Protecting our hunger safety net
HUNGER IN Massachusetts is not going away. In fact, it's rising. A quadrennial study of hunger in our state, released this month, found food banks in Massachusetts are serving nearly 500,000 people annually -- a 14 percent jump from four years ago and double the 1997 figure. Worse still, we outpaced the nation, which experienced an 8 percent increase since 2001. Only a combination of public and private initiatives can solve this escalating problem.
But first we must understand the problem and those affected by it. ''Hunger in Massachusetts 2006," the most comprehensive such study ever undertaken, reveals that more than a third of the households we serve have at least one working adult, and one in four people who go to food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters have a job.
Still, 60 percent of these hard-working families live below the $16,600 federal poverty line for a family of three. In part, that's because a full-time worker being paid at the state's $6.75 minimum wage earns about $14,000 a year.
We may live in one of the wealthiest states, but we also live in one of the costliest, with the price of housing, fuel, and healthcare among the highest in the nation. Almost 60 percent of those receiving emergency food assistance reported having had to make a Hobson's choice between buying food and paying for rent, fuel, or medical bills.
Sadly, hunger's victims are some of the most vulnerable among us. About a third of the state's hungry -- almost 160,000 -- are children. Hunger and malnutrition have long-lasting, damaging effects on the health and development of children, especially during critical growth periods. We as a society have an obligation to nourish them to ensure they grow up to become healthy, fully contributing members of our communities.
The elderly are also hard hit by this silent epidemic, with nearly 50,000 using the emergency food system annually. Most live on fixed incomes that only stretch so far. Programs like the Greater Boston Food Bank's Brown Bag Program, which once a month distributes 12- to 15-pound bags of groceries to community centers, helps seniors maintain their dignity.
We need a three-pronged approach to solve hunger in our state, one that involves the state and federal governments and the private sector. For its part, the federal government plays a vital role in providing food for our low-income residents. Forty percent of the people we serve in Massachusetts receive food stamps, which last an average of 2.5 weeks a month. And a majority of the families are enrolled in the school breakfast and lunch programs. We need Congress and the administration to protect the federal safety net nutrition programs in the 2007 budget.
For our part, the four Massachusetts regional food banks continue to develop partnerships with food industry donors such as Shaw's Supermarkets, Stop & Shop Grocery Distributors, and Trader Joe's. We serve as a cost-effective, efficient, and responsible way for wholesalers, retailers, manufacturers, and growers to place their excess inventory. In the four years since the last study, food industry donors to The Greater Boston Food Bank have increased from 438 to 578. Our regional food bank system also handles federal and state commodities and distributed 36.2 million pounds of food in 2005, a 30 percent increase since 2001.
One of the most critical parts of the solution remains the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program. Established in 1995, the program provides funding to purchase food from Massachusetts manufacturers, distributors, and farmers. Unlike food industry donations, over which we exercise no control as to the type of product or quantity available, the program's funds allow us to purchase foods such as tuna, peanut butter, eggs, dairy products, and produce -- some of the fundamentals of a healthy balanced diet. And because we purchase from local businesses, we make a positive investment in the state's economy.
The program has been level funded at $7 million since 2000. Because of rising demand for food assistance, higher food prices, and increased handling costs, we are asking the Legislature to double that amount to $14 million for fiscal 2007. As ''Hunger in Massachusetts 2006" shows, the need is there and the need is clear. Hunger is a real problem, but together we can and will create a hunger-free Commonwealth.
Catherine D'Amato is president and CEO of The Greater Boston Food Bank. 
