By Natalie Shaak, Operations Manager

However, for almost almost 1 in 4 families, food insecurity was a concern before COVID-19. For many of those families the only options they have are turning to SNAP (food stamps) which they may or may not be eligible for or food banks, which in most cases are just a short term bandage covering a gaping wound that needs to be healed.

As a member of a collegiate sorority (and later as a fraternity/sorority advisor), I have participated in and organized numerous food drives for local food pantries. I have gone through my kitchen cabinets to collect boxes of pasta and cans of beans to donate to local drives. I have purchase Thanksgiving turkeys for families at my local grocery store. I have even volunteered hours to sort through donated meat and rotten bananas at my local hunger relief distribution center. I can say I felt good about my efforts to “end hunger” in my community.

But how much impact did I actually make? It wasn’t until I joined the staff of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities that I realized how those charitable activities were more about making myself feel good than about actually addressing the very real issue of hunger and food insecurity.

There are more than 15,000 food banks/pantries in the U.S. and they distribute millions of emergency meals to families in need. But that is their intended purpose - emergency food. They are not meant to be used for years. Most charitable organizations addressing hunger focus on the immediate needs of people experiencing food insecurity by offering emergency meals and food products directly to those in need in their moment of most dire need. That work was never more needed than during the pandemic. But in reality, they are doing very little to truly solve hunger and food insecurity.

To make a long-term impact and effectively eradicate food insecurity in families, research and advocacy must take place to address the root causes of food insecurity, which share many of the same root causes of poverty in general, including:

• Lack of access to living-wage employment
• Inconsistent access to healthy food in all neighborhoods
• Increased food costs
• Increased cost of living including housing, childcare, utilities, healthcare, and other basic needs
• Inadequate public assistance benefits
• Barriers to applying for and receiving public assistance
• Lack of individual savings for emergencies
• Racism and discrimination

The challenge in addressing food insecurity is that many of the root causes are highly interconnected and complicated. It is not as easy as dropping a few canned goods in a collection bin or donating a few hours to volunteer at a food pantry. To support long-term efforts in eradicating hunger, major policy and cultural changes need to take place. In order to do this, political action is necessary.

Every day citizens can support the development of a more food secure nation by:

• Learning more about the issue of food insecurity and potential solutions
• Sharing information about food insecurity and solution with their networks
• Contacting political leaders to demand legislation enacting necessary changes
• Voting for candidates who are committed to policies that support developing food security for all (See the below for a list of policies that support food security)

In order to truly address food insecurity long-term we cannot lean on food pantries and food banks as a solution. We must:

• Declare access to healthy food a basic right
• Embrace environmentally sustainable practices, focus on food sovereignty and strengthen local food systems to increase access to healthy food and reduce costs
• Implement universal basic income/guaranteed income and living wage income policies at a city, state, and national level
• Implement universal health care and embrace a "food as medicine" approach
• Increase SNAP benefits to meet the average cost of food as outlined in the Thrifty Food Plan and ensure that plan is updated as food costs increase
• Increase TANF cash grant allotments to meet cost of living increases
• Continue the advance Child Tax Credit program
• Eliminate policies that reinforce the "cliff effect" (families removed from public benefits as soon as they begin to develop small savings or receive a small boost in income) and transition to a “sloped” approach to transition families off public assistance benefits
• Ensure access to affordable housing in the community and expand home ownership and foreclosure prevention programs for low-income families
• Make higher education more affordable and address growing burden of student loan debt
• Expand access to free childcare for working families
• Address racism and discrimination in public services and employment