Asheville Citizen Times Article on Child Food Insecurity
Posted 08/25/11
By Casey Blake original article here
ASHEVILLE — Step onto the playground of any park in Western North Carolina and count the first four children you see. According to a new study, there’s a good chance at least one of those children is often going hungry.
MANNA FoodBank and Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization, released new data Wednesday that revealed a staggering 29.9 percent of children under the age of 18 are food insecure in Western North Carolina.
The study, “Map the Meal Gap: Child Food Insecurity 2011,” indicates that there are children struggling with hunger in every county in America. While one in six Americans overall is “food insecure,” the rate for children is much higher — nearly one in four.
North Carolina ranks 11th in the country in child food insecurity at 27.3 percent. While Buncombe County is close to the state average, at 27.5 percent, neighboring counties on each end of WNC have disturbing levels of food insecurity among children.
An estimated 39 percent of Graham County kids don’t know where their next meal is coming from, and McDowell showed an estimated 35 percent insecurity rate.
“It should shock every single person in this community that we could let this happen here,” said Renae Brame, executive director of the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry, an agency partner of MANNA.
“Unless it’s happening right in people’s backyards, they just don’t see it,” she said. “But there is no excuse. We all have to see it, and it has to be everybody’s responsibility to take a stand.”
Advocates use the term “food insecurity” to refer to people who often don’t know where their next meal is coming from — if it comes at all — whether because of poverty or other obstacles.
“Once again, the hard facts reinforce the stories we hear daily about the struggles our neighbors, particularly our children, face daily,” said MANNA Executive Director Cindy Threlkeld.
“The good news is that we can all pitch in to address this issue together. Be it with time, money or food, MANNA and our partner agencies need (the community’s) help so that one in four children in WNC won’t have to struggle with food insecurity.”
Whether the problem has spread or is improving in each county, the report does not reveal. The study is the first to break down data on a county level. In the past, state rates were averaged over three-year periods.
The county-specific information helps MANNA, which works with agencies through the region, know where to target its outreach efforts, from fundraising and capacity-building at local agencies, to advocacy and signing up qualifying families for Food Nutrition Services benefits, formerly called food stamps.
The report adds to data released earlier this year in the Map the Meal Gap 2011 report on overall food insecurity across the country.
Food pantries throughout the region report an ever-growing number of clients, many struggling to move past the shame they feel about asking for help.
The face of hunger, too, is changing. Climbing gas and food prices, coupled with stagnant wages and high unemployment, have contributed to a troubling scenario for many working families.
One in three families in North Carolina can be described as the working poor, according to the original report — families who earn “too much” to qualify for federal food aid but not enough to provide food for every meal.
In 2010, MANNA distributed 9.1 million pounds of food to partner agencies — enough food for more than 20,000 meals a day. It hopes to increase food distribution by 1 million pounds over the next year.
As Threlkeld pointed out, the glimmer of hope in the ongoing hunger crisis is that food insecurity is curable.
“It will take an all-out effort by the entire community,” she said “But it can be done.”
