October 2005
Hungry in Montana Written and Recorded by Kate Bradford
About 47 thousand families are food insecure or hungry in Montana. Between 2000 and 2003 the amount of food distributed through the Montana Food Bank Networks 150 emergency food agencies increased by 195% and there was 132% increase in the meals served at feeding sites in the state during the same period.
The hunger problem is constantly increasing in Montana. The growing need for public and private food assistance has shown that many poor people cannot meet their food and nutrition needs. While public programs reach many eligible clients, they are far short of meeting the needs of all who are eligible in the state. Public food programs and local emergency food agencies are meant only to supplement family food resources but for a large segment of the poor they are the only food resource.
Increasingly, communities have turned to food banks to solve the problem of inadequate food for families. There is a general belief that as long as communities instigate charity and support food banks and pantries, they have done their share to reduce food insecurity.
We must realize that building more and bigger food banks is not the answer and in fact overshadows the real issue ñ poverty and its resulting lack of long-term food security. Until long term solutions can be realized, food banks and pantries will need to face constant surges in the demand for food in all areas of the state and from all sections of the population - young, old, employed and disabled.
Hunger and lack of food security are symptoms of a larger issue, namely poverty and lack of income to buy adequate food. Most low-income people, including those that are employed, have to make a choice between buying food or paying for rent, heating bills, child care or medications. Montana has the sixth lowest per capita income and has consistently ranked among the bottom 12 states for food insecurity and hunger.
Montana¹s Food Policy Council conducted a study of clients seeking emergency food to better understand what factors, life situations, and social and economic conditions brought them to the food pantry for emergency food.
The main reason people came to the food pantries for food was that they had exhausted their
limited income on essential needs like rent, heating bills, medical costs or child care. Many others were living on fixed incomes or unemployed or dealing with disabilities. While the clients routinely expressed great hesitation in seeking food assistance, the overwhelming majority came to the food pantry several times in a year as a necessity.
Solving the problem of hunger in Montana takes a variety of actions and a commitment towards lifting people out of poverty. Public food programs in Montana must continue to try to bring more people who are eligible into the programs. Not only do the public programs provide food for children, seniors and adults - they are a crucial source of good nutrition for the family. Efforts to de-stigmatize the programs for potential clients as well as society are working and must continue.
A largely unrecognized benefit of increasing enrollment in the public programs is that the dollars they bring to the state and into the local economy are spent at local grocery stores and increase employment in local communities.
The study showed that employment did not bring people out of poverty and that a high school or college education did not guarantee a livable wage to meet basic needs. Considering all this, it is mind boggling to think that many of these programs, especially Medicaid and Food Stamps are facing serious cuts in the Federal Budget. Unless working people are able to earn a wage they can live on and one that includes health care benefits, low-income households will not be able to rise out of poverty.
Food is a basic human right. The inability of low-income households to gain access to an adequate diet must be a matter of public and political debate. Food provides essential nutrition for pregnant women, infants, children, adults and seniors. This is a right that does not belong only to those who are not poor. The segment of the population that suffers from lack of consistent and wholesome food is the same segment that is crippled with lack of health care and other supportive services.
Hunger agencies in Montana make exceptional efforts to meet the food needs of their clients but this cannot be our default solution to hunger. The state and each Montana community must increase their awareness of this issue and work towards long-term, community-wide food security that does not depend on emergency food.
What can you do?
- work with your local food banks and Offices of Public Assistance to start a food stamp
outreach campaign.
- make sure your local schools have a breakfast programs.
- work with your local schools to start a farm to school program.
- make sure there are summer feeding programs in areas with a lot of low-income children.
- contact us to help you get a local group started to assess the food and nutrition needs in your community.
- help start a community garden for low-income people.
-join LAN (Legislative Action Network) list and be willing to contact your legislator when asked to do so.
The FPC is constantly working on issues, and if you want to help, contact us.
I¹m Kate Bradford of the Montana Food Bank Network, speaking for the Alternative Energy Resources Organization. AERO welcomes your comments and perspectives. AERO is a grassroots membership organization working to help create farm, food, energy and growth solutions for communities throughout Montana. For more information about programs call AERO in Helena at 406-443-7272.