Capitol Chronicle

Although the business pundits are whistling bravely into the wind, the good news of alleged economic recovery hasn't yet filtered down to the rest of us -- and especially not to those Texans who are permanent residents of Hard Times. "We get calls daily from people who have never had to ask for help before," said Glenda Shayne, director of agency services for the Capital Area Food Bank. "They don't know who to call or where to go, and they're apologizing that they have to ask for help."

Some hope that since they're calling a "food bank," they can make a short-term withdrawal. But the CAFB is not itself a food pantry; rather, it's a nonprofit clearinghouse for truckload-size donations of food, which are then redistributed to churches, charities, and social service agencies throughout Central Texas. So the staff redirects those who ask for help to a neighborhood food pantry or to one of the more than 340 social service agencies in 21 Central Texas counties (including more than 90 food pantries in Travis County alone) that work directly with people in need.

The numbers of those people have been growing, both state- and nationwide. Last month Second Harvest, the national umbrella organization that includes CAFB, issued a nationwide "Call to Action" to help publicize the growing need. "Based on a survey of 27 major cities," said Judy Carter, Austin's food bank executive director and an organizer of the national Call, "we've found a 23% average increase in the demand for food." That translates roughly to an increased annual need of 368 million pounds. "Since 365 million a year is easier to remember," Carter said, "that's what we're trying to raise: one million additional pounds a day, plus the money to transport and store that additional food."

In the last quarter of 2001, Austin-area agencies that depend on the food bank increased their orders 27% over the previous year, and Carter says the first quarter of 2002 has seen no reduction. "On Jan. 1, we just added direct distribution to four counties on the northern end of our territory [near Waco]," said Carter, "so I know there's been another spike in demand."

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Who Are the Hungry?

Two years ago, Chronicle Food Editor Virginia B. Wood described at length the extent of hunger in the Austin area ("Carrying the Burden," April 28, 2000), and the situation has only deteriorated in the last year. The sheer number of hungry people among our neighbors is daunting. According to statistics cited by the food bank, in the immediate area (Travis, Hays, and Williamson counties), roughly 14% of the population live below the official federal poverty level -- $17,650 for a family of four. A large percentage of the hungry are children: In Travis County alone, 41,000 children confront "food insecurity" every day -- that is, either their families have trouble consistently affording food, or they are literally going without food for several days in a month.

Some 200,000 area residents belong to the "working poor," and roughly 40% of the households seeking emergency food assistance include one or more adults who are employed but don't earn enough to make ends meet. Carter says the surge in local unemployment (currently at 5.3%) has meant that once better-off workers (e.g., former high-tech employees) are now filling low-wage jobs that in the boom economy went to the unskilled -- and those folks suddenly find themselves without sufficient resources. "These are working people," said Carter. "But for too many of them, the paycheck runs out before the month is gone."

The food bank and its affiliated agencies do their best to respond. Last year the CAFB accepted and distributed 12.5 million pounds of food and grocery products at a wholesale value of $21 million -- the equivalent of more than 10 million meals. But donations -- the largest share coming from the food industry -- are not keeping up with demand. "We've been bailed out by the Dept. of Agriculture," said Carter, citing an increase in commodity provisions that the USDA distributes under federal farm subsidy legislation. "But that's a year-to-year thing. We're looking closely at the farm bill now for next year, and hoping there will again be enough for the commodities program."

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Addressing the Need

Carter says some of the big food industry donors, including ConAgra, Perdue Farms, and the Grocery Manufacturers of America, are beginning to respond with additional commitments for the new campaign. Second Harvest will visit with the Food Marketing Institute, a national organization of supermarket chains and other food retailer outlets, to see what else might be done. "We're also looking for creative partnerships with producers," Carter says, citing a Chicago-area at-cost arrangement with a pasta manufacturer, "so that we can leverage relatively small amounts of money to guarantee steady supplies of food."

Because of the sheer scale of the need, individual donations of food and money (although vitally important in quality and consistency) provide only about 4% of the supply. "For the individuals, what we're saying is, 'Volunteer.' Call your local food pantry and say, 'What do you need?' Volunteer to serve meals at a kitchen. Volunteer to sort food at a food bank. For each individual, do what you can do. If that means giving money, please do." (On the second Saturday in May, the National Association of Letter Carriers -- your mailperson -- will collect food donations in the largest annual single-day food drive.)

Although it might seem ungrateful to criticize the major donors on which the food banks must rely -- biting the hand that feeds the poor -- it seems necessary to note that the food, restaurant, and service industries too often thrive on low-wage and part-time workers, too many of whom have to rely on donations of the food they daily make available to the rest of us. It makes sense to reduce the number of hungry people at the supply end. But I suppose that's the subject of another column.

"The need is constant, and year-round," said Carter. "People tend to think of the hungry only at Thanksgiving or Christmastime. But throughout the year, we have a real serious problem in this region: so many people struggling just to get by. So many children are suffering from hunger, and the sooner people realize it, the sooner we can do something about it. The cause of hunger is poverty. ... In a country as rich as ours, we may always have poverty. But why should there be hunger?"

For more info about the Capital Area Food Bank, see www.austinfoodbank.org. For a referral to a neighborhood food pantry or to volunteer, call the Food Bank at 282-2111.