Hunger in North Carolina: Real, persistent and getting worse
Published September 11, 2013
by Chris Liu-Beers, NC Council of Churches, NC Policy Watch, September 9, 2013.
Have you ever gone to bed hungry? Have you ever skipped a meal so that your children could eat? Have you ever waited in a long line to take home a bag of leftover groceries that was no longer fit for store shelves?
Did you know that 1 in 6 North Carolina households reported serious problems affording adequate nutritious food at some point last year, according to new data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture [2] today. Of the North Carolinians experiencing this food insecurity, some 5.5 percent experienced very low food security – meaning that one or more household members had to reduce their food intake at least some time during the year. And North Carolina and Louisiana lead the nation with the highest percentage of children under 5 years of age who are food insecure on a regular basis: 1 in 4 (23.5%).
One of the most powerful weapons against hunger is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program (SNAP). Some 1.7 million people in North Carolina participate in SNAP and use its benefits to help put a basic diet on the table each day.
Have you ever refused to give food to someone who was hungry?
That’s exactly what the US House of Representatives will vote on as early as next week. One issue that’s flown under the radar this summer is the looming showdown in the House of Representatives over SNAP funding. SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, keeps millions of Americans out of extreme poverty and hunger, but it faces serious threats.
For one, benefits for every single SNAP recipient will be cut automatically in November as an emergency benefit increase begun in 2009 and renewed last year expires. At that point, SNAP benefits will fall to a meager $1.40 per meal.
House Republicans plan to not only slash SNAP funding by an additional $40 billion [3], but also to make massive structural changes that permanently hobble the program’s ability to protect children, seniors, the disabled and struggling families from utter destitution. The proposed changes include rewriting eligibility rules to cut off recipients who can’t find work, incentivizing states to kick people off SNAP and undermining enrollment programs that help eligible families sign up.
The policy details are complex, but the big picture is clear – unless the House changes course, up to 6 million Americans who are barely getting by right now will soon experience greater food insecurity, hunger and extreme poverty.
Bringing It Home: The Community Lunch at St. Bart’s, Pittsboro, NC
Last week I had the honor of participating in St. Bart’s Community Lunch [4] with the Council’s Rural Life Committee. The Community Lunch is one of the most diverse gatherings of people that you’ll find in a church, and it’s one of the most simple and beautiful expressions of faith-in-action that you’ll ever see. We were there to learn firsthand how churches are working to build community and fight hunger day by day across the state. Hunger is not an abstraction or a statistic for St. Bart’s and for the town of Pittsboro. Extreme poverty and hunger are real, and it takes a whole community – from churches to schools to the state and federal government – to make sure the hungry are fed.
It’s time to stop and ask ourselves and our elected officials: what are we doing? There are hungry children in our neighborhoods, and we are refusing to feed them. There are millions of families living at the brink of disaster and we’re going to deny them food?
Or, in the more eloquent words of Rev. Dr. Russell L. Meyer [5], executive director of the Florida Council of Churches:
Our nation has the means to feed the hungry and to address poverty successfully. Congress needs to find the will to fight hunger rather than use hunger to fight each other. After all, we do not live in an immoral universe that likes to make children go hungry. We live in a world in which religious leaders such as Jesus plainly say to us as he did to his disciples on the hillside with 5,000 hungry families: ‘You feed them.’
September 11, 2013 at 9:10 am
Richard Bunce says:
They only way to help those in need is through massive government bureaucracies staffed by six figure bureaucrats?
September 11, 2013 at 9:45 am
TP Wohlford says:
Rev. Chris --
I used to be a UMC pastor. As such, I got much the same liberal seminary education you have. In fact, we might be able to have a beverage -- uh, "break bread" -- and have a good time comparing notes.
I've served dozens of meals in homeless shelters, served on poverty relief boards, and yes, pulled money out of my own walled to buy clothes and groceries for a neighbor. I've housed the homeless in my own home. As I said, I'd like to think that we have a lot in common.
However, in this article, we disagree.
It is my observation that American hunger has little to do with a lack of available resources. It has little to do with a breakdown of government. Mostly, it has everything to do with a breakdown of values and a history of bad decisions. You know -- psychologists call it "mal-adapative behavior" and I believe the Pauline theological term is "Sin."
Most who go to sleep hungry are children, whose parents are leading lifestyles that have predictable results. Many who go hungry have medical / psychological issues which means they can't hold employment. For many of the people we could double their welfare payments and they'd still have a food shortage at the end of the month.
This is where you and I come in, along with the rest of the religious community. It is tough to take someone that I just described, and help them see the light and change their heart so that they have a chance. It is that hard work of actually loving an unlovable, repulsive neighbor that we're called to do.
But, it is far easier to go along with a "Moral Monday" rally and chant and yell, isn't it? IT is far simpler to go fix poverty in some foreign place by building a school, isn't it? IT is much simpler to urge Congress to pass a bill, or decry the Republicans, than it is to deal with a single mother who just got kicked out by her third boyfriend this year, isn't it?
September 11, 2013 at 11:34 pm
Richard Bunce says:
Thank you for your service...
September 11, 2013 at 11:09 pm
Norm Kelly says:
Jesus indeed said "you feed them". While this is not a direct quote of His words, He was speaking to the people NOT to the government. Sorry Pastor, but it is YOUR responsibility to help these people in our communities. It is MY responsibility, if I call myself a Christ-follower. It is NOT the governments responsibility.
Like a previous response said, it's the love of churched people in the community that will have an impact on peoples lives. Government agencies are the absolute worst, least efficient, least effective means of actually helping these people out of their situation. Didn't Jesus also say that WE should teach a man to fish?
Your sentiment is correct. Your solution is wrong. Our country is going broke, if it's not already so. Washington can NOT continue to take more & more out of the private sector to give away without improving anything. Reverend Russell may have said "Our nation has the means to feed the hungry and to address poverty successfully" but this is no longer true. Our government has been trying to accomplish this goal for well over half a century. We are no better off today than when we started. And the effect of government stealing so much money from people to attempt to fix it is that there is less money available for US, as Christ-followers, to effectively do as much as we should. Americans have proven that we are the most generous people on earth, possibly in the history of mankind. Try to convince Washington (and government at every other level as well) to stop STEALING so much money from us and you will see how generous we are. And it is your duty as a pastor to lead the charge in making it happen. It is my duty as a Christ-follower to be right by your side helping you in OUR mission. Washington IS BROKE. Leave them out of the picture, and pick up your cross.
