Agencies see hunger growing
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By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau - Published: September 18, 2009
As the effects of an ailing economy trickle deeper into Vermont communities, area residents are flocking in higher numbers to food pantries and government-funded nutrition programs.
In the Barre-Montpelier region, where unemployment rates tipped 9 percent in January (the figure has since ebbed) social workers have seen an alarming uptick in the number of people struggling to keep food on the table.
"We're seeing more people who have been on unemployment and whose unemployment benefits are running out, people who are on social security, people who are on disability," says Jenn Evans with the Central Vermont Community Action Council. "Those folks are stuck in a hard place and they're trying to get as much help as they can."
Evans says she sees five to six new families every week at her organization's Berlin food shelf, a trend echoed by workers at other food banks in the area. The anecdotal evidence from local food pantries is substantiated by federal figures. The number of Washington County residents on 3SquaresVT (formerly known as food stamps) has risen by 40 percent over the last year.
That increase, from 5,000 to 7,000, is partially due to an expansion of eligibility guidelines. But experts say the increase also spotlights the dire effects of a bad economy.
"I think there's a number of reasons why we're seeing these increases, but certainly first and foremost is the economy," says Marissa Parisi, executive director of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. "Food shelf and food banks and pretty much all food pantries are seeing an increase in usage."
The Hunger Council of Washington County has sounded the alarm as it seeks to bolster supports for lower-income families and fight "food insecurity" in the region.
Con Hogan, who until recently co-chaired the Council, says efforts by volunteers and professional social workers have helped human-service organizations absorb the new demand. Improvements in the quality and quantity of free meals served at schools, for example, have protected children from going hungry, Hogan says. The number of volunteers working to support food shelves, or donating goods and services, has also benefited, according to Hogan, from the inception of the Hunger Council three years ago.
"We're bringing people together that normally wouldn't come together around these kinds of issues," he says. "That's an example of kind of stew we were able to create of mutual interest and mutual connections."
True success however, Hogan says, lies in policy reform at the national level. Only when the federal government commits new resources and energy to eliminating hunger among its vulnerable residents, according to Hogan, will Vermont be able to adequately address a social ill that threatens the fabric of its rural communities.
Hogan says the Council has had some measure of success on policy reform – its advocacy was key, he says, in establishing the new 3Squares guidelines that allowed so many new families to participate in the program.
"No matter how hard communities and organizations work locally to solve this problem, it is going to take national policy," Hogan says.
Bob McNamara, a former superintendent of the Washington West Supervisory Union, was tapped recently to take over as co-chairman of the Council. He says the group will work to understand the scope and demographics of the problem better as it charts a path forward.
"Really what we want to do is get insight from people who have their feet on ground," McNamara says. "We're trying to find a way to talk with folks from volunteer fire departments, ambulance services, home health agencies. Not to name names, of course, but to give us insights and wisdom in regard to hunger issues Washington County right now."
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