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Food Insecurity,
the Cold Reality for Many

by LIZ THOMPSON

Our family has never been insecure about food.
We have plenty. Always have.

Plenty is described in the American Heritage dictionary as "A condition of general abundance or prosperity." Enough to live comfortably.

My daughter, Mary, has three children and, of course, draws on her experience with me as her Mom. She has improved upon my mothering skills.

Recently I was reminded by Mary that I said typical parent things when she was young. She knows she was a picky eater, and now her daughter is the same. She recalled one time, in particular, she could not finish her supper.

I told her to eat a portion and she wasn't happy. I reminded her that there are people who are hungry in the world and she should eat.

"Then send it to them!" she called out and I told her to stop being a smart aleck. We laughed recalling this time yet it seems a perfect solution. But how do we send it to them? Of course we don't literally send the food, we work to make it available for those in need.

Food insecurity was a new phrase for me and is defined as, "Lack of access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life; limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods." In the U.S., in 2005, 35 million people lived in food insecurity households, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Food pantries are always in need of second helpings for the needy. Perishables do just that, perish and decay. These must be purchased on an as needed basis with
money donations.

My thoughts about food wasted in our country also spilled over to questions about what restaurants and grocery stores do with the good food not sold.

Jeff Davidson, founder of the Angel Donor's Fund, which works to end hunger in Central Ohio, put me in touch with Tina Osso, executive director of Cincinnati's Shared Harvest Food Bank (www.sharedharvest.org), and a subsidiary of Second Harvest (www.secondharvest.org).

Osso knows first hand what hunger is all about. In the early '80s, she found herself standing in line at a food pantry when she lost her job. She heard the volunteers saying the pantry needed organization and she offered to help as a volunteer. "It grew from there," Osso said. In 1983, she helped start the food bank in Cincinnati.

Of the 35 million insecure about food, 20 percent are children living in poverty. "That's one in five." In the late '70s – early '80s, Second Harvest's study showed that 346,000 tons of food was wasted every year. That is edible food – not scraps or leftovers. That was a starting number for Shared Harvest.

"The food industry has improved," Osso added. Not as much is wasted today. More needs to be done in this area, but many organizations have stepped up to the plate to rescue good food for the needy. "As of Monday, we will have a new truck to use in food rescue and we will grow from four local grocery stores to 28," How do they rescue this food?

"We rescue 15,000 pounds a year from the grocery store rotisserie chickens and meats which have met the sell-by date.

"The rotisserie chicken has to be discarded (or used) if not sold in two hours. Now (the local stores) put the cooked chickens in a deep freezer and we pick them up to distribute," Osso explained. But with the new route of 28 grocery stores, the number jumps quickly to 500,000 pounds of rescued food.

Kroger Company Great Lakes Division spokesperson, Monica Gordon, said they have partnered with Mid-Ohio Food Bank. "This week our 'Hunger has no season' campaign was launched. We know that hunger is 365 days a year, not just during the holidays. But people think more about the hungry during the holidays," she said.

Ohio State University sports fans will be happy to learn that this Kroger Division is also partnered with OSU's Men's Basketball team. For every assist made in every game during the season, Kroger donates a bag of groceries to the food bank. It's a perfect match of goals – the players toss the basketball to a team player and he makes a basket, an assist, and for every one of these, Kroger assists the hungry.

Osso said, "We don't even recognize that the people who are serving us are standing in food pantry lines." She noted security guards, housekeepers, daycare workers and nursing home nurses aids who try to survive on $6.85 an hour. "Many of us are one paycheck away from standing in line." Davidson has called this population the working poor. The national average of food insecurity is 11.4 percent. Ohio is one of 25 states with higher rates: 12.6 percent of Ohio households live with food insecurity.

No one should wonder if, or when, they will eat again. Each of us can be part of the cure for hunger. Check the facts yourself. To help fight hunger, contact Mid-Ohio Food Bank at (614)274-7770, e-mail: mofb@secondharvest.org. If you need help, contact FirstLINK's Food Line at 341-2272 or TTY 341-2272.

Published in Suburban News Publications
11-22-06

Liz Thompson is a freelance writer and former SNP reporter. She lives in Grove City, Ohio with her husband Bob.

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