As if the most recent USDA food insecurity numbers weren’t compelling enough, The Food and Research Action Center (FRAC) recently released their Food Hardship report. Based on a Gallup Poll, it has food hardship – yes, hunger – data for the nation, states, metropolitan statistical areas, and every Congressional district. Nationally, about 18.5% of Americans reported not having enough money to purchase enough food for their family at the end of 2009, up from 16.3% at the beginning of 2008. In households with children under 18, the likeliness of experiencing food hardship was 1.62 times more than a household without children (24% to 15%), further confirming the fact that children are among our most food insecure.
Drilling down to Congressional district, those of us lucky enough to live in Henry Waxman’s district, where The Jewish Federation is headquartered, we only have a food hardship rate of 8.3%, one of the lowest in the nation (427th out of 435 total congressional districts). However, if you move a little to the east, south and north, the food hardship rates skyrocket. It is 28.3% in Xavier Becerra’s district, 22.9% in Maxine Waters’ district, and 23.2% in Buck McKeon’s district (ranked 16th, 70th and 65th in the nation, respectively). Not only are hunger and food insecurity literally in our own backyard, they also surround us in our neighboring communities at alarming rates.
Though it may seem daunting, the things you do can go a long way to help end hunger. Here are five things you can do today, tomorrow, or this weekend that will have an immediate effect on hunger and food insecurity in our communities:
- Volunteer: There are plenty of great anti-hunger organizations in Los Angeles that need your help to cook, distribute, organize, receive, and sort food. Our list of local anti-hunger organizations is by no means exhaustive but provides a good list to get started if you are interested in volunteering. The volunteer corps for many of those organizations is graying and many of them need an influx of younger volunteers to sustain their activities.
- Donate: Local anti-hunger groups need money to continue providing emergency food services. You can donate directly by contacting the list above or you can consider making a micro-donation to Fed Up with Hunger by clicking here.
- Plant a food garden: The demand for fresh foods at local food banks and pantries is growing. By planting a food garden and donating your harvest to local food banks and pantries, you will be increasing the supply of nutritious, fresh foods in the emergency food system (to say nothing about helping to green LA). If you don’t think your little garden (or apartment box garden) can help, keep in mind that for every $1 invested in a food garden yields $6 in produce. Furthermore, during World War II, 40% of our vegetables were grown in backyard gardens.
- Glean: We are surrounded by a bounty of nutritious food. By joining gleaning organizations like Food Forward and other organizations who have partnerships with local farms and restaurants, you can further help increase the amount of fresh, nutritious food in the emergency food system.
- Advocate: The key to ending hunger lies in creating the political will in our elected officials to do so. Sign a petition to call on Congress to support creating access to healthy foods, write a letter to your legislator and tell them you support a strong Childhood Nutrition Reauthorization Act, and tell your friends to join the movement. Our elected officials will have no choice than to listen to us if we all declare, in one righteous voice, that we are all Fed Up with Hunger.
