Running head: HUNGER CRISIS

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HUNGER CRISIS

Hunger crisis: A local and global community issue

Winona State University CE 640

Erica Thibodeaux

November 27, 2011

Abstract

The ongoing hunger crisis is an issue affecting not only developing countries, but also local communities occupied by the modern society of Western culture. In an effort of community outreach and advocacy, this project consists of several participatory activities and the creation of a dynamic local resource, the Winona Food Map. The intent of this work is to increase awareness and bridge the gap of community and helping professionals about the ongoing issue of hunger.

Hunger crisis: A local and global community issue

Introduction

As the issue of hunger continues to persist locally and globally, thus the rationale for advocacy increases exponentially. This project addresses hunger from an outreach perspective. Through collaboration with local and global organizations already addressing this issue, I was able to provide support through participation, gain understanding, increase capacity (by sharing a presentation of this project to a group of graduate students), create a tangible resource linking all of the local food resources available in Winona and distribute that resource to appropriate agencies and public locations.

“Chronic hunger” (Morgan and Phiri, 2008, p. 26) affected more than 850 million people globally, in 2008. Recognizably an issue of grave importance, hunger is affecting communities worldwide. As the economic foundation of even the most stable countries continues to wane, the struggle to eke out a living increases. Not only is a lack of food causing a health crisis of catastrophic proportion, ironically, over production of the wrong kind of food is also causing health concerns and high costs for federal government agencies. A 2009 assessment conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that on average, 28% of the American population is obese (Ward-Smith, 2008). When faced with facts such as these, one must ask how it is that we’ve arrived at such a conundrum?

Food as a basic need

Fitzgerald (1977), cites Abraham Maslow’s 1943 publication, A Theory of Human Motivation, which lists food as a basic, physical (biological) human need, ranking it of the highest priority. Going without this basic need, every area of life and certainly all areas of wellness, are affected negatively. One could propose that communities are as healthy as its least secure member. If one individual within a community is without food, the most basic human need, then society, in essence, has failed its members.

The individualistic nature inherent in American society tends to practice such extreme autonomy that community has no real place. This self-concerned attitude has affected the collective health of the entire nation and because of our nation’s status globally, has indeed affected other countries in the process. The need for separate-ness has permeated this society to the point of great suffering (Hartman, 1999). In 1996, it became apparent that this ideal has also affected the nation’s attitude toward assistance beyond its borders. Between 1948 and 1996, the United States supported the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights stance that all humans should have access to food. However, because of fear of legal implications, the United States changed its stance and withdrew from the declaration (Stanford, 2007). This bold move illustrates, in a general way, the nation’s attitude regarding accountability toward and protection of human rights and the need for policy change.

According to Lewis (2011), community counselors have opportunities to advocate on multiple levels, through: direct service, community outreach, advocacy for the individual, agency collaboration and social and political change. This outreach project reaches the community at multiple levels: direct outreach through food service and preparation, indirect outreach through preparation of food in collaboration with an international agency, agency collaboration and resource linkage for individuals and the community at large through the creation of the Food Map (see Appendix I). These activities will be covered in detail, but first, a comprehensive look at the hunger crisis is necessary.

Hunger: A local perspective

“In Minnesota, 380,000 people (7.1%) are food insecure, hungry or at risk of hunger” and “a quarter of a million Minnesotans use food stamps (USDA, 2003). According to Hunger in America:

“local program participants reported having to choose between food and other necessities: 43% reported having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel; 44% had to choose between paying for food and paying their rent or mortgage; 34% had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care (Chanel One, 2006).

Even more alarming, is the effect that hunger has on children and their growth and development. “An estimated 1 in 10 children in Minnesota live in poverty, and 1 in 3 qualify for free and reduced lunches (based on low income guidelines)” (USDA, 2004). Furthermore, “research indicates that even mild under nutrition experienced by young children during critical periods of growth impacts the behavior of children, their school performance, and their overall cognitive development” (USDA, 2005).

A global perspective

On a larger scale, a glimpse of the global hunger crisis can be viewed across the media, through moving images, headlines and the countless organizations soliciting volunteers to serve in some capacity. The term “starving children in Africa” has been used commonly among the last four generations. What is often not mentioned is that food shortages in developing countries almost always stem from internal disaster or external disaster. War, unexpected climate change, drought and natural disasters are usually the preceding elements that provoke food shortages. Communities operating without these factors rarely find themselves without enough food for all community members. As mentioned earlier, the sustainability built into collective societies acts a bar against food shortage. So, it is not that developing countries cannot support themselves, to the contrary they have been sustainably supporting themselves for centuries. Instead, they cannot support themselves in the aftermath of crisis, which is true for all communities, where outside assistance is almost always needed to return to self-sustainability. This project also addresses the needs of disaster survivors through food preparation and offering services of time in absence of direct service.

Project Intention

To engage in multiple aspects of sharing food and food resources locally and globally in order to share my strengths and gain a deeper understanding of the issue of hunger.

Project activities

The Feast

Central Lutheran Church serves a sit down dinner, free and open to the public, every Wednesday evening in Winona, MN. On two occasions, myself and two other classmates were able to volunteer our time and ability and assist in this service. I was initially shocked at several components of the evening. First, the amount of patrons that attended the dinner surprised me. I saw many familiar faces and even co-workers. I was also surprised that no religious message was served with the meal. I felt this provided a more inclusive atmosphere and allowed for a diverse population of attendees. I was also surprised at the large number of volunteers that were present. There were at least 25 volunteers and the entire experience went smoothly and was easy to enjoy.

The first evening I volunteered, I was paired up with Mary. The Pastor pulled me aside and explained that Mary is “special”. I nodded in understanding. He explained that she takes her job very seriously and that I am only there to help her. I was to follow Mary with a tray full of paper place mats and silverware and as soon as someone finished eating, we were to clean the table and reset the place for the next person. Mary was a terrific teacher and I enjoyed working with her. She loved her job and moved quickly between the tables. At times I felt it was hard for me keep up and the tray was surprisingly heavy. After the last of the diners were seated, I helped Laura at the dish station. Laura has an old leg injury and she needed to sit down rather than stand to collect the used dishes into the dish bin. I chatted with her for the rest of the evening and was able to ask questions about The Feast’s history.

It began in 2007 as a quick meal served to family members waiting for adolescents to finish classes that were being held on Wednesday evenings. Eventually, the current Pastor and his wife envisioned a larger meal that would be “real, with plates and silverware”. Another couple soon joined them, and together they began serving upwards of 100 dinners each week. Eventually The Feast began accepting donations, which they used to purchase next week’s ingredients and donating the remaining balance to several local organizations. By 2009, they had received a grant from WSU and enough donations to purchase much needed equipment. That year they donated over $1,300 to the Catholic Worker House. They are now serving an average of 200 – 250 people each week.

Witnessing the community join together and share a real meal, made possible by community members was inspiring. While we were serving dinner that night, a woman arrived requesting food to take to her daughters. She explained the entire family had just arrived in Winona, had no place to stay and that one of her daughters has cerebral palsy and is in a wheel chair, so was not able to physically attend The Feast. The Pastor immediately made to-go plates and sent the woman back to feed her daughters. This type of community service is at the heart of true community healing.

Feed My Starving Children

In September, a classmate and myself traveled to Owatonna, MN to participate in a “packing” event with the non-profit organization, Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). Founded in 1987, FMSC began as the result of a calling felt by a Minnesota business after returning from a mission trip, where he immediately set about to develop ways to offer hunger relief on a large scale.

After arriving for our volunteer positions, we were signed in, given hairnets and shown a short presentation explaining the organization’s history, mission and offering step-by-step instructions for packaging. Several talking points mentioned interested me:

· 93% of donations are directly back into the food program

· ongoing relationships are established with recipient organizations to ensure the correct recipients receive the donated meals

· all ingredients were designed by food scientists: Manna Pack = Chicken-flavored extruded soy nuggets, vitamins, minerals & vegetarian flavoring, dehydrated vegetables, uncooked rice

· all ingredients are vegetarian to meet culturally appropriate dietary regulations worldwide

· at this time, the primary recipients were located in Haiti and Somalia

As a volunteer in the Peace Corps, I witnessed corruption of donated supplies among government officials the entire time I volunteered. This practice seemed appalling at first, however, it is such a cultural norm, it was eventually something I accepted as being powerless over. I was pleased to learn that FMSC has made attempts to avoid this corruption through secure relationships with other organizations on the ground in recipient locations. I also was pleased to learn that the most common recipients are currently two countries who have experienced recent trauma because I realize this is where their resource is most needed.

Overall, the experience was a magnificent experience that I think everyone should try at least once. The packaging process was simple and easy to learn. Each volunteer has 1 job to learn and performs it for only 2 hours. This limits exhaustion and human error. The process went quickly, the leaders turned on music and everyone at our station got to know each other. The group I worked with were all local community members and were extremely friendly. They were interested in learning about our project and we were able to learn about their involvement with projects similar to this one. Before I knew it, we were finished. In two hours, we packed 24,408 bags, which is enough to feed 66 children for one year.

Once we finished, we were invited to bless the food together, which had a profound affect on me. The thought of a room full of strangers coming together to serve a deeper purpose and then standing together to bless the gift that is being passed on to others was again inspiring. Everyone encouraged us to come again and I left feeling thankful for the experience.

Winona Food Map

While working with my classmates on this collaborative project, I felt that it would be effective to use my graphic and web design capabilities to create a lasting food resource for the community. We agreed that a food map, providing location and time details, contact information and visual directions would be a tremendous resource to provide to residents and visitors in Winona. One of my classmates, Alex Economy, is the nutritionist at Hy-vee. She felt that this was a resource that she could utilize with her customers. As the Health & Wellness Coordinator at WSU, I frequently encounter students who have lost their meal plan due to conduct sanctions and are in need of inexpensive or free food options. We listed countless agencies that could utilize the resource and begin to discuss the logistics of the map itself. I designed the map as a simple brochure that could be printed either in color or black and white and easily be uploaded to the internet and sent via email. I chose the image on the front to represent food, the earth and the simplicity of those two ideas coming together: sustaining communities through the most basic need of food. I maintain the Health Promotion website at WSU and the Food Map is located as a resource on the website. Places that offer free, weekly meals, food shelf locations, government agencies offering food assistance and grocery establishments were all listed on the map. The map will be placed at the locations listed on it in addition to public buildings such as the Winona Library, Post Office, train station, bus station, mental health centers, hospital and at Winona State’s Integrated Wellness Complex. The next phase will be to work with Project FINE to have a versions of the map translated into Spanish and Hmong languages, in order to reach other populations that may require alternatives to English. It is my hope that the Winona Food Map will continue to expand as new resources become available.

Outcome

Though we have only scratched the surface of the hunger crisis, the other students and myself who participated in these outreach endeavors have increased our capacity as future counselors, networked with community agencies and reached out to community members utilizing some of the resources we learned about. In the end, I feel once again, in touch with the importance of healing through the use of community.

APPENDIX I

Winona Food Map

References

Channel One. (2006). Hunger in America. Channel One Food Bank: Food Shelf.

Fitzgerald, R. (1977). Human needs and politics. Rushcutters Bay, N.S.W: Pergamon Press: Australia.

Hartmann, T. (1999). The last hours of ancient sunlight: Waking up to personal and global transformation. New York: Harmony Books.

Lewis, J. A. (2011). Community counseling: A multicultural-social justice perspective. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Minnesota Department of Human Services. (2004) Hunger statistics.

Morgan, T. C., & Phiri, I. (2008). Hunger Isn't History. Christianity Today, 52(11), 26-33.

Stanford, C. (2007). World hunger. Bronx, N.Y: H.W. Wilson Co.

Thibodeaux, E, Economy, A, & Smart M. (2011). Winona Food Map. http://www.winona.edu/healthpromotion/Media/2011foodmap.pdf

USDA. (2003). Household Food Security in the United States. ERS: USDA.

USDA. (2004). Kids count, 2000 census special report. Nation School Lunch Program Data: Food and Nutrition Service.

USDA. (2005). Characteristics of food stamp households: Fiscal year 2004. Office of Analysis: Nutrition and Evaluation.

Ward-Smith, P. (2010). Obesity -- America's Health Crisis. Urologic Nursing, 30(4), 242-245.