Category: Building Access

What Food Pantry Should You Donate To?

A colleague recently reached out to me about hosting a food drive. Their organization is ready with a donation barrel, but they wanted a recommendation about whom they should donate to. In writing my response, I realized there were a lot of factors to consider when making this decision.

(This is also the time of the year where many organizations are inspired to host their own food distribution or meal, but that often doesn’t actually help local anti-hunger efforts.) Collecting resources for an experienced organization is much more effective, and easier for everyone.

While every anti-hunger organization needs food right now, it is important to recognize that there are many different types of pantries with different styles. Luckily, there are thousands of diverse organizations out there, and with a little research you can find one that aligns with your values.

How to pick an organization to donate to:

Volunteer: The gold standard for picking your donation recipient is to volunteer more than once, which will help you identify if they are a good fit with your belief system. I recommend more than once because the first time is mostly orientation. The second shift will be when you really start to understand how things work. Spending some time doing on-the-ground service will help you learn what resources are or are not available to inspire your donation drive.

Word of Mouth: If volunteering isn’t an option (many food pantries have full shifts right now because of the holidays, but they are often in great need of volunteers in January, too!) I recommend seeking out ways to connect with a volunteer, shopper, or someone else familiar with the organization. Staff are likely swamped, but other community members may have capacity to share their experience. What do they love about it? What makes it special?

Other factors to consider:

Proximity: There are a lot of different ways to choose a food pantry to support, and proximity is an incredibly valid one. Selecting the food pantry nearest to you is a great idea because you’ll support individuals within your immediate community. More of your neighbors than you realize likely utilize the resource.

Doing an internet search for your nearest food pantry might surprise you- I recently learned that two different churches in my neighborhood also have food pantries that I didn’t previously know about.

Client experience: This is the primary factor that determines the recommendations that I give out. While it’s impossible to really know without having been a client myself, I consider factors like being a grocery-style pantry, what communities they welcome, and how they determine eligibility.

I favor pantries with the fewest eligibility requirements, since it’s impossible (and completely irrelevant) for us for know why someone comes to a food pantry.

For instance, I won’t recommend donating to a pantry that only serves people who already receive benefits like SNAP or WIC, since that excludes a significant number of vulnerable individuals (and that number will soon grow from SNAP cuts.)

There are still many organizations, covertly or not, who remain unsafe spaces for marginalized communities like immigrants and LGBTQ+ individuals. I look for organizations who explicitly welcome these communities, because in an increasingly hostile world silence can easily be interpreted as taking the side of the oppressor.

There are many organizations out there serving specific demographics, from veterans, to foster children, to people living with HIV/AIDS, and many more. If there’s a community you feel passionate about supporting, there’s probably an anti-hunger resource or food pantry aligned with your beliefs who needs your help.

It’s also important to consider what type of support you want to offer. If you want to donate to a larger food bank, money is probably more desirable than food, since they have more buying power and less capacity to sort and distribute small-scale donations. However, a food pantry might prefer food donations (please ask!), and have specific requests based on their current inventory, such as canned fruit or soups.

I like to encourage themed food drives which guide donors’ choices and make sorting slightly easier for recipients. Things like baking supplies, soups, or spices and seasonings (my personal favorite) help ensure the recipient organization has enough to distribute to many shoppers, and saves them from the conflicts that can occur with limited high-demand items.

While every anti-hunger organization needs food right now, it’s important to carefully consider where your donation goes. It demonstrates who you think deserves to eat, and who you think doesn’t.

Ensuring your donations go to the pantries who give their guests the most positive, abundant, and dignified experience helps move our world a little closer to the place where everyone has access to those same privileges.

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

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What Hunger Looks Like this November

If you don’t work in social services or the anti-hunger sector, it might be easy to underestimate the gravity of the current situation.

It’s hard to articulate the scale of the catastrophe we face.

The government appears to be stalling to avoid using USDA contingency funds that would allow SNAP funding to continue despite the shutdown. It’s unclear if or when those funds will be distributed.

As a result on November 1st, 42 million Americans who depend on SNAP did not receive any money for food.

I’ve heard from several colleagues in the anti-hunger field that it feels a lot like the beginning of the pandemic- that moment when we confronted the reality that our emergency hunger system has nowhere near the capacity to meet the demands we face.

The difference is, in 2020 the federal government mobilized funds to ensure that food banks and pantries could scale up to support their communities. This time, there is no federal sympathy.

It’s clear that while we individually cannot solve hunger, it will be the individual efforts of our communities that help our neighbors get through this.

I find myself regularly dissolving into despair from the amount of suffering I see in the news, but I am buoyed by stories like the successful fundraising of this coffee shop to offer free breakfasts, and by farmers markets around the country changing their policies to maintain access to Double Up Food Bucks without requiring a SNAP match.

One of my favorites stories is from the small town in Eastern Oregon where I briefly lived, where farmers are donating truckloads of potatoes and telling people to “bring a box or plastic laundry basket” to take as much as they can carry. The notices don’t even mention hunger or SNAP- they just instruct the community to show up.  

Efforts like this both impact the lives of people experiencing hunger, but they also offer a concrete way for us to feel powerful, engaged, and connected at a time when it’s too easy to feel helpless and isolated.

Fighting hunger is good for you and your neighbors.

Here’s how you can support your community:

  • Donate. Both funds and food are important. Food banks can often make cheaper purchases in bulk, so funds help them buy more food. For food pantries, it varies. Some may not do much of their own purchasing, in which case donating food is more useful. Check with the organization to see what their specific needs are.

Regarding food donations, consider what other ingredients are necessary to serve it. For example, donating macaroni and cheese requires milk or butter, which consumers may not have. Absolutely donate it- but please just add in other ingredients like canned soups and ready-to-eat meals.

  • Host a food-specific food drive. By choosing a specific item, it’s easier for your community to focus and saves your food bank from having to do intensive sorting. Consider hosting a drive to collect soups, fruit, condiments, cereal, diapers, or other goods.

I’m personally passionate about encouraging donations of seasonings and spices- imagine eating canned beans or veggies without them!

  • Volunteer. Anti-hunger organizations are slammed and need all the help they can get. Conversely, most are not set up to serve thousands of people or support hundreds of volunteers. While volunteers are an essential part of the process, good volunteer management is also intensive and exhausting. Please be kind and empathetic to the staff- there’s a very good chance that they are also SNAP recipients facing food insecurity.
  • Support community efforts. Anti-hunger work doesn’t just have to happen in food banks and pantries. Maybe your neighborhood has a free little pantry you can fill. Perhaps the community garden is organizing donations of produce. Hopefully the school is facilitating a backpack program. If you can’t find something, start something!
  • If you are in a position of financial power, use it! Forgive your tenants’ rent (don’t just defer- you can do better than that.) Give your employees bonuses or raises. How else can you use your resources to ensure your neighbors remain healthy and housed? If you’ve ever complained about crime or houselessness, now is your opportunity to actively prevent it. Hunger-free communities benefit us all.

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

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Building Safe Spaces to Fight Hunger

This upcoming November, recipients of SNAP will not get their benefits because of the ongoing government shutdown. A growing number of Americans are missing their car payments, a key indicator that all is not well with the economy. The threat of the military being deployed to American cities continues to loom.

In addition, growing fears of ICE using increasingly aggressive and brutal tactics makes public spaces less safe.

Despite the obvious and inevitable incoming growth in hunger rates, these conditions create a very real conundrum of rising food insecurity but fewer safe opportunities for people to access food.

Whether or not any of these factors make you personally feel unsafe, it’s important to recognize that they contribute to hunger rates. As anti-hunger advocates, we have an obligation to address it.

It’s easy to feel helpless in this situation, but there are still some very real steps that we can take to combat hunger with dignity and compassion.

Here’s how food pantries can help:

  • Minimize the amount of information you ask of shoppers. Visiting a food pantry is already a vulnerable experience, and many people associate pantries with the government, whether it’s true or not. Asking for no more information than you absolutely need can help shoppers feel more comfortable- and it should be a given that you never share any client information without a warrant.
  • Increase your distribution hours to decrease wait times. Building a system that allows shoppers to get in and out quickly helps people feel more in control of their environment and makes it easier to visit despite busy schedules. Allowing easy flow also makes it more difficult for any enforcement agencies to target your clientele.
  • Mobile markets. While difficult to organize and implement, thoughtful identification of locations for distribution empowers individuals to access food while feeling relatively anonymous. While these events still need to advertise their location, variable times and locations both improve accessibility and help people feel safer from surveillance.
  • Drive-through distribution. During the heart of the pandemic, we learned these are an effective way to get food to lots of people fast. While they don’t regularly allow freedom of choice, enabling people to remain in their cars may be a strong incentive for those who may not feel safe in public spaces.

One of the most important lessons that I’ve learned about fighting hunger is that addressing the biggest, most difficult barriers impacts the greatest amount of people. None of these suggestions are easy or simple to implement. But while they specifically intend to help people feel safe accessing food, they also increase access for individuals with disabilities, a lack of transportation, or schedules that don’t allow for regular pantry visits. Building safe spaces benefits everyone.

By putting in the extra effort to help our most vulnerable community members, we can have the biggest impact on hunger rates, and uplifting the dignity of everyone we serve.

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

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What’s a Free Little Food Pantry?

Recently, one of the largest food pantries in my hometown reported that they’ve seen a significant drop in the number of LatinX and immigrant visitors they serve due to the threat of deportation. In the dystopian reality we’re facing of secret police and public kidnappings, it’s easy to overlook that this doesn’t mean these people are no longer experiencing hunger- it’s that they no longer have safe avenues for access.

It is harder and harder to support people facing food insecurity as our public spaces become less safe.

Early in the pandemic, when food banks and pantries were overwhelmed with more people experiencing hunger than they could ever support, my neighborhood started to see “Free Little Pantries” sprout up. They were small cupboards, or occasionally refrigerators, stocked by community members offering an anonymous way for their neighbors to get free food.

I’ve had a couple conversations recently about the value of these resources, and with public spaces being less safe, it seems like a relevant moment to explore their challenges and benefits.

In theory, free little pantries are amazing. They offer a discreet way for people experiencing hunger to freely take the food they need. Enthusiastic neighbors can fill the pantry with the food they have available, and people can take what they want without supervision or judgement. During the height of the pandemic, they offered a low-contact way to get food, and now they discreetly provide food with less risk of encountering ICE. However, they’re not a simple or easy undertaking.

If you’re thinking about starting or supporting a free little pantry, here are some things to keep in mind:

  • Who will be using this pantry? What are the demographics of your neighborhood? Is it a working-class neighborhood, where there may be residents who just need a little boost now and then? Is it a higher-traffic area, where there may be more people who are unhoused passing through? How will people find out about it? There are various websites where you can list your location, but how many people do you want to know about it?

Free little pantries can be a valuable resource for those who are houseless, but they can also be a source of frustration when they don’t offer anything someone can use without a kitchen.

I’ve heard tragic stories of people experiencing houselessness spending Christmas munching on dry pasta, because that was the only food they could access. It’s important to know the demographics who need the most support.

  • How are you going to stock it? Some people are excited to cook and prep ready-to-eat foods for their fridges, while others are ready to do regular shopping. Some pantries depend on donations, which means they never know what or how much they’ll have. What kinds of food are you hoping to offer? The free little pantry near me usually has egg noodles and off-brand tomato sauce, and the fridge is currently full of local garden excess.

While I respect enthusiasm for cooking meals for free little pantries, I also caution against it. It’s hard to guarantee the safety of these meals unless you’re very carefully supervising your fridge, labeling ingredients, documenting dates, and monitoring temperatures.

  • Are your neighbors supportive of this project? It’s important to think about the level of traffic you’re comfortable with. Do you have a neighbor who will call the police anytime they see a stranger walk by? Are they going to complain about unknown cars passing through, or potential garbage on the ground? A free little pantry can never really be a solo endeavor, and you’re going to need community buy-in.
  • How much time do you want to spend on this project? How often are you able to check it, organize, and clean the space? Depending on the level of traffic, it may need more or less attention to keep it acceptable for users and neighbors.

If you have the energy and enthusiasm, go for it! Free little pantries are a great option for offering food to people experiencing hunger with low barriers and anonymity.

They are a great resource for those who may just need a little boost to make it to the next payday, but it’s important to recognize that they don’t have the capacity to fight ongoing food insecurity. They’re an individual solution to a systemic problem.

If you’re looking for other ways to stay engaged, consider food or fund drives for your local food or pantry (and of course engage in their advocacy efforts). Check with them on what their eligibility requirements are and seek out the organizations who are working hardest to support immigrant and marginalized communities. Consider seeking out backpack programs that send kids home from school with food or volunteer with other community food justice efforts like Portland’s Fruit Tree Project or the Green Bag Food Project.

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

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Why Growing Food Doesn’t Protect From Hunger

Americans have an idealized vision of agriculture that celebrates individuals developing an intimate relationship with their land through hard work to provide for their families.

Framed by a backdrop of diverse crops and not quite enough money to make ends meet, the myth of American agriculture recognizes the hardship but also celebrates the purifying effects of physical labor and food production. Farmers are celebrated as the “salt of the earth,” which is a biblical reference for being honest, hardworking, and reliable.

People working in agriculture are regularly lauded as the epitome of rugged individualism and American heroes. But individuals working in agriculture are also one of the most food insecure demographics.

Thanks to a lack of labor protections that results in appallingly low wages, the agricultural sector is highly vulnerable to food insecurity. Many of the people who harvested your food for your recent holiday weekend barbeque likely couldn’t afford it for themselves.

While farm jobs generally do not require an advanced education, this does not justify starvation wages. First, it’s important to remember that this is essential work. If you like to eat, then you need someone to harvest your food.

It’s also important to consider that while it may not require formal education, agricultural labor is hard. It’s physically demanding, often in uncomfortable or dangerous weather conditions, and is time-sensitive (before the crops go bad.)

In addition to inadequate wages and physically stressful work, agricultural jobs by their nature are in less centralized or accessible areas, which means people have to travel further distances to visit grocery stores. Very, very few farms can offer their laborers more than the scraps of their harvest, and even fewer have a diversity of products that might be the origins of a healthy diet.

A discussion of food insecurity amongst farm workers also demands that we talk about immigration policy. Our current agricultural system depends on migrant workers and those who have entered the country without authorization. This is the primary way that businesses can continue paying such inadequate wages– by exploiting a vulnerable workforce who has few other options than acquiescence. The main argument against labor protections is that farms can’t afford to pay better wages- damning evidence of a broken system.

As ICE increasingly harasses and threatens anyone they arbitrarily deem suspect, it becomes less and less safe for anyone to do this work, which is already starting to manifest as labor shortages.  

As it becomes less safe for people to go to work, their risk of hunger increases exponentially.

What can anti-hunger organizations do to fight hunger among farm workers?

  • Increase services in rural and agricultural areas. These are often neglected because organizations prioritize the number of clients served over the need for service, and rural sites likely serve fewer clients even though they have higher rates of hunger. Mobile pantries and markets are hugely valuable resources.
  • Reduce reporting requirements that might scare shoppers away, such as asking for documentation. Even if your organization already serves undocumented individuals, it’s important to recognize that in the current state of fear they may not come unless you are explicit about being a safe space.
  • Research the labor practices of the food coming through your organization. While I fully recognize that few food banks have the capacity to pay more for the produce they buy, we still need to work towards a system that pays people appropriately and that begins with information.

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

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What’s Important about the Location of Your Food Pantry?

I live in a major city which has a significant houseless population living downtown. Far too often, I hear people complain about the concentration of services for houseless individuals that are also downtown. They advocate for moving these services farther away from the city center to intentionally displace these individuals so that they are less visible.

However, the reality they seek to ignore is that the reason that services are located downtown is because they are easily accessible. People with limited resources can visit shelters, meal sites, and health clinics while using buses and public transportation, libraries, educational opportunities, and engaging with family and friends in a way that isn’t possible by moving services to the suburbs.

This is a very deliberate policy decision on the part of housing advocates that has not been equally applied to anti-hunger efforts. Because food pantries tend to originate in churches and underfunded nonprofits, they often find themselves in whatever physical spaces are available rather than in what would be the most appropriate.

While I’ve previously discussed the importance of the physical accessibility of the building, today I’m reflecting on the considerations that should go into geographic location.

While few anti-hunger organizations have the resources to make deliberate decisions about this, it’s still important to assess how the physical location of your program may influence who does (and doesn’t) use your pantry.

People experiencing hunger come with a wide range of backgrounds, and it’s important that the physical location be widely accessible. That means people can travel there via private car, public transportation, and on foot.

Evaluating your pantry’s location:

Travel by foot

An important consideration regarding walkability is how often people are allowed to visit the pantry. Pantries who only allow shoppers once or twice a month inherently encourage people to take more food, but individuals on foot only take what they can carry, which may leave them hungry before their next visit. Pantries who allow shoppers to visit more often are better suited for foot traffic.

Travel by bus

  • Is the pantry on a bus line? How many transfers might pantry clients make to get home, and how long is the wait for a bus? Traveling on a bus with full bags of groceries is awkward and uncomfortable, so frequent bus service on clean, safe buses is important. It’s also important to consider pantry distribution hours, and whether they align with the bus schedule. While I’ve believe every pantry should offer an weekday evening distribution, it might not make any sense if the buses leave shoppers waiting in the dark for extended periods of time.

Travel by car

  • Does the pantry have dedicated parking? Is there any handicapped parking? While we should all aspire for a world that demands less driving, food pantry clients are not the population to start with. Having easy access for personal vehicles may make it easier for shoppers to take more food which hopefully empowers them to come less often. People with disabilities disproportionately face food insecurity, so it’s important that pantries make parking as easy as possible with room for wheelchair ramps, large vehicles to turn around, and proximity to the pantry.

Proximity

  • Is your pantry located near any other resources? I once worked for a pantry which was located across the street from DHS, who could help individuals sign up for SNAP benefits and then send them over to us, or vice versa. I have also worked in food pantries in schools, which made it simple for families to shop when picking their kids up at the end of the day.

Partnering with other programs your clients utilize can reduce the number of trips they need to make, shrink the time commitment of these errands, and just make it easier to get food when they need it.

While hunger in America is treated as something to be ashamed of and hidden, it’s important that we make it visible. Hunger should make everyone uncomfortable, and we’ll never find a solution by keeping it a secret.

Placing anti-hunger resources in as visible and as accessible locations as possible is a simple place to start.

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

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What Happens When Emergency Food Runs Out?

Like any other public space, my food pantry regularly encountered people who were challenging to work with. After spending significant effort helping an individual get through their food pantry visit, volunteers regularly asked me why I didn’t just refuse them service.

They questioned whether it was appropriate for me to spend that much time helping someone who was rude, unruly, or struggling with their mental health get through the pantry. Inevitably, the volunteer would point out, “they can always just go somewhere else.”

That’s the assumption that gets us into trouble.

There is no guarantee that someone can find food elsewhere.

Food pantries are often located in inaccessible locations, far from city centers and public transportation. For people without a car or with disabilities, it may not be possible to travel to another pantry. Food pantry hours are also notoriously inconvenient- designed to accommodate the schedules of volunteers rather than the needs of shoppers.

It’s never safe to assume that someone will be able to find food somewhere else.

It’s especially important to consider this as our government debates drastic cuts to SNAP which will cut off this essential resource for people who may have no other options for food access. Food pantries are already facing cuts to their food supply, which means the two main tools we use for fighting hunger are significantly weakened and inadequate for the growing need.

What happens when people can’t access food?

  • Nutritional quality declines. Lower quality foods are cheaper, and people must buy what they can to fill their belly without regard for nutrition. Poor diet leads to poor health, which increases healthcare costs and adds barriers to survival. Without enough money, there are no workarounds. We sometimes joke about this- like how it’s a rite of passage for college students to survive on nothing but ramen, but this hurts everyone.
  • Theft. When people have no other way to access food, they may resort to shoplifting. Getting caught risks a criminal record which increases their barriers to food security. Our society is often eager to demonize people for these types of crimes even though these individuals have few other options. Telling someone to get a job does nothing to help them endure their empty stomach tonight.

Because our society consistently treats hunger as a result of poor decision making, it’s easy to frame the solution as making different choices- maybe people just need to look harder or somewhere else to find food. But what this paradigm fails to consider is that there are not unlimited options for finding food.

It’s very real and very true that people run out of people and places to turn to for help. Especially with recent and impending cuts to emergency food assistance, we can no longer assume that someone will be able to find food when their SNAP is cut and their food pantry emptied.

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

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The Importance of Understanding Hunger as a Spectrum

When I worked at a food pantry, I regularly heard two different narratives that brought people through our doors. The first was that using food assistance was a familiar or constant part of their survival, and the second was that they never believed in a million years that they would need food assistance.

The number of people coming from each of these backgrounds would ebb and flow based on the economy, reflecting the overall struggle to reconcile rising the cost of living with stagnant incomes. And of course, there were plenty of people who identified somewhere between these two narratives, yet their stories tended to receive less attention.

Right now, food pantries are seeing a significant increase in the number of people needing help who have never before set foot in a food pantry.

While we shouldn’t be surprised that people who previously identified as food secure are seeking out food assistance, it’s unfortunate that our anti-hunger programs are often ill-equipped to serve them.

Americans like to assume that people are poor or not- that there’s no middle ground. But the reality is that most people lie in that middle ground- surviving, but easily challenged by an unexpected expense or rising inflation.

There’s enormous stigma against food assistance in the U.S. which means that making a visit to a food pantry for the first time can feel intimidating, embarrassing, and shameful. How pantries operate and treat their shoppers can help alleviate these feelings or emphasize them.

Food pantries who assume they only serve people who have only known poverty fail their mission and their community. They create spaces that are much less welcoming, often less accessible, and perpetuate harmful stereotypes about hunger that work contrary to the mission of ending hunger.

It is essential that organizations start discussing what changing economic conditions do to their clientele and ensure they are well-prepared to serve everyone with abundance and grace.

How food pantries should prepare for shifting demographics:

  • Volunteer training. Volunteers often have assumptions about what people should look like if they visit a food pantry- they shouldn’t drive a nice or clean car, wear cute clothes, buy Starbucks, or have a new phone (this is also where racism often becomes glaringly apparent). I’ve seen volunteer assumptions about a shopper’s appearance directly impact the services they offer, even though none of these are actual indicators that someone doesn’t deserve food assistance (while also raising the fundamental question, who deserves to eat?).
  • Remember that poverty is not a yes/no concept. Poverty for one person looks very different than for another, and there’s no clear defining line between being poor and financially secure. Someone may not feel food insecure until they’ve emptied their bank account, while another may feel driven to stock up long before the cupboards are empty. We do our community a disservice when we try to define or limit food insecurity to a single experience.
  • Ensure systems are simple and accessible for everyone. Especially if your pantry depends on word of mouth, it’s easy to assume that people will be told by friends and families the tricks to shopping, like when to line up or what paperwork to bring or what foods to expect. Make sure that someone who knows nothing about your pantry can also access this information.

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

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Fighting Hunger and Making Food Fun

I have something a little different to share this week. Please enjoy this guest post I wrote for FoodCorps about the transformation my food pantry saw when we eliminated limits on most of our food supply.

As the anti-hunger world faces increasing budget cuts, restrictions, and fears about scarcity, it’s more important than ever that we focus on how we can still uplift abundance to ensure everyone can have fun with what they eat.

Previous Post: Can We Force People to Eat Healthy?

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 Force People to Eat Healthy?

For years, there’s been debate in anti-hunger circles about the need to improve the diet and health of people experiencing hunger. Most recently, discussion has revived around adding purchasing restrictions to SNAP to make soda, candy, ice cream, and prepared desserts ineligible for purchase with benefits.

On the surface, it sounds like a great idea. Assuming that people just need to be directed towards healthier options, this would be an efficient policy. Because Americans generally believe that poverty results from making poor choices, it’s easy to accept that people experiencing hunger need help making better choices. We’ve also all been conditioned to believe that people using SNAP are trying to manipulate the system, which makes it easier to accept that they need extra restrictions.

However, this policy proposal does not improve health, recognize current barriers to food security, or respect the dignity of people experiencing hunger. Empowering people to eat healthier benefits everyone, but this policy proposal fails to do so.

There’s no evidence that people who use SNAP have a worse diet than people who don’t.

This should immediately call into question why SNAP has been chosen to be the policy tool for this crusade.

If this policy seeks to reduce junk food consumption, why does it only restrict people receiving benefits? Specifically targeting vulnerable, low-income demographics for a society-wide issue is disingenuous and inequitable.

After working in anti-hunger spaces for nearly fifteen years, I’ve learned from thousands of people seeking food assistance. Overwhelmingly, these individuals demonstrate that they know how to eat healthy.

Ask at any food pantry, and staff will tell you that quality fresh produce is always in highest demand and shortest supply. We see too many food pantry photos of shopping carts loaded with potato chips because that’s all they have- it’s not that shoppers are choosing them over healthier options.

People experiencing hunger know as well as any other demographic what healthy eating looks like.

The barrier isn’t knowledge or choice; it’s access. Fresh foods are more expensive than processed. Critics like to point out that an apple is cheaper than a bag of frozen chicken nuggets, but they ignore the reality that an apple is not a meal. An apple, peanut butter, and fixings for a sandwich on whole wheat bread is significantly more expensive than a bag of frozen chicken nuggets. By calorie, healthy foods are more expensive.

What would these SNAP restrictions achieve?

Since adding restrictions to SNAP do not increase the budget of beneficiaries, eliminating the purchase of certain foods reduces choice. By making unhealthy options inaccessible, it does not make healthy foods more accessible.

SNAP funds are so inadequate that they have always forced people to prioritize the cheapest foods. The choice has never been between a bag of chips or a vegetable stir fry.

This policy intends to assert the idea that people experiencing poverty need the leadership of people who have never been food insecure, which is condescending, paternalistic, and completely ignorant.

It also takes away the chance for recipients to practice self-care through food. Facing the incredible challenges of today’s world, everyone deserves the freedom to buy the foods that make us feel comforted, safe, and nourished, even if they’re not always the healthiest.

If policy makers really cared about the health and diet of SNAP recipients, they would be fighting to increase SNAP benefits. If they really feared the risks that junk food poses to Americans, they’d be working to reduce access for the entire population.

This policy just intends to be cruel towards and already vulnerable population.

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

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How to Build a Welcoming Food Pantry

I often hear food pantry staff complain that there are neighbors and community members experiencing hunger who simply won’t use their food pantry. Although I hear this less often as food pantries see rising hunger rates, it’s still not unusual for staff and volunteers to recognize specific communities that they simply can’t entice to the pantry.

I regularly hear surprise and confusion at the thought that someone experiencing hunger might not seek out or want their help and resources. Although there are many underlying reasons why people may not attend the food pantry, it usually boils down to not feeling welcome.

Our society’s idea of creating a welcoming atmosphere often stops at colorful murals and smiling volunteers.

This is a great starting point but isn’t likely to attract someone who is already reluctant or uncomfortable about visiting (especially because of systemic/historic barriers).

Food pantry staff and volunteers are usually wealthy, white, English-speaking, cis women who are working high-income jobs or retirees. Few have experienced hunger and often have little exposure to the cultural norms or language of the communities they’re trying to approach. As a result, their efforts at outreach and a welcoming environment can feel awkward, artificial, or fake. No one wants to visit a food pantry just to make the volunteers feel good, but that’s often the expectation these efforts can invoke.

Building a welcoming environment starts with:

  • Advertising pantry services in the language spoken by the community. This should include hiring a translator to read all your marketing materials rather than running it through Google translate. Ideally, it also means having a translator or service on site during distribution hours to explain the process to community members who attend. This makes the pantry infinitely more accessible and less intimidating for people who aren’t familiar with the concept, frightened by the process, or worried about the requirements. One of my favorite local pantries offers a weekly distribution entirely in Spanish.
  • Building community.

Food pantries shouldn’t exist in a bubble.

Send representation to community meetings, local government gatherings, potlucks at neighboring churches, and listen to your community’s needs. You’re far more likely to get honest feedback and build trust while weeding the community garden or picking garbage off the street than interrogating someone across a desk. This can help your organization learn what it can do to offer effective support for your neighbors, which may require changing your current operations.

It’s quite likely that a pantry run by people of predominantly western European backgrounds may not be familiar with the foods that your clients want, and don’t even know what they don’t know about them.

Consider hiring a community chef to do a cooking lesson or taste test for volunteers, staff, and neighbors to learn more. I’ve often seen volunteers throw out foods they aren’t familiar with, which is a direct deterrence to shoppers.

  • Offering flexible systems. Some people are comfortable waiting in long lines, while others may naturally crowd up to the front. Some shoppers might seek extensive guidance and oversight from staff while others prefer to be completely independent. Develop systems that allow for these differences which can be cultural as much as personal preference.

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

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