Oregon makes headway against food insecurity and hunger
Chuck Sheketoff
In the two years before the current economic downturn hit Oregon made headway against food insecurity and hunger.
The share of adult Oregonians in households experiencing food insecurity was 9.4 percent in 2007, down from 12.3 percent in 2006 and 15.7 percent in 2005.
Households facing “food insecurity” are those that are not always sure where their next meal is coming from. In most cases, people in these homes manage to avoid actual hunger. However, in about one in three food insecure homes last year members were forced to go hungry at times.
In 2006 and 2007, Oregon’s economy was relatively favorable for low-income workers and this, combined with improvements in state policies designed to help low-income households, made it easier for the most vulnerable Oregonians to put food on the table.
The survey data does not reflect the tougher economic times that have hit Oregon this year.
This year, Oregon has been losing jobs, the unemployment rate has risen, and the cost of food and gas has climbed. The good news from 2006 and 2007 shouldn’t make Oregon complacent about fighting hunger.
Improvements in Oregon’s public assistance infrastructure were crucial to the fight against food insecurity in 2006 and 2007. For example, earlier this decade Oregon changed the eligibility rules for its food stamp program to allow more families access to food stamps. Today the number of Oregonians accessing food stamps is double what it was in 1999.
Because we improved the program, an Oregonian who gets a modest job today is less likely to lose food stamps and other benefits tied to food stamp access. The food stamp rolls continued to grow modestly in 2006 and 2007 despite the economy’s relative strength.
The most severe form of food insecurity — hunger — also improved between 2005 and 2007. The share of Oregon adults in homes where at least some members went hungry at times fell from 5.6 percent in 2005 to 3.2 percent in 2007.
See the Oregon Center for Public Policy's news release OCPP Analysis Shows Oregon Makes Progress Against Food Insecurity.
Discuss.
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Aug 23, '08
Trying to parse the "meaning" of that post above. It lacks color and life for me, and I'm not certain how "improved" things are for those experiencing the edge of hunger or barely-making it. I cheered when I heard increased conversation about "food insecurity"m discerned against "hunger". THat was progress in language. Viz state/federal agency guidelines, more families allowed some food is an improvement, but the exhausting experience of the food-insecure is a topic of some research and writing on my part.
Food pantries have have seen a drop in food product- and financial contributions in 2008 with the rise of unemployment and food costs in the Portland area. This same happened, after 9/11, when Oregon's economy was actively bleeding out. The sentimental victim, NYC, suddenly saw a national influx of domestic aid while Oregon saw a drop in giving during the worst of a years-long economic hemmorage.
"This fiscal year, 35 emergency food box agencies served an average of 12,259 households each month with a five-to-seven-day supply of emergency food", per Food Bank web.
These are, on the face of it, laudble numbers (if you are lauding agency response to continued want and lack). However, what is not stated is that these items are typically dry goods, can be out of date, and many items delivered do not work together to actually make a meal. A mother can receive some cereal for her child, but no milk for the child's cereal. There may be powdered milk available. A parent might receive dried spagetti or generic macaroni and cheese packages, but, again, the remaining items to prepare it for the child not provided. Bread, but no jam, no butter! Thank god there are often little treats sprinkled in to sweeten the experience of children doing without, even if adults must resolutely live without adult pleasures such as a decent cup of tea.
A couple of agencies do a good job of hosting small community gardens for gleaning, and so provide fresh produce in season. Depending upon neighborhood, the agency may have locally-made fancy breads or other slightly battered/out of date specialty goods available for consumption. These may help lift the spirits.
Most pantries have a limit on visit frequency: most allow once a month, some allow once every other month. First come/first served is the standard, and so the working poor can encounter pretty slim pickings. For those who must rely on these agencies as bulwarks against outright hunger as opposed to insecurity and lack of choice, one must map out a route through the agencies week by week. This entails means testing each time, waiting lines, creatively working with disparate items that do not always add up to a creditable meal.
On the positive side, some agencies have moved to a "shopping trip" model to allow for the hungry to experience choice.
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