eat and end my discomfort. So many Central Texans are left ‘fasting’ without the option to break it.

This I believe: Hunger is unacceptable. There are people (our neighbors!) who unwillingly experience hunger everyday. I’m hopeful that our community also believes that hunger is unacceptable, and with everyone’s help and support, we can end hunger.