February 2009 - Junior League of Minneapolis

Community
THIS WEEK, 500,000 MINNESOTANS FIGURING OUT
HOW TO PUT FOOD ON THE TABLE
HUNGER ISSUE HIGHLIGHTED IN FIRST COMMUNITY ISSUES ROUNDTABLE
By Tara Sullivan, VP Marketing
The goal of these sessions, hosted by the Project Development Committee, is interactive learning about issues that could be addressed by future or expanded existing
projects (a project vote will happen March). Note: If you missed it, you can listen online! Visit jlminneapolis.org, log in and go to Member
Forums, then click on Project Development downloads.
The first of three Community Issues Roundtables kicked off on Saturday, January 10 with Rob Zeaske, Executive Director of Second Harvest
Heartland, the Upper Midwest’s largest hunger-relief organization.
“We all have a lot of problems; when you’re hungry, you only have one.” That quote, and some of the startling facts – one in 10 Minnesotans have
to figure out how to find food in any given week; demand on food shelves is up 30 percent this year; only half of eligible people are signed up for
food stamps – painted a picture of a grim issue, but one that can be solved.
After covering the ‘what’, Zeaske covered the ‘why’ of addressing hunger. It’s the right thing to do; it’s possible; and it’s the smart thing to do.
Human potential is lost when you can’t cover the fundamentals, and – just like early childhood education – society pays less when people have
enough to eat. For example, seniors who are hungry spend more time in the hospital, a case where hunger is leading directly to higher cost, as well
as human suffering.
“There’s a misconception that hunger = homelessness. The hungry could be the older person sitting next to you at church, or
the kids your kids have play dates with,” said Zeaske. “It’s invisible by design; no one is going to wear a pink ribbon or hold a
parade to tell other people they don’t have enough to eat.”
Given the scope of the issue, it’s no surprise that thousands of agencies and hundreds of food shelves are hard at work. Second Harvest Heartland
and others are trying to look at it as more of a system, so that each aspect can be addressed with the end in mind. “It’s a distribution issue” is how
Zeaske characterized it. In the U.S. we clearly have an overabundance of food; it’s just not getting to all who need it.
The last part of the session focused on four gaps, some of which the JLM could address. One area is food rescue – picture the food left over at the
close of business in any restaurant. How can that be safely redistributed in a cost-effective way? Another is food stamps; if only half of eligible
people are signing up, clearly there is a need. A third is summer hunger – those children who are fed during the year by the free and reduced-cost
lunch program don’t have that assistance when school is closed. Related to that need is a backpack concept, where those same children receive a back
pack of food every Friday to take home (other Junior Leagues are working in this area, as are other nonprofits).
What can you do about this? Project Development will bring forward three concepts at the February neighborhood meetings; please attend to
provide your input. With that input, Project Development will dig further into each and bring forward a proposed new project(s) for your vote at
the March general meeting.
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