Anti-hunger groups worry about meeting growing need

January 19, 2009

By Mel Huff

Times Argus

WATERBURY – Rob Hofmann, the new Secretary of the Agency of Human Services, had a crash course in the subject of hunger recently. Members of the Washington and Chittenden county hunger councils joined in outlining the growing dimensions of hunger among elderly, preschool, school age and low-income Vermonters and urged the administration to commit resources to meet the need.

But Hofmann advised them to prepare for compromise, noting the state's dire budget straits.

Food insecurity affects more than 11 percent of all Americans over 60, said Beth Stern, executive director of the Central Vermont Council of Aging. Half of at-risk seniors have incomes above the poverty line, and two-thirds are white.

Much of the money that the Area Agencies on Aging receive is distributed to senior centers for congregant meals or to Meals on Wheels, which grew by 4 percent, Stern said. All in all, more than 1 million meals were served in the state last year through Area Agency on Aging funds.

Stern noted at the meeting Hofmann attended last week that food prices increased dramatically last summer and have not come down.

"The meal programs at senior centers are struggling around the state," she said. "We give the senior centers around $3.70 a meal. What kind of meal can you get for $3.70?" Even including donations by the recipients, the cooks have less than $5 per person to make meals that provide the elderly with a third of their daily nutrition. Stern stressed the need for increased funding for senior meal programs.

Tim Searles, the executive director of the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, said demand for emergency food has risen since last year, when there were huge increases. Searles' office oversees the two busiest food shelves in the state, the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf and the food shelf in St. Albans.

The most disturbing and important trend is the number of people applying for emergency food, fuel and housing assistance who have never sought help before, he said. The phenomenon started three or four years ago, "but it's really picking up steam now. We should be looking at why are more and more households who have never experienced this sort of difficulty finding themselves there now? In Chittenden County alone we saw 1,000 new households at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf in the last fiscal year," he said.

Another trend he observed is "the continued increase in the number of people seeking assistance who have at least a full-time wage earner in the household, sometimes two. Increasingly we see people who are working full-time at low wage jobs, and the jobs are not covering the basic necessities.

"It's really important that the legislature and state government continue to support emergency services for low-income Vermonters," he said. "This is not the time to cut back on resources, the basic safety net for these folks."

Hal Cohen, the executive director of the Central Vermont Community Action Council, reinforced Searles' observations. Noting that the state had avoided a disaster this year, Cohen observed, "We can't be complacent for next year. This is not the time to destroy – to cut the safety net. This is the time to build it up," he said.

"It takes additional revenue, and it may even take deficit spending. In order to get through the really bad times, we need to bring in more resources when resources are scarce. We can't abandon our vulnerable population."

Robert McNamara, the recently retired superintendent of Washington West Supervisory Union, said that school boards are facing a growing gap between the cost of serving nutritious school meals and the federal reimbursement rate for free and reduced-price school meals. Schools have a "huge stake in hunger-related issues," he said, because there are great differences in how well children are fed at home, and the quality of their nutrition affects them cognitively and physically.

Harwood Union High School had a gap this year of about $50,000 in its meals program. That creates a dilemma for the school board, which wants to keep property taxes in check but at the same time wants to continue the meals program, McNamara said.

"We are at a point where people are going to have to prioritize," Hofman said however. "You can say no adjustment, no cut, nowhere, no how. That's probably not going to be realistic," Hofmann said. "We're in a grave enough situation where there are inevitably going to be contractions, and I would just urge you to work with the administration and work with the Legislature and try and identify the reductions that will have the least negative impact on people's real lives, and be open to making some compromises."

Hofmann noted that it's not likely that the state will embrace deficit spending.

"In the end, there aren't that many choices," he said. "We're at a pretty gloomy position right now, and I really had to think long and hard did I want to be part of this situation and did I want to be in this position where people (are) questioning your decisions and questioning 'are you human?'" The governor and legislators are caring people, he said, but "they are trying to be responsible and fill their obligation."

Chris Meehan of the Vermont Foodbank said a food bank coordinator recently had seen children going through a dumpster looking for food.

"It's so important when making compromises to keep the face of folks who are suffering here in Vermont (in front of us) – kids who are going to bed hungry, who are going through the day not sure where their next meal is going to come from."

January 19, 2009

Press Room