At The Table @ The Minneapolis Foundation

I returned to work after the Thanksgiving holiday still feeling full. It was a long weekend filled with an abundance of my favorite foods. Of course, on my way from the front door of the office to my desk I passed two fully stocked candy dishes and then opened my email to an announcement that pastries were in the kitchen. On mornings like this, it is hard to remember that there are many who go hungry or struggle to buy groceries on a daily basis.

Yesterday’s Star Tribune cover story examined the increase in food stamp usage in Minnesota, specifically among the middle class and not just in urban areas. Carver County’s food stamp participation increased by 85 percent in between June of 2007 and June 2009, while in the same time span Scott County saw a 70 percent rise, and numbers were up 49 percent in Dakota County and 40 percent in Washington County.

The Strib article provides a state lens to last week’s Sunday New York Times’ article, “Food Stamp Use Soars, and Stigma Fades” which looks at hunger and how food stamp use, already at a record high, is growing in our country.

Today 1 in 8 Americans and 1 in 4 children utilize food stamps for daily nutrition. Growth in usage is taking place in urban, suburban and rural communities as families deal with repercussions of unemployment, the housing bust, and increasing medical costs.

A recent study by a professor at Washington University found that half of Americans receive food stamps at least briefly by the time they turn 20. Among black children the figure was a staggering 90%.

Both articles address the stigma of food stamp usage. Nationally, only two-thirds of those eligible actually access food stamps, often because they feel relying on food stamps is embarrassing or a sign of laziness. However, many are forced to overlook those stigmas as time passes and people face the realities of needing to feed their children. You do what it takes to make it happen.

One response to the increase in hunger was announced right before Thanksgiving as a collaborative campaign by the White House, United States Agriculture Department, and the Corporation for National and Community Service called United We Serve: Feed a Neighbor. The campaign asks people to do things like prepare or deliver meals to the elderly, donate or volunteer at a food shelf, plant a shared garden or develop anti-hunger programs. The campaign refers people to Serve.gov to find specific local opportunities and to access its anti-hunger volunteer toolkit.

What programs do you know about locally that are addressing hunger effectively?