Author: Anina Estrem

My background as a food pantry manager, school garden educator and degree in public policy specializing in food access informs my current work as a food banker, and provides me with an alternative perspective to American traditions for fighting hunger. I intend for this blog to provide me with a space to examine the challenges regarding food banking in a way that I believe they are not currently being analyzed.

How We Talk About Hunger Matters

At one of my past food pantries, I worked with a collection of predominantly older, wealthy, white volunteers without lived experience of hunger. They were interested in addressing hunger, as demonstrated by serving at the pantry, but many entered our organization centering fault and responsibility for hunger on the individuals experiencing it.

Working in this job gave me valuable experience learning how to teach these volunteers to reevaluate their assumptions, but also showed me the importance of developing a framework to facilitate this growth. Few people change their mind after a few conversations, but can slowly internalize and adopt ideas they are consistently exposed to.

By repeatedly emphasizing important concepts of fighting hunger, I found I can incrementally change their interpretation of food insecurity.

The more I do this work, the more I recognize the value of being thoughtful in how we frame hunger. How we think about it directly impacts the decisions we make when choosing how to address it, and if we are tactical, we can amplify our impacts through the words we use to discuss it.

Concepts to embrace:

  • We never know the whole story, and it’s never our business. It’s important to start having these conversations before a situation occurs where volunteers need to be redirected. I want my volunteers to react with empathy rather than judgement for every person who walked up to our door, and that means spending a lot of time brainstorming all the possibilities and challenges that can force someone into food insecurity. (Situations such as someone driving up in a nice car or carrying expensive belongings often prompt the need for this conversation.) It’s also a good opportunity to discuss the situations that force people into food insecurity, rather than their choices.
  • The resources offered by food pantries/ banks/ emergency assistance programs are ALWAYS inadequate. I regularly remind our volunteers of all the essentials we don’t have, which encourages them to treat our shoppers more empathetically. This helps our volunteers respond with greater compassion when working with someone dealing with panic, trauma, or fear whose needs can’t be met by the organization. It also produces an extra sense of accomplishment and pride when we are able to provide more of the support that someone needs.
  • Everyone deserves to eat. It’s a simple concept, but one that needs to be continuously reinforced by fighting cultural assumptions that food must be earned. People without jobs deserve to eat. People dealing with addiction deserve to eat. People with criminal records deserve to eat. My volunteers and I, and indeed, any food pantry or food bank staff, have no right to make judgements otherwise. Exploring the qualifiers we carry in our own minds can help volunteers reassess this value.

Fundamentally, we need food to live, and basing our work in this idea makes it harder to oppose.

Concepts to avoid:

  • Anything relating hunger to food shortages. Hunger is not a food shortage problem. Even in famine-stricken areas, the wealthy still eat. In my food pantries, I make sure to regularly have conversations about the barriers to getting food to the people who need it, including the inefficiencies and indignities of food banking itself. This helps center the conversation around poverty and oppression rather than bad luck or personal responsibility.
  • Treating hunger as an individual choice. No one makes bad decisions that leads them to food insecurity. People often make decisions different from how I would make them, but that is based on our different backgrounds, circumstances, and understanding of the world around us.

We all have to make tradeoffs, and it’s important we not penalize people for making the best choice they can.

Everyone is looking for a way to make enough money to thrive, and everyone has different tools helping or hindering them from doing so. Consistently talking about hunger as a systemic problem helps redirect our societal tendencies to treat hunger as a personal failure.

  • Relating poverty and work ethic or effort. Our society embraces the idea that hard work begets success, which allows us to pat ourselves on the back while ignoring the struggles of people we don’t think are working hard enough. This attitude justifies choosing not to support others with the idea that they need to “earn” their basic needs. The reality is, most people experiencing hunger and poverty have very few opportunities to work harder or earn more money. As long as wages fail to match up with costs of living, discrimination continues, and inequality persists, all the hard work in the world will have little opportunity to lift people up.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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Healthy Foods Aren’t Always Fresh: Improving Access

I recently found myself wrestling with the use of the words “healthy” versus “fresh.” In the food access (and wellness) fields, we often use these terms interchangeably when talking about diet, but my ruminations made me consider how it might not always be the best practice in the context of food justice.

Fresh foods are those that have undergone minimal processing, and usually need to be consumed shortly after harvest or collection. Fresh foods are generally considered healthy because they are generally whole foods without any of the additives that define our industrial food supply. They offer the simplest opportunity to consume our daily nutrients.

While most fresh foods are healthy, not all healthy foods are fresh. When it comes to fighting hunger and building food access, this is an important distinction.

Fresh foods can be hard to access. The weather in my hometown of Portland, Oregon, has quickly transitioned to fall, which means my garden is rapidly declining in productivity and many farmers’ markets are soon closing for the winter. Fresh foods will become harder to access as the season progresses, and the options at the grocery store will have to travel greater distances with variable quality.

When we place an emphasis on healthy foods being exclusively fresh, we add extra barriers for individuals who may not be able to access this option. At every food pantry I’ve ever worked at, I’ve encountered shoppers who were apologetic about their “bad diet” because they didn’t have a refrigerator or cooking capacity to choose fresh foods, regardless of what else they were eating.

Consistently accessing fresh foods requires easy access because it has a limited shelf-life. Food pantry clients often limit their shopping excursions to once or twice per month to minimize time and transportation costs, which means they only eat fresh food for a couple days after each trip.

Fresh foods also often require refrigeration and extra preparation to use, which can be beyond the capacity for someone with limited storage, inadequate tools, no time, or physical limitations. When we insist that eating fresh food is the only way to eat healthy, we mislead too many of our neighbors into believing that they are eating wrong.

When we teach people that their only options are inadequate, we foster discouragement and defeat. Food shaming never improves outcomes.

It is entirely possible to eat healthy without fresh foods. In many scenarios, preserved options are more nutrient dense because they were harvested and preserved at the peak of ripeness.

How can we foster access to healthy foods without focusing on fresh?

  • Many pantries have started to implement systems for helping clients recognize healthier options, like the Supporting Wellness At Pantries (SWAP) system. It’s a simple and efficient way to uplift the nutritional qualities of shelf-stable goods common to pantries. This helps highlight the value of preserved options without comparing them to fresh foods.
  • Start these conversations with staff and volunteers to ensure they’re familiar with barriers to fresh food and the value of preserved options. Our world is very eager to find a magic bullet for health, and it’s important that volunteers don’t reinforce this idea in the pantry. Presenting a challenge to develop healthy choices from the shelf-stable section can be a great learning experience for volunteers, and help them think about the nuances of food insecurity a little more.
  • Embrace frozen foods. It was revolutionary when one of my previous pantries recognized the potential of frozen options. Our supply constantly changed, but having a spot to consistently offer frozen vegetables and a mix of other options was an efficient option for clients to load up. While this does demand an extra piece of equipment, there are many organizations (and even food banks) that offer funding and grants for the purchase of freezers and other tools to facilitate frozen distribution.
  • Focus less on individual healthy or unhealthy foods, and more on the meals they can create. Healthy food is more than the sum of its nutrients, and we do our communities a disserve when we adopt a black/white perspective. Health comes from the security of knowing where your next meal is coming from, from the joy of connecting with your community, and the confidence of nourishing your body with what it needs.
  • It is important to recognize we should continue increasing access to fresh foods. One option is for pantries to remove their limits on how often clients can visit (whether they be monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly). Food pantry produce rarely lasts very long, so increasing pantry access would significantly improve fresh options, as long as the pantry has the systems, inventory, and paradigm to support such a move.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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Making the Most of Your Food Drive

As we head into the holiday seasons, heralded by the arrival of twenty-foot-tall skeletons and inflatable black cats, most anti-hunger organizations are finalizing plans for their winter food drive. Food drives have long been a staple of food access work- they are a great mechanism for collecting food while increasing community engagement and awareness of their mission. Nearly all food access organizations utilize this tool.

But there are significant shortcomings and challenges that accompany food drives. In this post, I’ll share what some of those are, and ways that organizations and community members can navigate them.

Food drives are fantastic for many reasons. They bring much-wanted variety to a food supply that can often grow monotonous when depending on bulk food bank donations. They offer a tangible way for community members to connect with your organization. Personalizing donations are a beautiful entry point for neighbors to have discussions about the reality of food insecurity. Sorting donations is a great task for the huge influx of volunteers that nonprofits often see during the holiday season.

But these same benefits also present challenges.

Most food banks have specific food needs, based on what items they’ve been able to source elsewhere, and these needs can vary month to month. Unless it’s an incredibly targeted food drive (I’ve seen breakfast cereal or peanut butter specific events), food drives may not meet the food pantry’s highest food needs. While all donations are impactful, targeted aid is the most effective for fighting hunger.

The foods most in demand are often the most expensive, which means they are also the least likely to be donated. My personal mission is always to increase donations of spices and seasonings, but their high cost makes them some of the least donated ingredients. While I enthusiastically encourage people to donate foods that make them happy (because it helps remind them that people experiencing hunger are just like them), this builds community engagement more than an appropriate food supply.

Food drives are also a LOT of work.

My previous pantries supplied donors with donation barrels that we would try to both deliver and pick up. This required a volunteer or staff member to make extra trips during our busiest time of year, generally in less-than-ideal weather conditions. It felt worth it when we picked up hundreds of pounds of food, but often one or two hours of driving and days of coordination yielded little more than twenty or thirty pounds. While the donor absolutely deserved our praise and gratitude, this is not an ideal use of time. Many organizations hosting food drives also like to provide personalized signage and food requests, the development of which often falls on to food pantries. The amount of labor that goes into facilitating a food drive may not produce a similar payoff.

Once the food has been received, it needs to be organized. Delivered in overflowing boxes, bags, and barrels, food banks or pantries must sort it into categories that allow them to efficiently manage their distribution, be it in prepacked boxes or on grocery-style shelves. This responsibility usually falls to volunteer groups, who often sign up for one-time shifts during the holidays.

Under the supervision of a staff member, volunteers evaluate the food to ensure it’s safe for distribution (inevitably someone donates homemade preserves, goods without a label, or a bottle of alcohol- all unallowable options that must be discarded). These types of shifts are often fun but highly chaotic and have varying degrees of efficiency for the amount of work that actually gets done. While they are a perfect way to get volunteers into the door of their local food pantry, they are less successful at helping these organizations meet their day-to-day responsibilities of serving clients.

Additionally, this labor- and time-intensive task can mean that donations sit taking up space until they can be addressed. Sometimes this means organizations cannot accept other donations until food drive is sorted and distributed. This can be a significant problem for pantries with limited storage capacity.

How can we make food drives more functional?

Food banks (and some pantries) have significantly more buying power than the average individual, which means donated funds can buy much more food than an individual in their local grocery store.

One of the most efficient ways to maximize capacity is through virtual food drives– where neighbors donate funds, or even choose to buy specific items which ensure the food bank gets the best rates as well as the foods they most need.

Transitioning food drives to virtual, while still leaving room and opportunity for the donation of physical goods, is ultimately more accessible and efficient for everyone.

The one challenge this leaves is it reduces opportunities for large groups to volunteer together with food pantries, who often cannot accommodate their size or offer responsibilities to work together during day-to-day operations. In this scenario, food banks who do still have the capacity and need for larger shifts should step up to ensure these volunteers have a place to channel their energy while also connecting them with impact on the local level.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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It’s Time to Empower Leaders Who Know Hunger

I recently had the opportunity to consider a position as a leader in an anti-hunger organization, but it quickly became apparent that the priority skillset for this position was financial management rather than food security. I am incredibly confident that when the position is filled, it will be by a man with a background in banking or investing rather than nonprofits.

While I recognize the significant financial responsibilities of running an organization, I argue that it’s hard to solve a problem you don’t know much about.

This is one of the reasons why hunger policy so easily goes astray- it’s mostly written by people with no lived experience.

(To be clear, I don’t have lived experience of hunger either. This incident simply highlights for me the reality that this industry is one which rarely prioritizes leadership from subject matter experts.)

Modern day society generally accepts that people are wealthy and successful because of hard work and good choices, and that poverty results from laziness and failure. The result of this thinking is that we deliberately seek leadership from people we view as successful, which excludes anyone intimately familiar with poverty.

More than half of our Congress are millionaires– are we really surprised when they are ignorant of the burden of the cost of groceries or childcare?

This practice facilitates policy decisions based on how these wealthy individuals feel about hunger rather than the reality of the experience. It perpetuates solutions that are often inadequate, ineffective, and sometimes harmful to the people they intend to serve.

Luckily, we are in a time of transition in the movement to end hunger. In the last couple years, the field has made significant progress in uplifting the voices of people with lived experience. When we recognize that poverty is a societal, rather than individual problem, we can appreciate the incredible skills, strategies, and strength of people who live it.

Nonetheless, nonprofit leadership roles in the US continue to be dominated by wealthy, white individuals without lived experience of poverty or hunger.

The transition to elevate those with lived experience into leadership has been slow. This requires a redistribution of power, and few people or organizations relinquish their advantages willingly.

While running a nonprofit requires strong leadership and administrative experience, it’s time we broadened our definition of what a strong leader looks like to ensure we are uplifting the people most capable of addressing society’s biggest problems.

Instead of prioritizing financial success in our leaders and hiring anti-hunger experts, why don’t we prioritize anti-hunger experts and hire the staff who can help achieve their ambitious agendas?

What are the qualities necessary for leading an effective anti-hunger organization, if we’re not focusing on business acumen?

  • A clear vision. Anti-hunger organizations choose from a variety of goals, including ending hunger, preventing starvation, offering temporary aid, or ensuring everyone has equal access to an emergency supply.

Clarity of vision starts with executive leadership undertaking thoughtful reflection, study, and goal setting with the explicit recognition of the privilege and experience on their team. When leadership doesn’t have a reality-based vision, staff and volunteers must create their own which may or may not align with that of the organization.

  • An overflowing well of empathy. Serving people living with poverty, trauma, and hardship every day is incredibly taxing. It can be easy for leaders who aren’t doing the on-the-ground implementation to grow complacent or blasé about the impacts of this experience on clients and staff. Anti-hunger leaders should endeavor to learn about and understand the challenges of this work from both sides if they don’t have lived experience. A leader lacking empathy for the challenges of living with hunger or the emotional fatigue of fighting it does their community a disservice.
  • Trust. It is essential that leaders trust the experience and insight of staff and clients who fight hunger daily. Leaders may have great ideas about how to manage clients or food flow that are utterly impractical, so they need to trust their staff’s expertise. All employees also need to trust the people they serve, which starts with letting go of the assumptions our society clings to about poverty.

When we assume that we know what’s best for someone else, we stop serving our community effectively.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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How Hunger-Free Communities Benefit Us All

Today is the last day of Hunger Action Month, a time to raise awareness about the prevalence and reality of hunger in America. I firmly believe that the way we think about hunger is the primary obstacle to solving it, so this month I have focused on challenging the assumptions we’ve been conditioned to accept, and offering new tools for taking those ideas out into the world.

In today’s political climate, it’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming that someone who doesn’t agree with you has completely different goals and interests. Election season is the prime time for the media and political campaigns to capitalize on fears that someone else’s interests diverge too far from our own to ever find compromise.

Despite the division that permeates much of the public sphere, the reality is that we have more goals in common than we have differences. We all want crime to drop, and to enjoy clean air and safe water. We want our neighborhood schools to be recognized for their excellence, and to find jobs that align with our values and appreciate our skills. We want a world where we can celebrate that hard work and dedication got us to where we are today, without a hint of unearned advantages. No matter which side of the political spectrum you land on, these are common aspirations for people all over the world.

We run into conflict when we decide that other people don’t have these shared goals. This “othering” helps us justify targeted or unfair treatment.

I regularly hear people worry about individuals using food pantries who don’t really need the food, a fear commonly used to justify harsh restrictions and limitations on access. I like to ask the worried person if they have ever used a food pantry when they didn’t need to, and they always recoil in offense. “Absolutely not!”

When asked what makes them different from someone regularly shopping at a food pantry, there’s no answer.

Our society is quick to sort people into winners vs. losers, with little consideration for how naïve and destructive this tendency really is. Our world is better when our neighbors are food secure, which means when we treat people experiencing hunger poorly, we have a negative impact upon our own lives.

Whatever we believe about what an individual has earned or deserves, a well-fed, healthy neighborhood is safer, more stable, and has a stronger community.

We all benefit from ensuring the people around us have the food they need to thrive, no matter what conditions lead to that security.

It is short-sighted to sacrifice our own well-being just because we believe others don’t deserve the help. Fighting hunger benefits everyone

Food secure communities experience less crime and violence.

Well-nourished students learn better and are less disruptive to their peers, which benefits the entire classroom.

Food insecurity and diet related diseases increase strain on our already not-awesome healthcare system, and the high costs push our neighbors into financial crises that taxpayers must help cover. Nourished families improve healthcare for everyone.

Food insecurity often precedes houselessness, so active efforts to fight hunger can reduce the number of people in our cities and communities who are unhoused.  

It’s ridiculous that we live in a world where too many people would rather deal with the negative implications of hunger rather than solve the problem, just so that someone doesn’t get help we don’t think they’ve earned.

As we wrap up Hunger Action Month and head into the height of election fever, I implore you to remind your communities that hunger hurts everyone, including ourselves, and that fighting and preventing hunger is one of the most effective ways we can enhance the quality, stability, and dignity of our own lives.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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The Seasonal Cycle of Fighting Hunger

September is Hunger Action Month, a time to raise awareness about the prevalence and reality of hunger in America. I firmly believe that the way we think about hunger is the primary obstacle to solving it, so this month I am focusing on challenging the assumptions we’ve been conditioned to accept, and offer new tools for taking those ideas out into the world.

We have just started getting real autumnal weather here in Portland, Oregon. Heavy dark clouds unleashed a torrential downpour the other evening, and it’s starting to stay cool enough to keep my socks and sweatshirt on all day- a sure sign that summer is ending (I’m so ready!) Along with the weather, kids are in school again and it feels like my neighborhood is settling back down into a standard work routine.

In alignment with the season, anti-hunger organizations are also gearing up for the next phase of their work. For many nonprofits, September through December are the busiest months of the year thanks to holiday drives, donation campaigns, and increased need for services.

In my food pantries, it always very much felt like the transition from August to September went from 0 to 100 mph overnight as the needs of clients, donors, and volunteers all skyrocket simultaneously. This year is likely to be no different as our nation continues to face inflation, inaccessible housing costs, and a host of other challenges that leaves too many people food insecure.

While hunger is an increasingly chronic problem in the United States, there remains a certain seasonality to our efforts to fight it.

The needs of our neighbors and our ability to offer emergency food services fluctuate based on the time of year in a way that may not be immediately apparent to an onlooker.

Fall

With summer over and routines reestablished, it often seems like a regular food pantry visit returns to the schedule for many families. Food pantries often experience significant increases in clients from September through December.

In addition, the arrival of cold and harsh weather increases the cost of utilities which quickly depletes household budgets. Pantries and anti-hunger organizations see the greatest number of requests for nonfood items like rental assistance, bus passes, and warm clothing during this time. Few pantries have adequate resources to offer meaningful support on these, which increases the need and desire to give out as much food as possible.

Luckily, the onset of soup weather often increases shoppers’ interest in canned goods that they can store away for an emergency or supplement with the odds and ends they find at the pantry.

This season also includes numerous holidays that specifically celebrate certain foods. For many households who are just getting by, accessing something like a turkey or ham may be beyond their reach. Food pantries will often see clients who only visit once a year for these specialty items.

How to support your local pantry:

Sign up to volunteer! You’ve got time to become an operations expert before the chaos of the holidays really hits.

Donate food. Many pantries are already making plans for their holiday distributions, so consider reaching out to find out what communities are served and what foods help them celebrate their culture and connections.

Winter

Increasingly bad weather makes waiting in line and shopping at a food pantry more difficult, which means pantries often see more unpredictable attendance. Additionally, in the same way that shoppers clean out a grocery store in the face of a winter storm, pantries experience the same. The weather continues to demand increased spending on utilities, clothing, and holiday gifts which amplifies the challenges that food pantry clients face.

This is the time of year when people are most interested in volunteering, which places huge demands on employees to facilitate volunteer orientation, training, and ongoing support. Be sympathetic if staff are slow to get back to your inquiries about volunteering and remember that a thousand other people have just done the same thing too!

How to support your local pantry:

Donate nonperishable funds or foods, including holiday specific foods.

Set a reminder in your phone to sign up to volunteer in January or later in the year, when the onslaught of volunteers evaporates but food insecurity continues.

Spring

In my experience, spring is the most routine and predictable season for fighting hunger. Many people are struggling to financially recover from the winter holidays, which means pantries have more consistent visits from clients.

Improving weather makes interruptions in food supply less likely and makes it more pleasant for clients to wait in line and access the pantry.

How to support your local pantry:

Host a food drive. The holidays often clean pantries out of their staples and specialty items, and it takes a while to recover.

Sign up to volunteer during spring break, when many volunteers go on vacation.

Summer

All the data indicates that food insecurity rates tend to increase during the summer when kids are out of school and lose access to free meals (although hopefully this is less likely with the implementation of SUN Bucks). Anecdotally, I’ve always found that my food pantries instead saw a drop in attendance, which I attribute to more erratic schedules with kids home from school and hot weather that makes it more uncomfortable to travel and wait in line.

How to support:

Volunteer! This is the time that volunteers go on vacation, which means more pantries are scrambling to meet their minimum staffing needs. Unfortunately, people generally only think about seasonal volunteering during the winter holidays, but if you really want to make a difference, summer is the time!

If your garden has excess produce, many food pantries will enthusiastically accept it. Just remember that if you don’t want to eat it (like wormy apples or nickel-sized green tomatoes), pantry clients don’t want to either!

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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How Food Pantry Accessibility Fights Hunger

September is Hunger Action Month, a time to raise awareness about the prevalence and reality of hunger in America. I firmly believe that the way we think about hunger is the primary obstacle to solving it, so this month I am focusing on challenging the assumptions we’ve been conditioned to accept, and offer new tools for taking those ideas out into the world.

This photo shows a woman from the back walking down a wide flight of stairs

Recently, I had the opportunity to tour a food pantry I’d never been to before. Walking up to the building, I found myself worrying about how I would find it. I’d been given the building address, but no further directions. I assumed I’d have to make my way through a labyrinth of corridors and ask for help to get to my meeting on time. Stepping through the front door, I was pleasantly surprised to see pantry shelves directly ahead of me.

Photo looks down a stairwell in a musty old building

Upon reflection, I realized that I had imagined this pantry would be in the basement. My default assumption is that food pantries are in spaces that no one else wants. Accustomed to working with organizations looking to squeeze their services in wherever they can rather than where is easiest for shoppers, I struggle to envision a pantry anywhere else but a church basement.

Food pantries, as underfunded and underappreciated programs, have long been relegated to areas where they won’t get in anyone else’s way. Although I absolutely recognize that limited budgets demand the use of free space wherever available, this still presents real challenges for making food services accessible to everyone.

The physical placement and design of food pantries has a significant influence on how accessible they are for the people who need their services the most.  

When pantries are in spaces no one else wants, it’s often because those spaces are hard to access or navigate, like the basement I assumed I was looking for.

Shows a shelf of fresh produce displayed in plastic bins, including peppers, apples, oranges, peppers and carrots

People with disabilities already face extra barriers to food security, including discrimination in employment and healthcare, and finding safe and accessible housing. Many of my previous food pantry clients have shared with me the inadequacy of their disability benefits (when they were able to get them), which meant emergency food assistance programs were often their only food resource.  But this requires finding a pantry that can accommodate their individual needs.

Households with a member with a disability experience higher hunger rates than households without. Even with the protection of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), many services and venues are not easily accessible to everyone, like food pantries in basements, which is why too many people continue to experience hunger.

Food pantries often require clients to wait in long lines, walk long winding hallways and staircases or ride in rickety elevators, and then carry a heavy selection of food home. These are all barriers for many people, and not just individuals with disabilities.

The systems that food pantries use to accommodate their awkward locations in many cases have made it harder for everyone to access. By focusing on how we can increase accessibility for people with the greatest barriers, we reduce obstacles to food security for everyone.

How we can make food pantries more physically accessible:

–Manage the wait in line. As well as being physically demanding, waiting in a long pantry line often contributes to tension and stress as people worry about time and whether there’s enough food. Long lines are a significant challenge for many pantries, but there are several options for changing the system.

Shows the feet of people waiting in a long long outside on the pavement in summertime

I’ve seen some pantries switch to handing out numbers to clients at an assigned time before opening so that people don’t have to physically wait in line. This model does require a staff member or volunteer to support and supervise before the pantry opens, which can be hard.

Also consider where people line up. Standing in line for extended periods of time can be hard on anyone, and act as a deterrent for those with physical limitations. Is the space covered to protect against sun and rain? Is there anywhere for people to sit? Can shoppers save their spot with a bag or box while they sit in their car? This practice risks accusations of cutting, but can be the most practical, especially on bad weather days where no one should be standing outside.

Shows a woman in a heavy coat helping load groceries into the car for a man in a wheelchair

–Shopping the pantry. How easy is it to get to and move around in the space? Pantries don’t need to be big, but they do need to be able to accommodate wheelchairs and other mobility devices, and several people at once for those who need support. One of my first food pantries was up on a high school auditorium stage, which required shoppers to walk up a long winding corridor, weave their way across the stage, and then walk down a short flight of stairs with their full box of food. Retrospectively, this was a terribly inaccessible setup.

Wheelchair accessibility often receives the most attention because it is a highly visible aid, but it’s important to remember the diversity of needs for people experiencing hunger. Is there room for shoppers to be accompanied by a caregiver or support person? Do volunteers know how to behave around a service animal? Is the space well-lit, ventilated, and calm and quiet? Are there volunteers who know American Sign Language (ASL)? I am regularly surprised at how many volunteers know ASL, and how often we needed them.

Shows an African American woman smiling and using sign language with another woman with her back to the camera

–How do shoppers collect their food? If an individual can’t carry a basket or push a shopping cart, is there help available? Are volunteers trained to offer appropriate and respectful support in these circumstances? Are there people to help get their food to the car, or to bring the shopping cart back in?

I’ve seen many pantries offer prepacked boxes or menus for people who cannot access the full pantry, (like my model on the auditorium stage) and while offering alternative systems is important, we need to be careful in how they are administered. How do shoppers find out about these options? Too often, these kinds of options are only offered to people with visible disabilities. Does everyone still have access to the full range of foods? I recommend advertising and making alternative access options available to everyone, no questions asked. Boxes can potentially be packed at the beginning of distribution to simplify the process.

–Is the food accessible? Accessible pantries offer a diversity of selections. While we should absolutely continue to increase the supply of fresh produce and whole foods, not everyone can use these. Prepared and instant foods are valuable for people who are busy or have physical limitations that influence their ability to prepare food. Can shoppers make their own food choices, and is there flexibility? Rigid limits may mean people have to visit more often to stay nourished. If making the trip to the food pantry is already difficult, this only adds to the obstacles they face.

Do food options accommodate for special diets or allergens? There’s increasing energy in the industry for signage identifying these foods, but it does require training teams on the specifics, and conversations with clientele to learn the specific needs of your community.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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We Can’t Fight Hunger With Food Shaming

September is Hunger Action Month, a time to raise awareness about the prevalence and reality of hunger in America. I firmly believe that the way we think about hunger is the primary obstacle to solving it, so this month I am focusing on challenging the assumptions we’ve been conditioned to accept, and offer new tools for taking those ideas out into the world.

As a woman, I often receive unwanted public attention towards my food choices. If I order a salad, critiques range from how I must be watching my weight to compliments for making the healthy choice. When I order a steak, someone may congratulate me for not caring what other people think or they may offer some gross innuendo about the carnality of eating meat. My food choices are judged and discussed as if they are appropriate for public discussion.

While women generally receive the bulk of commentary about what they eat, it doesn’t mean that men don’t experience this. Overall, America’s obsession with diet culture means that our food choices are regularly evaluated by others, no matter who we are. People buying junk food are criticized for their ignorance of healthy eating, but people sticking to an organic, local diet are similarly castigated for being elitist and bougie.

No matter how we choose to eat, someone somewhere is comfortable announcing why we’re wrong.

Our society tends to treat foods as either good or bad with no middle ground, and we categorize people who eat those foods the same way. This fosters stigmatization and discrimination against people whose choices we disagree with.

This problem quickly becomes apparent in food pantries. It’s essential to remember that the foods most available to food pantries (even the ones doing their best to be healthy!) are the cheapest and least healthy- the “bad” foods. Even when pantry clients have few other options, it’s easy for volunteers and staff to make negative assumptions about individuals based on their selection of food. Fostering negative attitudes about shoppers inevitably manifests a less positive environment, and can unintentionally facilitate other discriminatory attitudes.

Alongside a desire to offer our opinions, there is a parallel desire to control what people experiencing poverty eat.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the efforts to add restrictions to SNAP limiting the purchase of unhealthy junk foods (which completely ignore the reality that healthy food costs more- we need to raise SNAP benefits if we want people to make different choices.)

Alongside the shame of visiting a food pantry, people experiencing hunger often undergo the secondary trauma of having their food choices supervised, monitored, and judged. This is a significant barrier to getting people the food they need to thrive. A welcoming pantry where shoppers feel free to pick the foods that work for them, rather than being pressured or humiliated into certain choices, is the pantry most effectively fighting hunger.

How we can reduce food shaming in pantries:

  • Do not monitor food choices. Too often, knowing a volunteer is watching their every move is enough to influence what a food pantry client is comfortable taking. While your pantry may have volunteers enforcing limits, do so as respectfully and as noninvasively as possible. If your pantry has staff or volunteers check or repack food selections before a client checks out, see if there is any way to change your system so that shoppers don’t feel like their choices have to be “approved.”
  • Offer a wide variety of foods. The more available your fresh produce is, the more people are likely to take it, but you cannot shame anyone into eating healthier. And too many people don’t have the capacity to use fresh options– many clients may depend on a microwave as their only cooking tool, or only have minutes available between work and caregiving responsibilities. Shaming them for the food choices does not make any healthier foods easier to eat. Offering a wide range of foods ensures that there is something that will work for everyone. Don’t turn your back on instant options.
  • Train volunteers to recognize their implicit biases and understand how it influences how they support shoppers. Unfortunately, food shaming is closely linked to weight shaming and fatphobia, and can manifest through poor treatment and services. This is a sensitive subject worthy of its own blog post, but it’s important to explicitly recognize that our judgements about size and food choice heavily influence how we interact with people. If we want to build inclusive, respectful, and effective food pantries, we need to acknowledge and work on these biases.

Major appreciation to Elie Jacobsen for helping source photos this week!

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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Hunger is Political

September is Hunger Action Month, a time to raise awareness about the prevalence and reality of hunger in America. I firmly believe that the way we think about hunger is the primary obstacle to solving it, so this month I am focusing on challenging the assumptions we’ve been conditioned to accept, and offer new tools for taking those ideas out into the world.

Several years ago, I worked as a volunteer coordinator at a major food bank. I was lucky enough to start there just as we rolled out a new advocacy strategy, which meant my colleagues and I were responsible for introducing it to the community. As part of the volunteer repack shifts, we began to develop discussion points for engaging volunteers in anti-hunger advocacy.

While respecting the lobbying limitations of a nonprofit, we initiated conversations about the relationship between hunger and housing, healthcare, racial justice, and other issues. While some volunteers were receptive, many others were deeply irritated or even offended that we mentioned such problems.

“Stay in your lane! Hunger isn’t supposed to be political.”

I regularly received feedback that people volunteer with the food bank specifically because hunger “wasn’t political.” The second we started talking about how increasing affordable housing or accessible healthcare would fight hunger, we crossed a line.

The reality is, hunger is intensely political. The food insecurity rates of our neighbors and communities are directly related to the choices that we, from individuals to nations, make every day.

Hunger does not exist in a silo. No one experiencing hunger faces that as their only challenge. Hunger is intimately related to housing, healthcare, wages, racism, discrimination, gender, childcare, and a million other issues. If we really want to end hunger, then we need an organized plan to address poverty and all that encompasses.

If you are angry with your food bank for talking politics, then you aren’t really fighting hunger.

You’re fighting for the status quo.  

Every public policy relates to hunger. But while hunger is political, it doesn’t have to be partisan.

For example, libraries offer a space for people to use computers and the internet for free, which can be essential for applying to jobs or accessing resources. Losing this option can heavily impact the food security of an individual. The library bond on your ballot is a hunger issue.

Many, many people rely on public transportation to get to work, buy groceries, and carry out their daily life. Without a reliable way to get around, people go hungry, work can’t get done, and the economy suffers. The loud city bus your neighbor complains about is a hunger issue.

Many our food pantry clients have jobs, but are still forced to live in their cars, shelters, or couch surf. Without housing options within their budgets, they struggle to maintain a job, stay safe, and eat healthy food. Food pantries and SNAP are designed for people with kitchens, which meant we have fewer options to offer these people who go hungry as a result. Affordable housing is a hunger issue.

Voting is one of the most important ways we provide feedback and guidance to our government. Increasing barriers to vote (like we’re currently seeing) means we silence valuable opinions and lived experience that help shape stronger communities. Voting rights are a hunger issue.

It takes bravery for anti-hunger organizations to publicly discuss these relationships. And the legalities of nonprofits and politics make many organizations wary of crossing a line. But if we really want to solve hunger, we can’t limit our advocacy efforts to just food access.  

Here’s how anti-hunger organizations can begin engaging with the bipartisan politics of hunger in their communities:

  • Host voter registration drives. This is a great entry point because it doesn’t explicitly connect hunger with politics, but it still opens the door for action from clients and volunteers alike. There is also an enormous amount of misinformation and voter suppression this year, so providing reliable resources and support is an incredibly valuable option.
  • Incorporate clients referrals to partner organizations that can help them with other issues like housing, healthcare, childcare, education, and other challenges. Make sure your volunteers know about these relationships, and why they are important. Every opportunity that our community sees a connection between hunger and other symptoms of poverty helps strengthen our understanding of the challenge we face.
  • Develop systems where your public-facing employees can have these conversations. Does volunteer orientation discuss how hunger relates to other challenges in your region? Start small, in one-on-one or small group discussions for practice, before bringing it to bigger volunteer shifts. Don’t try this unless leadership at every level believes and is ready to support the intersectionality of hunger. You’re likely to irritate or lose those volunteers who maintain that these discussions are too political- make sure to support your staff when this happens, but also remember that it also builds a stronger team who is better prepared to take decisive actions towards ending hunger.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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Fight Hunger with Local Food

The last food pantry that I worked at was always buried in local plums during summertime. Community members, overwhelmed by the abundance of their fruit trees, knew that we had the capacity and the enthusiasm to take as much as they had to give away. Our walk-in refrigerator was piled high with cases of fruit and coated in the sticky juice that rapidly spread to all surfaces of the pantry.

The scale of the donations and the short shelf-life of ripe plums meant that we encouraged our visitors to take as much as they wanted, no holds barred. Alongside this fruit, we also received donations of excess zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, root vegetables and more from local gardeners.

These foods were fresher than what we got from the grocery stores, and the irregular sizes, shapes, and colors were popular among our clients precisely because they identified the foods as locally grown.

But as summer ended and the local gardens and fruit trees were depleted, our fresh options dwindled as well. Our produce selection shrank to whatever we received from grocery stores and our regional food bank, rarely in the same quantities as the plums, and never as fresh.

While the term “local food” is thrown around often enough to numb us to its meaning, there are real, tangible reasons why it is important and worth supporting.

Alongside tasting better, fresh foods are more nutritious, and small local operations are far more likely to grow varieties that haven’t been sapped of their nutritional value.

Making local purchases ensures that money stays in the community, rather than heading to a corporation halfway around the world. Foods grown in our community travel shorter distances, which means they have less of environmental impact when it comes to transportation and storage.

I have to note that it’s important to consider what our definition of “local food” is. While contracts and federal funding demand more clarity, my favorite framing of local is food that comes from as close as possible. Only eating locally grown foods is largely unrealistic- there are no cocoa farms in Oregon, so I’m not willing to even try. However, focusing on foods grown in our region when we can adds offers real benefits to our bodies and our communities.

But food banks and pantries were not designed to prioritize fresh options, and the systems we have rarely support local producers or growers.

Where do food pantries get their fresh produce?

  • Donations from grocery stores. These donations are often where pantries find a real diversity of foods, based on the store’s options. However, they may vary widely in quality because all stores (and their staff) have different standards for how donations are handled. Some donate foods when they’re just past their peak but still functional, but often times donations are well past their use-by date. It’s not malicious- this is simply a system that doesn’t really work for fresh produce.
  • Food banks. These options can come from grocery stores, but also producers and distributors who may have over-ordered or are unable to sell the food for a variety of reasons beyond expiration dates. Food banks are generally able to access and store higher quantities of produce, which in turn helps food pantries offer more consistent choices for their shoppers. An increasing number of food banks have started buying produce in bulk, but generally must prioritize price over place of origin.
  • Community and neighborhood gardens. Some community gardens dedicate specific growing space for their local pantry, while others simply donate their excess. This often helps pantries access foods that grow in abundance, like zucchini, cucumber, tomatoes, and of course plums and other fruits. Getting these foods to the food pantry can sometimes be challenging, because there may not be enough volume to justify the organization doing regular pickups.

The challenge with all of these options is that most of the time fresh produce is donated because no one else wants it. While occasionally mistakes like over-ordering lead to accessing perfectly ripe produce, most donations are made because the food is past its peak or is otherwise undesirable.

Even the community garden donations tend to skew towards ten-pound zucchinis and bruised apples. While these options are still functional, these are not foods that food pantry clients would select at the grocery store or their local farmer’s market.

Offering foods near the end of their lifespan also shortens the timeline of when someone can use it. Providing produce that needs to be eaten immediately means that recipients will not have any fresh produce after just two or three days, and makes it harder to assemble tasty, functional meals.

How can anti-hunger organizations access quality local produce?

  • Purchase produce. Since the pandemic, more and more food banks have been purchasing produce to pass on to pantries that is more desirable and lasts longer. With thoughtful purchasing, we can support local farmers, reduces shipping costs, and offers fresher food to clients. It does require a shift in priorities to secure additional funding, so it demands leadership that is clear and committed to the mission of uplifting the health of their community.
  • Connect with farmers markets. One of my food pantries regularly received a donation of excess produce from the farmers market, and it was always magnificent! This food was far fresher than anything we ever got from the grocery store and provided a wider range of culturally specific options. However, one of the main challenges of this partnership is that farmers markets are often weekly events whose schedule may or may not align with food pantry hours.
  • CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). This week I connected with a food pantry that buys shares from their local CSA to supplement their fresh produce options, and I’m absolutely enamored with the idea. This is a brilliant way to support local farmers, access fresh produce, and maintain a diversity of options in the pantry. The primary challenge for using this is that CSA shares generally need to be picked up on site, but food pantries who already have volunteers doing donation pickups may be able to add another site to the schedule.

I checked in with my food justice friends to name a few of their favorite CSAs. While the season is winding down, you can still save this list for next spring!

Turkey River Farm in Elkport, IA

Old Homeplace Farm in Oneida, KY

Land’s Sake Farm in Weston, MA

Wild Coyote Farm in Berrien Springs, MI

Three Goats Farm in Oregon City, OR

Zenger Farm in Portland, OR

Old Plank Farm in Plymouth, WI

*There are other ways for people experiencing hunger to access local produce outside of the pantry- such as Double Up Food Bucks and Veggie Rx. Today I’m specifically examining how to get those foods into pantries.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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Do Food Pantry Clients Have the Time to Cook From Scratch?

After a long day of work, there is nothing worse than having to decide what to cook for dinner. If I don’t already have a plan, figuring out how to quickly assemble a meal that is nutritious and appealing based on what’s in the fridge is a challenge. As a perpetually hungry (and often hangry) individual, I hate scrambling to put a meal together last minute.

While I’ve previously discussed the emotional labor of fighting hunger, it’s also important to acknowledge the emotional labor it takes to nourish a household.

Preparing meals for your family requires an enormous amount of thinking and planning, no matter how simple the actual process of cooking may be.

Preparing food isn’t limited to the physical labor of cooking.

Meal planning requires considering personal preferences, nutritional requirements, cooking skills and capacity, and the availability and accessibility of ingredients. The household cook must align household expectations with their budget and resources.

This work is largely invisible, and sharply divided by gender. For people who aren’t the primary cooks of their household (like the men who predominantly manage anti-hunger programs and determine policy), it’s easy to believe that meal prep only encompasses the tasks necessary to safely cook, prepare, and serve dinner.

The challenges of putting together a tasty meal are amplified if you’re a food pantry client, as you likely have little choice or autonomy over the foods and quantities available to you.

One of the primary challenges is that more than half of people facing food insecurity are employed full time. Those who aren’t working full time face significant barriers to doing so, such as disabilities, caregiving responsibilities, or a lack of employment opportunities. To make ends meet, many people work multiple jobs, which means available time for food preparation is extremely limited.

The next challenge is to figure out how to turn eight cans of beans, two cans of tuna, a butternut squash, and a jumbo bag of potato chips into something your household is excited to eat. While I’m sure it can be done, it takes creativity, research, and time to transform food pantry donations into a functional meal. This is a big ask from someone already overextended by the trials of poverty.

Despite the challenges of living with food insecurity, we still haven’t moved away from the unrealistic expectation that people who care about their families cook wholesome, time-intensive meals from scratch, and project that assumption on our emergency food assistance programs.

While we don’t have the option of increasing wages or reducing work hours for our clients, there are steps food pantries can take to ease the burden on our shoppers.

  • Provide foods that accommodate a variety of lifestyles and living situations. Too many of our food pantry clients had little time or capacity for intensive cooking sessions. While I applaud the movement to emphasize fresh, whole foods, this level of food prep may not be accessible for working households. Microwave meals, canned goods, and instant options are essential to accommodate all lifestyles. It’s important to remember that our opinions of what people “should eat” has no impact on what they are able to eat.
  • Bundle. The food that pantries provide is only useful if clients can use it. That means providing food in quantities and partnerships that make it useful. No one eats tomato sauce on its own- partnering it with pasta, chili ingredients, or other pairings ensures that it supports a functional meal. While providing a household with a small can of chicken noodle soup may prevent starvation, it doesn’t relieve the burden of trying to figure out what else the meal requires to make sure everyone’s belly is full. Offer useful quantities and partner with appropriate items when possible.
  • Offer culturally appropriate foods that are familiar to clients. This saves people from having to learn how to prep new foods and convince their family to eat it. (While I’m a fan of encouraging people to try new foods, it’s important to offer it as an option rather than expectation.) Offering cooking classes or taste tests alongside sensitivity training for volunteers may be necessary to ensure they are able to appropriately support clients when shopping.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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What Data Should We Ask of Food Pantry Clients?

I once got a phone call at my food pantry from a woman who had recently tried to get help from another pantry in the region. Crying into the phone, she wanted to make a complaint about the volunteer she had worked with, mistaking our pantry as the parent organization.

This woman was trying to get food for the first time from this site but was told because she didn’t have proof of identification for every member of her household, she wasn’t eligible. She became understandably upset, and in the ensuing argument was told she was banned from visiting for a year. She was panicked that her family would go hungry, and frustrated by the excessive demands to qualify for food assistance.

Requiring proof of identification from every member of her household was an excessive and inappropriate expectation. Who carries that kind of information with them? How do they manage that with children in the household? I was frustrated that this happened, but requiring documentation or proof of need is a longstanding tradition in emergency food assistance. Our desire to make sure that people really “deserve” the help motivates demands for proof of income, address, or other evidence that proves a household struggles with hunger.

The more information organizations require of their clients, the more people they deter from participating.

If our goal is to reduce hunger, then this is antithetical to our mission. In many cases, merely the fear or stigma of having to prove one’s need is enough to stop many people from seeking help.

Most food pantries require their clients’ names, birthdays, address, and the names and birthdays of all household members. Sometimes this information is required to determine eligibility (like address for programs who only serve certain zip codes), while others simply need it for their records. Federal programs like TEFAP may also require an income declaration for proof of need.

 When I first started working at one of my food pantries, they required gender as well, for a completely unknown reason (as soon as possible I changed it to asking our shoppers’ pronouns instead.)

Requiring documentation represents an burden for many different reasons. Immigrants, regardless of their immigration status, may be fearful of authority and avoid situations that leave them vulnerable and subject to scrutiny. In addition, too many organizations do not or are unable to translate their documents and signage explaining their requirements, which makes them largely inaccessible to people who don’t read or write in English. Not knowing expectations can be immensely intimidating.

I have also worked with multiple survivors of domestic violence who refused to share even their names out of fear that their abuser might find them. The administrative requirements of food assistance should never outweigh the safety of the people we are trying to serve, but in many cases, this demands making exceptions to existing policy.

Documentation can also be a barrier for people who are houseless, or who don’t have easy access to the necessary paperwork. They may or may not have an ID, and might not carry any other information with them. I’ve also worked with many young adults who were covertly trying to improve their family’s food supply and were therefore unable to access the information they need to get food.

Requiring documentation also increases the responsibilities of staff and volunteers to appropriately manage the information. TEFAP forms must be stored for years, while other intake documents must also be processed and stored while respecting the confidential nature of their contents.

But shortcuts can be equally problematic.

I recently connected with a food pantry that based eligibility on preexisting participation with federal programs like SNAP, WIC, and Social Security. Although it saved them from having to evaluate any other data, it also meant that a) their pantry was deliberately unavailable to populations that couldn’t access federal services and b) implies a greater government connection than often exists, which can be problematic for people fearful of authority or concerned with confidentiality.

How food pantries can be thoughtful about data expectations:

  • Minimize your eligibility requirements and ask for as little information as possible. What information do you really need and why do you need it (for partner reports, grants? Do these partners really need it, or are there alternatives you can offer?)
  • It can be tempting to make your client paperwork look as official and legitimate as possible. But this can increase client fears that their information is being collected by the government or other agencies outside of your organization. Developing less formal-looking paperwork can help.
  • Reassuring clients that we recognize the burden and annoyance of completing any paperwork helps minimize its importance and made it less intimidating. My previous food pantry participated in TEFAP, which meant there was one form that clients had to complete annually (or provide a signature at each visit). The speech my team gave was, “I know this looks super official and scary, but we promise that no one will ever look at this form and it will disappear in a dusty office drawer until we shred it.” This introduction opened up an opportunity to have a comfortable conversation about what we did with the information we collected, and how it was kept confidential.

Eligibility requirements persist in response to the fear that welfare abuse can be prevented through strict oversight and evaluation.

Adding documentation requirements limits service to shoppers who adhere to YOUR version of need. Who is excluded?

After a decade of working in food pantries, I can say with confidence that no one is trying to exploit food assistance. Every step we take to make services more accessible is progress towards ending hunger.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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How SNAP Solves Hunger Better Than Food Pantries

Ending hunger is a big goal. I believe it can be done, but it’s important to acknowledge that it can’t be done through food pantries. As much as I love this model, food pantries have very little capacity to influence the systemic roots of hunger. They are merely a band-aid for a much bigger wound.

For the general public, the inadequacy of food banks and pantries to solve hunger may not be obvious.

Hunger is a symptom of oppression. People experience hunger because they have less access to money than others.

Even in the most isolated, famine-stricken deserts, there are people who have money to buy food and those who don’t. Fundamentally, hunger is a money shortage problem- not a food problem.

People who struggle to afford food have jobs that don’t pay living wages, can’t find safe and accessible housing within that low budget, can’t afford the medical care they need to stay healthy, face discrimination in employment or housing, or a host of other barriers that prevents them from being able to afford basic necessities.

The scope of need is far beyond what our food banking system can support. Over forty-four million Americans, or one in eight households, are food insecure.

It’s far more efficient to supply families with the money they need to buy their own food than to give them food.

A 2022 Feeding America study identified approximately 60,000 partner organizations including pantries and meals sights fighting hunger across the country serving more than fifty-three million households. This is a higher number than the one listed above because estimating food insecurity rates is complicated and often undercounts the reality.

If the work was evenly distributed between these organizations, each partner agency would serve 883 households, which is far beyond the capacity of most organizations. With few food banks or pantries able to meet the full nutritional needs of their clients, it’s obvious that meeting the needs of nearly nine hundred households is an impossible and utterly unrealistic goal.  

Beyond this, emergency food assistance programs are not equally accessible. Pantries are rarely open more than one or two times a week, with many only offering a few hours once per month to serve a couple dozen clients.

Food pantries are often open during the hours most convenient for volunteers and staff, which are likely the opposite of accessible hours for working individuals or those juggling caregiving responsibilities.

Food banks and pantries also tend to prioritize urban areas, which makes them much less accessible to rural residents who are more vulnerable to hunger. Organizations congregate near their food sources rather than their clients, which leaves them as inaccessible as the grocery stores that households experiencing hunger can’t get to.

Food pantries are predominantly run by people of Western European backgrounds, which means they may not have the interest, knowledge, or capacity to serve culturally appropriate foods for their clients.

In comparison, as an entitlement program, anyone who qualifies for SNAP (formerly known as Food Stamps) can use it, which means there is no limit on the number of households served, unlike food pantries. This program can support the level of need (if politicians are willing to fund it).

SNAP provides money specifically allocated for food via Electronic Balance Transfer (EBT) which allows people to shop discreetly by paying with a card.

Although SNAP can only be spent at participating retailers, the number of stores accepting SNAP far outweighs the number of food pantries. Additionally, grocery stores have wider hours that can accommodate families working long or flexible shifts.

The most valuable aspect of SNAP is that it allows autonomy of food choice.

Although still limited by the funds available, users get to make their food purchases based on what their family wants or needs, rather than the much more limited and restrictive options that food pantries provide.

While SNAP users still experience harassment for being food insecure, there is less humiliation and judgement in shopping at a grocery store than in using a food pantry.

SNAP is one of the best anti-hunger tools we have. It’s important to recognize the urgency to shift the burden of fighting hunger from food pantries to SNAP and other federal programs if we’re actually committed to solving this problem.

How can food pantries uplift SNAP?

  • Help sign clients up for SNAP! As a government program, the application process can be intimidating, confusing, and wrought with complications. Making sure everyone has the support to participate is huge- too many people who are eligible don’t even apply.
  • Educate our communities on the complex relationship between housing, healthcare, wages, and hunger. Money is more effective than donated and expired food, and increasing SNAP benefits is our best tool against hunger.
  • Help clients sign up for SNAP! This is so important it deserves to be said twice. Food banks and pantries can’t end hunger, and SNAP is our strongest opportunity for relieving the burden on this industry.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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What Can Food Pantries Offer Besides Food?

Do you remember the toilet paper shortage of 2020? I remember cruising the largely empty aisles of my grocery store under signs announcing, “1 package per person,” with strict enforcement at checkout and rampant fears among my community that it wouldn’t be enough.  

It’s an essential supply that we previously took for granted, without which life is significantly more uncomfortable. Toilet paper is also one of the most requested non-food items at many food pantries.

Because food is essential for survival, it makes sense that services prioritize it.

However, that focus can make it easy to forget that there are other nonfood requirements for modern life that many people struggle to access.

Americans tend to have a very narrow view of what poverty looks like. I can’t count the number of times I’ve shared that I work with food pantries, and people assume that my clients are exclusively unemployed and houseless.

Thanks to the myth of the American dream, we are eager to assume that someone who has the capacity to work has the resources to support themselves.

The reality is that having a full-time job is not a guarantee that an individual can afford housing, healthcare, food, and other necessities. While keeping our neighbors nourished is an essential goal, food pantries are also well-positioned to offer support on other household products.

Here are the most important nonfood essentials that food pantries can offer:

Pet Food

Publicize to the community if you can take open bags of pet food.

One of the hardest yet most impactful responsibilities I once had was accepting donations of leftover dog or cat food after a beloved pet passed away. Donors regularly reduced me to tears in the parking lot with stories about their pet, and shared the reassurance they felt knowing the food went to animals in need. We bagged pet food into gallon-sized Ziplock’s, which was not enough to fully support larger animals but was adequate for smaller critters. This interaction offered a unique opportunity for connection and empathy.

Menstrual Hygiene Products

Partner with a local period advocacy group who might have access to menstrual hygiene products for distribution. PLEASE allow your clients to choose the supplies they want rather than just handing them a package or a mixed bag.

Laundry Detergent and Dish Soap

Host a laundry detergent or dish soap-specific drive. Encourage donors to donate these items or funds to purchase these in bulk.

These are essential for dignity, hygiene, and simple practicality, and there aren’t many options for working around their absence. I’m thrilled to have just learned there are entire organizations dedicated to this effort like Each Stitch Counts based in New Jersey.

Diapers

Is there a diaper bank in your community? There are often programs specifically dedicated to diapers, and connecting clients with diapers and wipes is a much-needed resource. Additionally, holding diaper drives for your pantry can be fun and successful.

People often like to donate supplies for newborns, but babies grow fast and there’s not much someone can do with a too-small diaper, so I often encourage donations of larger sizes. I encourage offering diaper exchanges, so people can drop off diapers that are too small or brands that didn’t work for them. Opened packages are often totally fine!

Toilet Paper

It’s cheaper if you buy it in bulk, but too many people can’t meet that upfront cost no matter what the long-term savings are. Although offering a single roll at every visit is inadequate, it can still be an incredibly helpful addition to pantry options.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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Where Do I Find Super Volunteers?

Every food pantry has at least one super volunteer. The person who is always happy to fill in when someone else cancels at the last minute, who knows how to work in every position, and acts as a compassionate mentor for new volunteers. The volunteer who just laughs and rolls up their sleeves when you hesitantly ask them to take on a nasty job like rinsing the compost bins or sweeping under the produce-sorting table.

Often, these volunteers seem to appear organically. Someone excited to have an impact on their community, enthusiastic about the policies they’re following, and happy to connect with the people around them. At every pantry I’ve ever worked at, there was always one volunteer (or several when I was lucky) about whom we’d wistfully say, “I wish we could clone you,” and “I need ten of [that person.]”

But it’s not just luck that finds you the best volunteers.

Organizational mission, culture, and practices have a significant influence on the community members we attract and retain.

Here are some simple steps to help you find and keep the volunteers you need most.

  • Be clear on your mission. Volunteers seek out organizations that align with their own interests and passions. You’re more likely to find volunteers that are aligned with your mission if the public is clear on what that is.

If reducing food waste is your goal, advertise that. If you’re focused on social justice and root causes of hunger, don’t be shy in sharing. This helps volunteers identify any mismatch of values early on. A volunteer who wants to minimize food waste may not be a fit for a pantry focused on maintaining the highest quality of food and asks them to throw out options they deem usable.

            I once knew a food pantry leader reluctant to clarify the mission for this same reason- they didn’t want to risk committing to any values that might deter someone from volunteering. This is how we ended up with volunteers inconsistently enforcing policies, increased conflict, and excessive staff energy spent on volunteer supervision and mediation. If we had clarified our specific values and goals, our volunteer network might have been smaller, but healthier and more productive.

  • Find teaching opportunities. Every quiet moment should be an educational opportunity for volunteers, which requires having staff who are knowledgeable and ready to share. Although more intensive, one-on-one conversations are where your volunteers are most likely to have an a-ha moment about your work! It can be easy for food pantries to neglect the value of continuing education for staff, so make sure you’re paying fair wages and not burning them out– your volunteers will notice in the quality of interaction and education.
  • Enforce client dignity. Like any industry, we all have encounters with people who are challenging. Food pantry clients are likely to carry trauma and stress, which can make interactions harder and bias our attitudes. Proactively working to uplift our community is a habit that needs to be fostered and developed through our language choices. It’s tempting to say, “that client was annoying,” but making the transition to “I was challenged by that interaction” or “I was getting frustrated in that conversation,” avoids fostering an adversarial attitude.

Any time a volunteer has a negative comment about a client, I try to find an alternative idea that puts them in a positive light. Hearing, “they took way too much food,” I respond with, “they must feel so secure to have that food for their family right now. I can’t imagine the relief.” “That person was so rude today” answered with, “I hope their day is better now that they know their family is having dinner tonight.”

  • Prioritize making a positive impact on the community you serve. When we amplify impact, it helps us move away from the stationary goal of providing food. This attitude also makes it easier to embrace new strategies, because of the widely accepted goal for progress.

Volunteers are notoriously reluctant to change, but by incorporating a commitment to outcomes rather than inputs, you can make it a little easier to support the evolution of your program.

Consistent, positive messaging from leadership is infectious, and the most powerful opportunity we have for defining the culture of our anti-hunger organization. Practice enough, and your volunteers will start to internalize this way of thinking and pass it on to new volunteers as it becomes a standard part of the organization.

This attitude is difficult to get started, but through repetition, it’s possible to build momentum and establish your organization as one where the volunteers are known to be well-educated on food insecurity, compassionate about the stigma of visiting a food pantry, and enthusiastic about stepping up when and where you need it.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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Thriving vs. Surviving in Food Pantries

I once worked with a food bank whose mission stated that the root cause of hunger was nutrition education (they’ve since changed it). By teaching people to cook, they proposed we could solve food insecurity. However, this perspective naively ignores the systemic causes of hunger in favor of teaching people how to cook dry beans.

Unfortunately, this perspective is far too common, which is why I strongly advocate against using cooking classes and nutrition education as anti-hunger tools. However, it’s important to recognize that these opportunities still have incredible value- they just aren’t a solution to hunger.

Cooking classes shouldn’t be our answer to helping people survive- they don’t influence the conditions that prevent the purchase of food that households need. They are, however, a powerful component of enabling people to thrive.

Increasing confidence and comfort working with diverse foods allows people to eat a wider variety of options, often increases interest in healthy eating, and has many other benefits for participants.

Teaching people how to garden is not an effective strategy for saving them money on food, but it is a powerful opportunity to engage with their food, be more active, eat healthier, and connect with their neighbors. These kinds of events build relationships and help bring fun and health to the process of preparing and eating- a fundamental career goal of mine.

Delicious, pleasurable food is an essential component of maintaining a healthy quality of life.

Anti-hunger organizations with a holistic approach absolutely should offer these classes. We just need to be thoughtful about how we present them. They don’t solve the problem, but they still enormously benefit people facing food insecurity.

Food banks were invented primarily to provide a short-term response to acute problems rather than addressing chronic poverty, as they now do. Intended to keep people from starvation, these programs often maintain a distinction between the resources necessary to survive and the resources to thrive. This attitude has become engrained in anti-hunger attitudes.

My food pantry never gave away a filet mignon without a volunteer commenting about how this food was too good for the food pantry or our clients. The subtext was that our options weren’t supposed to be ones that our shoppers enjoyed, relished, or were proud of. Food pantry food was supposed to help people survive, nothing more.

How can food pantries use food to help our clients thrive?

  • Prioritize delicious food. While there is an urgency to get people enough food to eat, we need to increase our commitment to good food. Offer essential ingredients like oils and sauces. Commit to spices and seasonings. Focus on whole food ingredients and remember that food pantry clients still enjoy a box of cookies or the occasional ice cream. Remind your team there’s no food that’s too good for your neighbors, or items that they don’t deserve.
  • Celebrate abundance. Even with an emphasis on quality, that doesn’t mean that we’re excused for maintaining a scarcity mindset. Food insecurity is an emotional challenge just as much as a physical one. The knowledge of looming hunger increases stress, anxiety, and forces people to think differently than they would if they were food secure. Ensuring people have enough food that they feel confident and secure is an essential component of thriving.
  • Emphasize culturally specific foods. Food justice includes providing people with foods that are relevant and familiar. Many volunteers who are predominantly white retirees of western European descent, may forget that every culture has specific foods associated with different holidays, events, and traditions. Emphasizing the importance of these, as well as offering education on specifics, can help volunteers and the broader community recognize the value of trying to do better than prevent starvation.  

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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Why Don’t Single Moms Deserve More Support?

At one of my previous food pantries, we served a woman nearly every week who came to shop with three boys under eight in tow. Cheerful and rambunctious, they behaved expectedly- walking alongside mom quickly devolved into a fast-paced game of tag around the produce table that made us all a little bit nervous. We did our best to keep everyone safe and comfortable but recognized the challenges of running errands with three small children. After waiting in line outside for an hour, it was no surprise they had energy to burn off.

Nearly every time she visited, a volunteer would sidle up to me and comment on how this mom needed to do a better job managing her kids. Not only was she not able to provide them with the food they needed, but she was letting them behave disrespectfully in the pantry!

In the context of a food pantry, rollicking happy children were an indicator of their mother’s inadequacies as a caregiver.

It absolutely would have been easier for everyone- Mom, my pantry staff and volunteers, and other clients if she hadn’t brought her children, but parents rarely have that flexibility. Single parents even less so.

(Today I’m considering the stigma against single moms specifically, but single parents everywhere deal with many of the same barriers.)

Single mothers are a controversial demographic when it comes to welfare and anti-poverty efforts. While society is generally enthusiastic about fighting childhood hunger, we hold much more complex attitudes about their mothers.

Our society has a specific vision of who deserves food assistance and welfare recognized as “the deserving poor.” These are the individuals we believe deserve assistance because they are unable to change their own situation- namely, children and seniors. Unable to participate in the labor market, these two groups are deemed helpless to conditions around them and are therefore deserving of additional aid.

The problem with creating the deserving poor is that it automatically fosters the idea that there is an undeserving poor- people who do have the capacity to escape poverty, if only they try hard enough. This perspective assumes that economic mobility is possible with enough effort (despite ample evidence to the contrary), largely blaming poverty on the individuals living it.

Single mothers fall somewhere in between the deserving and undeserving poor: no one believes that children should go hungry, but our society also is reluctant to support people for choices we disapprove of, and single motherhood is one of those.

Childcare is still primarily viewed as the domain of women, and societal expectations are that mothers meet all their children’s needs. When women aren’t the perfect parent, they’re seen as a failure.

 (Read How the Other Half Eats by Priya Fielding-Singh, PhD for a great analysis of this.)

Distrust of single mothers is also amplified by the concept of the welfare queen. The pervasive myth that women have additional children simply to maximize public benefits colors the support our society is willing to provide. Culturally, we tend to want to punish women for their choice to become a parent rather than lift them up with the support they need.

How can your anti-hunger efforts support single parents?

Design kid friendly pantries. Single parents often have no other option than to take their children shopping. In my wildest dreams, pantries would have a free childcare option or at least a designated play space, but I recognize our world’s not ready for this yet. Baring that, there are child-friendly steps pantries can take:

  • Practice flexibility if you have long lines. Do clients have to stay in their spot in line, or can you switch to a number or lottery system? Any parent of a toddler knows that waiting quietly in a long line (full of anxious, worried, and stressed individuals) can be hard, and some parents may prefer to go hungry than face that challenge with their child.
  • Offer shopping carts with a child seat, not just baskets, to help parents contain small or active children.
  • Maintain a safe space for kids to play. One of my pantries had a bookshelf for donated books that we allowed children to take, and it was not unusual for a parent to have to drag their older child away from a book at the end of their visit. I loved it!
  • Flexible hours– including accessibility during school hours, evenings, and weekends. This makes pantries more available for parents who may need to come when their kids are in school, when another person is able to watch them, or when they have the time and flexibility.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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Can We Make Food Pantry Food Delicious?

Several years ago, one of my food pantries received a large donation of spices. We were excited as seasonings are always in short supply, and it was a rarity to offer our neighbors cinnamon, thyme, and turmeric.

Although some of the spices went quickly, most of our clients, who had backgrounds in South America, Eastern Europe, and Asia, were not interested in turmeric.  Cases of it sat in the warehouse as just a few adventurous shoppers chose to give it a taste.

By complete coincidence, this donation occurred just when our pantry was gearing up for an influx of immigrant families arriving from Afghanistan after the fall of their government. We were struggling to assemble a food selection that adhered to Halal requirements and cultural traditions.

Our Afghani shoppers were thrilled with the turmeric. These families were looking to recreate familiar meals made with whole food ingredients after being thrust into a foreign country, and turmeric was an essential component reminding them of home. Even though we didn’t have all the foods they were used to, an abundance of this spice allowed them to recreate familiar flavors anyways. In no time at all, we gave away all our turmeric.

If you’ve ever donated to a food drive before, you’ve likely contemplated what types of foods you think food pantry shoppers might like. Canned fruits and vegetables, boxed potatoes, and dry beans are all likely selections. Nutritional quality is often a primary factor for choosing what foods to donate, recognizing that access to healthy options can be limited for people experiencing food insecurity. High levels of salt, sugar, and fat are popular concerns.

However, those healthy foods don’t always taste very good on their own. When cooking in your own kitchen, you likely cook in olive oil or butter, add a little salt and pepper, and incorporate other seasonings. No matter how healthy you are eating, you (hopefully) add flavor to your meals.

Taste and the value of delicious food are often neglected components of food security.

Too often, the effort to fight hunger stops with acquiring the basic ingredients without a thought given to the final step of transforming food into a meal.

If we want to encourage families to learn to cook and eat together, we need to ensure they have the tools to do so. Spices are essential for making our food enjoyable, practicing cultural traditions, and evoking memories.

After working with thousands of food pantry clients, I have learned that most people know what they need to do to eat healthy; they simply lack the resources to do so. Although we’ve made progress increasing access to fresh fruits and veggies, it’s still hard to cook collard greens without oil, or to assemble a curry without turmeric or cumin. Even the healthiest eater is unlikely to eat a dry sweet potato unless they have no other options.

Data shows that adding spices and seasoning to meals enhances flavor while increasing nutrient accessibility. But spices are some of the most expensive components of a meal, which means many people experiencing food insecurity can’t afford to buy them.

Why are people living in poverty condemned for not eating healthily when they are denied access to the ingredients that make a meal palatable?

It’s practically a cliché to condemn people experiencing poverty for eating luxurious foods like steak or lobster. But in doing so, we’ve unintentionally reinforced the idea that this population doesn’t deserve to eat things that are delicious. Certainly, steak and lobster are regularly treated as inappropriate because of their cost, but also because they are delicious. People experiencing hunger aren’t considered deserving of delicious food.

I emphatically believe that it’s possible to eat healthy food that also tastes wonderful, but only when we have the tools necessary to succeed. We can build a world where we all have access to healthy food, and meals that leaves us content to sit at the table for just one more pleasurable bite.

How do we build anti-hunger spaces celebrating delicious food?

  • Spice drives. Let your donor community know the importance of making food taste good by encouraging everyone to donate spices and seasonings. The more variety, the better!
  • Taste tests. Prepare meals using only the options available at your organization. This is a great opportunity for staff and volunteers to experience the reality of working with limited options. Celebrate when you have the ingredients you need to make something truly delicious, but don’t shy away from discussing why it doesn’t taste delicious, and the challenges this raises for your shoppers.
  • Purchase seasonings. Food banks and pantries are increasingly making their own food purchases. Find out the spices in highest demand at your organization and consider adding them to your purchased foods. A little can go a long way and can help other staple ingredients taste better and be more versatile.  

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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Can You Be “Too Dependent” on Food?

“Our clients can only visit once per month,” a fellow food banker told me when comparing services offered by our respective organizations. “We don’t want anyone becoming too dependent.”

Most people know that food pantries lack the supply and capacity to provide shoppers with everything they’ll need to get through the month. Restricting visits and quantity is a common solution. But somehow, these limitations have become entwined with the idea that they also prevent people from growing “too dependent” on assistance. We justify providing inadequate resources in the name of fostering self-sufficiency.  

The belief that offering help reduces self-sufficiency shapes modern welfare. Ensuring that resources are never enough forces users to continue looking for other options to fill the gap; to work harder; to “better themselves.”

This idea assumes that there are other options.

Thanks to the myth of the American dream, we tend to believe there is always something one can do to escape poverty- work longer hours, continuing education, a higher-paying job, or smarter budgeting. At its core, this attitude embraces the idea that poverty results from a lack of effort, and that finding the right motivation is the key to success. Ensuring that welfare doesn’t provide security is supposedly that incentive.  

However, the reality is that economic mobility in the U.S. has never lived up to the hype.

The fear of dependency entirely neglects the reality of the environment around us- success is rarely achieved through individual effort. Most people who attain self-sufficiency enjoy inherited wealth, racial privilege, and social advantages not available to everyone. How hard we work has little impact on our economic mobility.

Preventing people from growing “too dependent” on things like food or other resources robs them of stability. Instead of enjoying the security of having their needs met, it forces individuals living in poverty to constantly scramble to make end meet. This instability makes it impossible to plan for the long term because the short-term is always a crisis of scarcity.

Hunger never happens in a silo. Denying a household adequate food, besides leaving them hungry, may force them to deplete their housing budget, fuel trauma, impede their health, reduce work performance, or have other harmful impacts.

Our disdain for providing adequate help is one of the very reasons keeping people in poverty.   

At its root, our preoccupation with the idea that someone might grow “too dependent” on food assistance boils down to the fear that they haven’t earned it. But the primary result of this policy is that it removes stability and security. We’ve institutionalized perpetual uncertainty for welfare recipients.

How can anti-hunger advocates fight the dependency narrative?

  • Be outspoken about why this is a ridiculous concern. We need food to live, so arguing against people becoming too dependent on a reliable food source is both absurd and dehumanizing.
  • Acknowledge the inadequacy of our system. Few organizations can offer enough food to fully support their clients. That’s ok, but make sure your community knows that it’s not enough. Don’t ignore or dismiss comments about the inadequacy of resources- empathize!
  • Advocate at every opportunity for increasing benefits, on the local, state, and federal level. We know that adequate support helps people succeed. Increased SNAP benefits during the height of Covid kept hunger at bay. Providing people experiencing poverty with a stable foundation is the best way to set them up for success.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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Can We Solve Hunger and Food Waste with the Same Solution?

“Clean your plate- don’t you know there are children starving in Africa?”

Even if your parents didn’t say it, I’m sure you’re familiar with this prompt to finish your meal instead of throwing it away. It’s meant to guilt us into appreciating what we have through an awkward celebration of abundance in comparison to the scarcity experienced by others.

This phrase also feels like it could be the potential origins of the theory that reducing food waste is an effective strategy for fighting food insecurity. In addition, it is one of the most common misconceptions I encounter about hunger.

A growing global population and fears about the impacts of climate change on agriculture have prompted a movement focused on the reduction of food waste. By keeping food out of the garbage, we reduce our own consumption and theoretically add to the supply available for others while minimizing our contribution to climate change. Salvaged food is distributed for free to people who can’t afford to buy their own.

If there weren’t enough food for everyone, reducing waste and redistributing the excess would be a logical solution. This idea has facilitated the growth and development of food banks, who have an essential and positive impact on their communities. But wanting food shortages to be a root cause of hunger doesn’t make it a reality.

 While we absolutely should worry about climate change’s impacts on agriculture and reducing our contributions to the landfill, we do not have a food shortage. Reducing food waste is an essential component of a sustainable food system but not a magical solution to hunger.

I am a passionate advocate for sustainable agriculture and responsible consumption, as well as food banking, but this framing fails to capture the complexity of food insecurity.

Hunger is primarily caused by a lack of access to food. People experiencing hunger can’t afford it, can’t physically access it, or don’t have the ability to use it.

Reducing food waste in itself does not improve physical access, doesn’t make it more affordable (for people in need, although there are significant financial advantages for corporations to donate), and rarely increases an individual’s capacity to use it. Redirecting it to food pantries does improve financial access but doesn’t guarantee that the physical location is available to who need it most or ensure that it is nutritionally or culturally appropriate for the community.

Food pantries also face a constant struggle of determining whether their food selection promotes respect or disdain for their clients. Too often, the push to reduce food waste leads organizations to distribute produce that is wilted and mushy, dented cans with illegible labels, or dairy products long past their expiration with questionable edibility.

Whether or not the food is perfectly good or rotting in its package, using food waste as an anti-hunger tool also perpetuates harmful stigmas about food insecurity and food assistance.

Our cultural conviction that it’s possible to “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” if you just work hard enough means that we often view poverty as an indicator of laziness or personal failure. Framing people who are food insecure in this way justifies providing them with food otherwise destined for the garbage, and subtly reinforces the idea that they deserve less because of their inadequacies.

In an ideal world, everyone would have the resources they need to access their own food. But recognizing we still depend upon the essential services of food banks and pantries, here’s how we can make sure we’re still uplifting, rather than oppressing, our clientele while using salvaged resources.

  • Does your food demonstrate respect for your shoppers? Are you giving it away because it’s functional, or because your volunteers didn’t want to toss it? The fact that clients take it does not mean they’re excited about- it just implies they have no other option. You may need to start throwing out more food than you want to to elevate the quality of what’s offered. Respecting your shoppers needs to be the number one priority of every anti-hunger organization.  
  • Are your donors using you as their waste disposal? Are you receiving food that should have already been discarded, and they’ve just offloaded it from their garbage to yours? It is uncomfortable to correct donors, but what a waste of your time, energy and resources! By distributing poor quality food, you’re likely offloading the garbage onto your shoppers just as your donors did to you. Make sure donors know and follow your standards, with an emphasis on human dignity.
  • How do you talk about your use of food waste? Without careful navigation, emphasizing how much food is salvaged can reinforce the public perception that it’s ok for people experiencing hunger to eat garbage. Consider focusing on “food rescue” or “food surplus” rather than “food waste.” Food pantries usually have a significant cadre of volunteers whose mission is environmental rather than social, and it is important that you educate them on the nuances of this distinction. There is room for them to support the environment while still emphasizing that everyone deserves good quality food no matter their capacity to purchase it.

The opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer.

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