Emmett, a student at Texas State University, is trying to make it through the summer months. “Now that school is out, I thought it would be easier to find a job because students would be moving away, but that isn’t the case. It’s not so easy!” he says.

Emmett is not alone.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for young Americans is often double the unemployment rate for the general population. For young adults age 16-24, unemployment peaked at 19.6 percent in April of this year. For Black and Hispanic young adults, the figures are even higher.

As students like Emmet look to college as a way to improve employment opportunities, they are also more vulnerable to unemployment and debt.  These students, with limited education and access to full-time higher paying positions, find it difficult to save money and qualify for unemployment insurance.  Personal and social safety nets are not always in reach.

In the interim, Emmett looks to Hays County Food Bank for assistance. “I found this food pantry over the internet,” he explains. “I’ve been here a couple of times. They give us meats and vegetables, of course. There are always some bread items and a dessert or two for that sweet tooth!”

Emmett, 30, says he is attending college for a better future. “I decided I had waited way too long. I should have gone back right after high school. I am tired of finding minimum wage jobs; I am ready for more now. I started school last semester at Texas State University, and hope to major in accounting if all goes well.”

And a better future for Emmett means more opportunities and competitive advantage for Texas and the United States. According to a recent report from the College Board, Texas ranks 40th in the number of people age 25 to 34 who hold at least a college associate degree. Among developed countries, the United States ranked 12th, behind Russia, Japan and Korea for 25 to 34 year olds who have earned a college degree.  For Texas to remain competitive in a global marketplace, students like Emmett need access to basic resources to remain and thrive in higher education.

“I come to this food pantry to make it through the week. I’ve never run out of food. I have come close to it, but not completely,” says Emmett. “I felt a little hesitant the first time I came here because I wasn’t sure how it would work, or what I needed to do, but after coming up here you feel so comfortable,” he says about Hays County Food Bank. “They’re real nice and kind here. They don’t look at you in a different way because of your situation.” When asked how long he plans on using food pantries as a resource, Emmett says, “I don’t plan on using this for long; just for the summer months to tide me over until school starts.”

by Wendy Heiges, Senior Director of Advocacy and Public Policy

The Senate recently took up the American Jobs, Closing Tax Loopholes and Preventing Outsourcing Act (H.R. 4213), otherwise known as the “extenders” bill.  The bill would have extended unemployment benefits for people who’ve been out of work and looking for jobs for six months or more. The bill was also important to states needing additional aid and struggling to maintain critical Medicaid programs in the face of huge budget shortfalls.  It would have extended these and other important provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the Recovery Act) – a federal response to the worst economic recession in recent memory.

The bill had been on life-support and last night, the Senate pulled the plug.

The failure of this bill means:

• Families will become financially insecure and at risk of hunger.
• Social programs serving the most vulnerable will scale back or shut their doors.
• State budgets in free-fall will see the trees.

Stephen Ohlemacher of the Associated Press writes “the demise [of the bill] means that unemployment benefits will phase out for more than 200,000 people a week.” And according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Texas will lose out on $858 million in federal Medicaid funding when the Recovery Act provision expires at the end of the year. This is bizarre given the state confronts an estimated $18 billion budget deficit.

The Senate brawled over how to pay for the bill.  One suggestion was to target future Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) benefits as an offset.  SNAP helps millions of low-income people and families get the food they need. SNAP also stimulates the economy.  For every $5 in SNAP benefits spent, $9 is generated in local communities. This critical safety net is needed at all times and especially during a severe economic recession.

The unquestionable importance and impact of SNAP must not be undermined during deliberations of any legislation.

The Capital Area Food Bank is deeply concerned about tens of thousands of food insecure people in our service territory.  Our dedicated and caring Partner Agencies struggle to provide emergency food assistance to people at risk of hunger.  This challenge – already acute – will further intensify as tens of thousands of unemployed people and their families seek our help because Congress and Texas have failed to step up.

And this didn’t have to happen.

How did our leaders in Texas vote for this bill?

Need some extra motivation to lose those last few pounds?  Well, it’s not too late to nourish hungry Central Texans by taking the “Biggest Loser” Pound for Pound Challenge.  Go online and pledge to lose those pounds by June 30.  For every pound you pledge to lose through June 30, the Pound For Pound Challenge will donate 14 cents to Feeding America® — enough to deliver one pound of groceries to the Food Bank.

We have some simple tips to help support your efforts:

1. Build an online support team. Make it easy for your friends to cheer you on, and get inspired by other challenge participants. Become a Facebook fan of the the Pound For Pound Challenge. Post it to your page and let others know you’ve made a pledge to help end hunger.
2. Invite a friend. There’s strength in numbers; invite your friends to join the Pound For Pound Challenge.
3. Get healthy recipes on your iPhone. Exclusively available on the free iPheedaNeed iPhone app, get healthy, low-cost recipes from CAFB’s nutrition educators.
4. Visit the Pound for Pound Challenge website for even more tips, exercise videos and recipes from Biggest Loser trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels.

Good luck and keep up the good work!

by Kim Usey

After reading this week’s entries about child hunger at the CAFB blog, I just called my U.S. Representative’s office to ask for his support of Child Nutrition Reauthorization and the Weekends Without Hunger Act (H.R. 5012).

Thinking it could be a time-consuming task, I’d set some time aside, but I found that it was quick and simple. The intern who answered the phone was very polite; when I asked to speak to the staff person who works on nutrition issues, he asked for my name, and then let me know that the person I’d need to speak to was not in yet. I told him I was fine leaving a voice mail, and he said, “Okay, then, let me put you through to his voice mail.”

I tried to keep the voice mail brief while still conveying my points. I made sure to say how much I appreciated my representative’s commitment to hunger issues and other social needs in Central Texas, and how important Child Nutrition Reauthorization and the Weekends Without Hunger Act are. I noted that the Capital Area Food Bank was working hard to help fill in the gaps for children at risk of hunger, and that this pending legislation would surely help. I left my phone number and personal e-mail and said thank you again.

The whole thing took maybe three minutes. I have a little experience with Capitol Hill and Congressional offices, and I know that if you can squeeze those three minutes out of your day, the calls do make a difference. On top of conveying your position to the Congressman, the fact of the calls becomes a topic of conversation among the staffers (“we’re sure getting a lot of calls about this child hunger thing!”) and that helps reinforce the importance of the issue for everyone in the office. The thank-yous let these hard-working staffers who are often fielding calls from unhappy constituents feel the love (“and she was nice, not cranky!”). And in three minutes, you’ve added your voice to the growing chorus saying that hunger is unacceptable.

Please make three minutes of your day a special time to support hungry children.  Click here to find your representative and log your call online.

About Kim:

Kim Usey is the principal of Usey Communications and blogs about food and family at The Dinner Hour.  Follow her on Twitter: @useycomm

By Wendy Heiges, Senior Director of Advocacy and Public Policy

Did you know that nearly a quarter of U.S. children are food insecure?  Sadly, Texas leads the nation with the highest rate of food insecurity among children – an appalling and shameful fact.

Many low-income children at risk of hunger receive school breakfasts and lunches during the week.  But what happens during the weekends and school holidays?  They face going without meals.

Imagine you’re a child, and you’re walking home on Friday afternoon.  You’re wondering if you’ll eat dinner.  You wake up on Saturday morning and wonder if you’ll eat at all.  Sunday is no different.

On Monday, you arrive at school physically weakened, demoralized, and unable to concentrate on your school work.

Can you imagine this? Have you faced it yourself?

This depressing scenario is why we have to contact our Congress members and urge them to fully fund Child Nutrition Reauthorization.  We should also point them to a particular legislative component: the Weekends Without Hunger Act (HR 5012).

The legislation establishes a pilot program over five years (beginning in FY 2011) providing commodities to eligible providers that can then carry out projects providing nutritious food to at-risk school children on weekends and during the holidays.  The legislation helps bridge a gap in access to food for our vulnerable children.

When you take action to support Child Nutrition Reauthorization, please mention the Weekends Without Hunger Act as critical to nourishing school children during the weekends and holidays.

Children should experience childhood in the best possible ways – with the support of their parents, relatives, communities, and with strong federal programs protecting their health and development.  They shouldn’t have to worry that they won’t have enough to eat.  It’s just wrong.

Support Weekends without Hunger Act

Chef Robin Coleman with Demadre

Chef Robin Coleman knows how to cook a mean peach cobbler. Just ask the children who attend Dove Springs Recreation Center Kids Cafe program. “I love these kids,” says the chef. “I feel like their grandpa.” Chef Coleman cooks all the food from scratch, tweaking the menus to accommodate for special dietary needs of some of the children. “For a lot of them, this is it. A lot of them go home and don’t have anything to eat. [This program] is really needed in this community. We feed the kids first, and if the parents come we’ll serve them too.”

Chef Coleman continues the food service program at Dove Springs through the summer months. “Sometimes I do a barbecue, right in the middle of the camp season. Mainly for the parents who work in the summer,” he says. “It’s rough on the parents out there. I’ve adopted five kids, so I know what it’s like to feed a family.”

“We usually have 200 kids every day,” Coleman says.  “The kids look forward to a hot, home-cooked meal. I think I’m the only one who really cooks from scratch—bread, puddings, pasta. It makes the kids feel like they’re at home.” He creates all of his own recipes, but warns us, “I can’t share them with you! Top secret.”

Take the Happy, Healthy Summer Pledge to bring meals like Chef Coleman’s to thousands of children in need in Central Texas. Your pledge to bring nourishing meals to children in our community is greatly appreciated.

“When the Chef gets here they crowd around the table. He’s pretty cool. He’s funny. I really appreciate it,”  Demadre says.  “It’s fun being here. Thank you!”

As the Health and Human Services Commission reports an improvement in the number of applications processed on time and the quality of work, Henry’s story reminds us that Texas’ abysmal participation rate in SNAP (food stamps) has as much to do with the process as the processing.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BO4yflfZcU]

We’re happy to provide that friendly, personal touch to an unnecessarily complicated and unwieldly SNAP application process.  You can help by telling your elected officials to make hunger issues a priority by continuing to provide the resources needed for SNAP.

Learn about the SNAP Outreach and Education Program.

Related story:
Tax Credits and Hunger Relief: Two Federal Programs – Two Different Outcomes