With all of the food that America produces - twice as much as is necessary to keep the appetites of our 305 millon+ residents fully sated - it's pretty mind blowing that one in seven households (the equivalent of 49 million people) either experience hunger or are at serious risk of not meeting their basic nutritional needs. We're one of the richest nations in the world with what the USDA says are approximately 922,095,840 total acres of producing farmland and yet somehow people are still going hungry.
While Michelle Obama devises a plan on how to reduce our food deserts (aka low-income and rural areas that lack access to viable sources for fresh fruits and vegetables), something pretty insane continues playing out in our fields. Perfectly good fruit and vegetable crops end up being plowed under the soil due to price fluctuations that potential buyers aren't willing to bite down on. This is not an isolated occurrence. Whether due to cost, overproduction or cosmetic appearance, the USDA acknowledges that a full 25 - 30% of food crops never reach our plates (96 billion pounds of wasted food) because they are not economically profitable to harvest.
It's heartening to learn that there are multiple non-profit organizations that are specifically focused on rescuing or "gleaning" this valuable source of nutrition from farmland and passing it along to community food banks across America thanks to the dedicated efforts of volunteers. This is just a small cross section of what's out there:
Ag Against Hunger (in California)
Food Share, Inc. (in California)
Gleanmobile (in Orange County)
Fields to Families (in South Carolina)
Farm Share (in Florida)
Fresh Farm Market (in Washington DC)
Farmers Against Hunger (New Jersey)
City Harvest (in New York)
If you would prefer to organize your own gleaning program, here are a few basics to bear in mind: 1) First and foremost, you must establish a relationship with a local farmer as well as food banks and/or low-income community members. Once all parties are on board and know what to anticipate, then you can follow through without feeling as though you're committing some left-of-center Robin Hood offense. 2) Secondly, you must remember that all the food you do end up collecting will be highly perishable, so any volunteers that you assemble will have to work on short notice. 3) It will also be essential to have a collection of "go to" resources that you can use while out in the field, such as gloves, cutting implements, large containers, protective sun gear, first aid, etc. 4) Finally, prompt distribution is the key to making it all come together, especially during the summer months when produce is more susceptible to wilting.
Jacqueline Mraz
said on March 03, 2010
In the Summer of 2008 in Phoenix in a homeless shelter, women offered to hold a bake sale for MoveOn when there was a call for a bake sale to raise money for the upcoming presidential election. Those at the shelter were going to use food stamps for the bake sale. One woman was doing tremendous work at registering voters in the shelter and outside it.
MoveOn was embarrassed, evidently, that those in need wanted to hold a bake sale in the shelter and to suggest that the Democrats would do something serious, if they were elected, about homelessness. Nobody in Phoenix wanted to come to that bake sale and to help.
How dare the needy come from a place of bounty. No. They just beg and beg and then beg some more. Shame on those in need for being resourceful:-) One woman staying at the shelter even clued in MoveOn staff about a scheduling or other error in an email that had gone out. Staff issued a correction owing to this homeless woman's insight. But still no bake sale.
Fastforward to a month or so ago. There was MoveOn asking folks to donate to a local food bank. They would not come up for air when those in need wanted to help MoveOn, but were there to put a media image later on the issue of hunger, poverty, and homelessness by excluding possible volunteer efforts of those in need themselves.
But don't think that I am just being hard on Democrats!
There is a well known food line in Phoenix right next to a bunch of city offices. In the Summer of 2008, when John McCain, something of a homie, was running for president, the homeless stood in line for a long time every day in the hot, hot sun waiting for baloney sandwiches, boxed juice that was mostly corn syrup, and snacks like cookies and potato chips.
The homeless would watch trucks carrying fresh produce from CA driving right by as they waited. Why? The food line is right behind a trucking depot that agricultural and other products come in and out of. But not one orange or tomato might fall off of a truck and hit somebody in the food line who was desperately waiting in the hot sun for baloney. And this despite that case workers for the government at the City of Phoenix offices right nearby did not, for the most part, know how to sign folks up to get food stamps so that they might buy themselves healthy food.
When I asked a homeless man in Hollywood when I lived there if I could give him my sandwich, he told me,
"No, sister. I am vegan. But I appreciate the thought."
I laughed as I realized that he was a good con.
Still, juxtaposing his call for a vegan meal--he really wanted money, of course--with the crazy image of the baloney sandwiches being right near the produce that never got to the homeless, and with a major polticial machine keeping a picture of the needy as those who just want a hand out rather than a way up and out, makes one think.
This is a great post to think through all of this with.
Jackie Mraz