A crisis of serious proportions

<p><i>(This is the first of a two-part series on the local food crisis. This article focuses on a recently released survey, Hunger in Sonoma County 2010, while the second part will discuss efforts in Petaluma to address the crisis.)</i></p><p>Members of the audience sat with rapt attention as local residents struggling to provide enough food for themselves and their families described their predicament and what led to it.</p><p>“Before they told their stories, a donor and I spoke about the growing hunger crisis, but the magnitude of the problem didn't quite register,” said David Goodman, executive director of the Redwood Empire Food Bank. “The audience didn't ‘get it' until people who have been receiving food from local food banks spoke.</p><p>“We are trying to get more food recipients to speak on their own behalf, but for many of them, a pride issue is involved. Many people go all their life being able to put food on the table, and then one day they can't. They hit rock bottom, and face survival as a human being.”</p><p>Getting the message out has become a more urgent matter as the number of local residents seeking hunger relief in Petaluma and other parts of Sonoma County continues to rise, partly because many of them are working at low-paying jobs that leave them unable to afford even food and other necessities.</p><p>“The single most significant finding in our latest survey (Hunger in Sonoma County 2010) is that the median monthly income reported by food recipients is only $930 per month,” Goodman said. “More than 52 percent of the people who come to food distributors say that their job is their primary source of income, but they're simply not making enough money to make ends meet.”</p><p>More than 61 percent of recipients live at or below the poverty level.</p><p>“There are no hungry people who have money: It's all about economics,” Goodman said.</p><p>The survey was the first such study completed by the REFB since 2003. Volunteers and staff members interviewed 357 food recipients at food pantries, emergency kitchens and shelters throughout Sonoma County during the first four months of 2009.</p><p>Overall county findings closely reflect those of the Petaluma community, Goodman says.</p><p>“As Petaluma goes, so does the rest of the county,” he said.</p><p>Redwood Empire Food Bank, which serves Petaluma and other parts of Sonoma County through its food-assistance programs, has seen a 20 percent increase in clients in each of the past two years. The organization has 33 staff members and has maintained a group of some 5,000 volunteers, despite the time limitations and financial challenges many people now are facing.</p><p>“We've been trying to keep up with the growing demand,” Goodman said. “We've expanded our summer lunch program, increased our case load by providing more services to children and seniors, expanded our fresh produce supply and are in the process of opening a small grocery store (at the REFB Santa Rosa headquarters) for low-income women, infants and children.”</p><p>The summer lunch program served 92,000 meals in 2010 after supplying 54,000 in 2008 and 75,000 in 2009.</p><p>“The number we served this year is staggering,” Goodman said.</p><p>It reflects the county's growing number of hungry children, which is a particular concern due to the importance of proper nutrition during their developmental years.</p><p>The survey found that more than 38 percent of all county food recipients are under 18 years old, that more than 19 percent of households with children that receive food have very low food security and that nearly 17 percent of parents interviewed stay that their children were hungry during the previous year.</p><p>Many seniors, another major at-risk group, are vulnerable due to increased health problems and fixed incomes. More than 41 percent of the senior recipients surveyed reported having low or very low food security.</p><p>The survey revealed that some of the recipients, especially seniors, are forced to choose between paying for food or other expenses, such as gas for their car (33 percent), utilities (35 percent), medicine and medical care (32 percent) and rent or mortgage (32 percent).</p><p>“I think it's difficult for most people to imagine what it's like to be in situation where they need to make a choice between food, fuel for their car and heat for their home. It's been said that people's basic needs are food, shelter and clothing, but actually, they are food, air and water,” Goodman said.</p><p>During the current recession, more people have gained an understanding of this predicament through their own personal experiences. Middle-class people, many of them former donors, are turning up at food pantries, which is enabling more people to identify with the plight of the hungry, and realize that they, too, could be vulnerable.</p><p>“Now that more of us know somebody who has been affected, suddenly we ‘get it,'” Goodman said. “Our tendency is to think that now, people like you and me are being affected, but actually, the people affected always have been human beings like you and me. </p><p>“I hope that one outcome of these times is that people don't forget that.”</p><p>(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)</p>