Study: Face of hunger is changing the region

By Scott Nicholson

nicholson@hauntedcomputer.com

A regional study on hunger revealed what local food assistance agencies already knew: more working people are needing food than a decade ago.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwestern NC, based in Winston-Salem, focused on the 18-county area it serves as part of a nationwide hunger study. Second Harvest’s regional executive director Nan Griswold said it was the third such study, revealing that hunger is on the rise.

“No one is surprised,” she said.

The study showed that the number of people seeking food assistance had risen 8 percent since 2001 and 18 percent since 1997. In the 18-county region, one in 14 people sought food assistance.

“The face of hunger is changing,” Griswold said. “It is now people who are trying to work, not people looking for handouts. More of them are under the age of 18.”

Griswold said those who sought assistance had an average household income of $10,560, a third of them are children and a significant number are senior citizens. She said 134,000 different people were served in the 18-county areas by agencies such as Watauga County’s Hunger Coalition and Hospitality House.

Hunger Coalition director Compton Fortuna said the survey results merely confirmed what her agency was seeing every day. “We’re seeing so many different people,” Fortuna said. “People are coming in for food assistance on an ongoing basis.”

Fortuna said often people still needed assistance even after they found jobs, because the jobs were usually not paying enough to cover basic monthly expenses. “A lot of times it’s not enough to make ends meet,” she said. “There’s nothing left over for groceries. And their costs increase in the summer if their children are not eating breakfast and lunch in school.”

Other findings of the study were 86 percent of those seeking emergency hunger relief had incomes at 130 percent below the federal poverty level, the majority of the food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency shelters are affiliated with faith-based organizations and two-thirds of those seeking assistance were forced to decide between buying groceries or paying utility bills.

Fortuna said there were plenty of individual stories behind the statistics.

“People say they don’t see them (hungry people),” she said. “These are the people mowing your yards, building your houses, and serving you in restaurants.”

The study also dispelled the myth that those seeking food assistance wanted free government services. Only a third of the households seeking emergency hunger relief received food stamps, and respondents said food stamp benefits lasted an average of slightly over two weeks. Thirty-seven percent of all households served by Second Harvest Food Bank had one or more adults working, and only 4 percent reported that welfare payments were the household’s primary source of income.

Though the statistics appear grim, Griswold said there was opportunity for more volunteer support and donations. “We’re hoping this study will put a new face on hunger and get new people on the bandwagon with us,” she said.

“The same donors have been giving as much as they always have, but it takes all of us working in collaboration. We need to look at the systems that keep people hungry.”

Fortuna said local need for food assistance is cyclical, often in conjunction with community collection efforts. She said while food banks provided the basics and bulk staples, local donations were important in the Hunger Coalition’s being able to offer clients a varied diet.

“The postal workers’ food drive in May collected 13,000 pounds,” Fortuna said. “That makes a huge difference in variety. We feel fortunate to live in a community that is so generous, and when we ask, they respond.”