My Food System Reflection
It’s very easy to generalize, as well as make assumptions about, the government assisted food programs. But once you actually take an investigative approach to find out how cooperations are trying to solve hunger in America, you will find that it’s not a simple as you may think.
My trip to the Mountineer Food Bank in Gassaway, W. Va., gave me another perspective on how hunger is being approached in America.
MFB is just one of the Feeding America Organizations many clients. Feeding America is the third largest non-profit organization in America which, through its many food banks, works to solve food security America at a national level.
To sum up what I’ve taken from this trip: Feeding America gets donations from food and grocery manufacturers and retailers, and from government agencies and other organizations. They then move the donated food and grocery product to member food banks. Those food banks then distribute food to food pantries in each county.
I am on the fence about this system for various reasons. For example, some of Feeding America’s food banks have limitations on who is able to receive this free food. There are restrictions on people who have a certain income, where they live, and how many weeks before a family can recieve food again.
These limitations are there for many reasons but only people that are a apart of the targeted demographic can benefit. I believe that if a family or single person is hungry, then they should be able to eat.
Some limitations stem from regulatory reasons, while others may come from the myth that only people with lower incomes are hungry, which is not always true. I spoke with Deborah Layman, case manager at the Scott’s Run Settlement House in Morgantown, W. Va., and she gave me an example of a couple who experienced this exact situation.
“I remember a couple who had nice income but because the wife had cancer, they had to spend a lot of money on cabs to go back and forth to the hospital because they’re transmission blew..twice!” recalls Laylman. “So they had no money for food and had to take cabs to [SRSH].”
This is only one example of many. Upon our investigative reporting we were able to dive deeper into the food justice world and explore the communities’ aspect a little bit more.
