25 Years of Leadership to End Hunger
What's Next for Hunger Action?
 In
the course of celebrating our 25th birthday during
the past few months, the same question has repeatedly been raised:
will Pennsylvania need the Hunger Action Center for another 25
years?
The answer depends on how we define success.
There is strong evidence that hunger has been decreasing — by
a significant amount since the early ‘70s and bit by bit in recent
years. If that trend continues, one can imagine the day, sometime
during the next 25 years, when the overall rate of hungry households
in Pennsylvania will be very low – perhaps only one percent, as
is currently the case among households with incomes above 185
percent of poverty. But what if we define success by reference
to food insecurity? This is a more controversial standard because,
critics allege, such folks are only at risk of hunger. “They aren’t
actually hungry,” the argument goes, “so what’s the problem?”
Compounding the difficulty is that the concept
of “food insecurity” covers a situation that is becoming more
widely accepted: routinely getting one’s groceries from a food
pantry. Ten years ago a visit to a food pantry was called “an
emergency”. Now, thanks to the vitality of food bankers, the
commitment of volunteers and the surplus of food produced by farms
and processors, food pantries have become an integral part of
the food system. Yes, even for many working people. It’s a system
that not only benefits the poor but also farmers, food manufacturers
and corporate donors.
As matters stand, the future holds more of this
kind of food insecurity, not less. In recent years low-wage working
men and women have had virtually no one to champion their cause.
Their usual allies have moved on to other issues. Thus, it’s likely
that wages for the unskilled and uneducated will continue to erode,
leaving more parents with the inability to support their families.
Given current trends, food pantries and cupboards will become
more important as the years go by, not less.
Is that a problem? As Dr. Larry Brown indicated
in his recent speech (see page 4), most of our current political
leaders don’t think so. If nearly everyone’s belly is full, that
must mean we’ve solved the problem. Recently, however, it has
begun to appear that there is a hidden defect in this line of
thinking: obesity. Free food, like cheap food, tends to make
one fat. So if our plan to prevent hunger depends to a significant
degree on local food pantries, we can expect more obesity and
higher health costs.
And there is a second price to pay: the cost
of injustice. What happens over time to people whom, despite
their best efforts to earn their own way, must regularly depend
on charity to feed themselves and their children? What happens
to the sense of citizenship in such a society? Many of our political
leaders, particularly those from the Democratic Party, are fond
of reminding us of the importance of getting food pantry clients
to vote. Of course, they are right. But maybe the distance from
the food pantry line to the voting booth is farther than we think.
If the challenges of the coming years are increasing
obesity and a declining sense of citizenship, what are the implications
for the Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center and other anti-hunger
advocacy groups? First of all, nutritional science will need to
become a more important part of the work. Without that expertise,
our message – which will certainly have more to say about food
insecurity than hunger — will increasingly be called into question.
Secondly, food banks and other charitable food providers will
need to be convinced to vigorously critique their own work. If
that doesn’t happen, the anti-hunger network faces a major split
in the years ahead. Thirdly, all of us in the anti-hunger network
will need to forge stronger alliances with other groups in our
society that speak for low-wage employees. That offers the best
hope of helping people understand that until work is again adequately
rewarded, we should expect sweet charity – along with obesity
and political apathy – to keep growing.
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