Hunger Justice Series week 4

For this week we were to hear from Esther Brown on Feast and Famine in the Bible, but unfortunately she was not able to with us due to sickness.

Instead we watched a documentary on farming called King Corn which one of our parishioners wrote about in his blog. Please read his entry to learn more!

Hunger Justice Series Week 3: Alternatives to Emergency Food Programs

Justine Kahn from Project Bread:

Although emergency food programs are an important tool to address the immediate needs of those facing hunger, they do not provide a sustainable long term solution to ending hunger in this country. Instead, the federal government has established a nutrition safety net through a variety of federal nutrition programs, including:

• Summer Food Service Program
• National School Lunch Program
• National School Breakfast Program
• SNAP (formerly the Food Stamp Program)
• WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children)
• Child and Adult Care Food Program

These programs ensure that families and children have access to food in a more seamless and less stigmatizing way than standing in line at a food pantry or soup kitchen. Not only do these programs help families stretch their budgets further, but the child nutrition programs ensure that children are prepared to learn.

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)

• Families who rely on free or reduced price school meals for their children during the academic year often find it difficult to absorb the additional food costs when school closes for the summer. To address the need, the USDA established the Summer Food Service Program to provide free summer meals to kids 18 and under in low-income communities. There is no need to show identification or registration to receive a meal. Kids can just show up!

How can you help?

• Distribute SFSP promotional materials to your friends, neighbors, colleagues, and community partners. These are available for free from the Child Nutrition Outreach Program at Project Bread.

• After July 1^st, visit Meals 4 Kids or call Project Bread’s FoodSource Hotline at 1-800-645-8333 for complete site information this summer.
  
• Volunteer at a summer meal site and provide some activities for the kids.

School Meals Programs

• Students are eligible for free, reduced price, or full price meals based on their household income. This is determined through the school meals application that their families are asked to complete at the beginning of the school year.

Eligibility for federal nutrition programs is often based on the information contained in these applications. That is why it is extremely important that families complete the form and return it to their child’s school. Unfortunately, many families do not return their applications to the school.

How can you help?

• You can share the following information with families in your community
• School Meal Applications are confidential.
• You do not need to have a social security number to apply for school meal benefits.
• Application forms are available in 26 different languages. Ask your school for a form in your preferred language.
• You can complete a School Meal Application at ANY point during the year. Just request an application from your school.
• If you already filled out a School Meal Application but your income has changed since then, you can fill out a new one.
• Students who meet any of the following criteria do not need to submit income information to qualify for free meals: homeless, runaway, and migrant youth, recipients of SNAP benefits (formerly food stamps), recipients of TANF benefits (cash assistance)
• If you have applied for free or reduced price school meals for your child but were turned away because you make too much money, you may still be eligible to receive SNAP benefits (formerly food stamps).
• If you receive SNAP benefits, your child is automatically eligible to receive FREE school meals! Call Project Bread’s FoodSource Hotline at 1-800-645-8333 to find out if you are eligible for SNAP benefits.

National School Breakfast Program

When students eat breakfast at school, they start the day ready to learn. Students skip breakfast at home for many different reasons:

• They are not hungry when they first wake up.
• They are rushed in the morning and do not have time to eat.
• Their families do not have the financial resources to provide breakfast.

No matter what the reason, the school breakfast program is an excellent option for all families. Unfortunately, breakfast is usually offered before the start of the school day, making it logistically difficult for many children to access the program.

How can you help?

• Distribute school breakfast promotional materials to your friends, neighbors, colleagues, and community partners. These are available for free from the Child Nutrition Outreach Program at Project Bread.
• Encourage your child’s school to make breakfast a part of the regular school day so that it is accessible to all children.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)- Formerly the Food Stamp Program

SNAP provides low-income individuals with money to purchase food. SNAP recipients receive their monthly allocation on an “electronic benefits transfer” (EBT) card, similar to a debit card.

How can you help?

• Notify your friends, neighbors, colleagues, and community partners to call Project Bread’s FoodSource Hotline at 1-800-645-8333 for more information on how to apply for SNAP benefits or to be screened for SNAP benefits.
  

Project Bread’s FoodSource Hotline 1-800-645-8333.

The FoodSource Hotline can provide information about SNAP/food stamps, emergency food programs, and school meals. Counselors can answer questions in 160 different languages.

Hotline hours:
Monday-Friday: 8:00am-7pm

Saturday: 10:00-2:00

Thoughts from a Parishioner:

I think its great that Grace Church has finally been able to get involved with various hunger projects. I think many of us want to help but are not always sure where to start. Hunger is such a big problem but I sometimes wonder why that is. In a country as large as this , with the resources we have , why is there still so much hunger and poverty? Why does the problem get bigger instead of improving?

I see it more and more among the patients I take care of in their homes. Most are over 70 but they are people who worked and contributed to society but do not have enough to live on now. There are programs to help like SNAP, meals on wheels, free and reduced price lunches in schools, food pantries and meal sites but these are not really solutions to the problem. What is wrong with our society when so many people are in need? The disparity between rich and poor is ever expanding. Our government priorities are often misguided. People should have enough to purchase their own food not have to depend on government programs to get enough to eat.

I guess part of the problem is trying to figure out what the causes of hunger and poverty are and what do we need to change in our society and our government to improve this. Hunger seems to be the symptom of bigger problems. Do we as a church, as Christians, as moral, just people need to examine this and start to get more involved in the advocacy /social justice aspect of this problem? Do we get involved with a larger program like the UN's Millennium Development Goals or do we start smaller; more locally?

What do you think?

Hunger Justice Series Week Two: Charity and Justice

Ruy Costa from Episcopal City Mission to address the issues of Hunger and Poverty from Charity to Justice.
Ruy will deal with two basic approaches to issues of hunger and poverty, works of charity and works of justice, from the perspective of their effectiveness, costs and long term impact. Background information will include some discussion of growing economic inequality in the United States. The spectrum of models includes charity, volunteer service, advocacy and social structural change. Some of the illustrations to be discussed include works done by the Episcopal City Mission, such as helping build affordable housing, grant making and organizing public policy advocacy.