Opinion
Help the needy avoid having a cold, hungry holiday season
12/15/2007 8:51:41 AM

By Cynthia Shaffer

With the winter months upon us and fuel costs continuing to rise, some of our neighbors will be confronted with difficult choices, such as buying food or paying the gas bill.

More than 35 million Americans are food insecure, meaning they lack consistent access to enough food at some point during the year. More than 100,000 of these individuals are our neighbors here in southeastern Minnesota.

The high costs of heat will send more and more people to food shelves, meal programs and other emergency feeding charities. These additional demands place a tremendous strain on organizations such as Channel One which, like other food banks around the country, is experiencing declines in food donations from the food industry — our largest source of food to feed those in need.

Channel One Food Bank and Food Shelf, a member of America’s Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network, has been serving southeastern Minnesota for more than 20 years, reaching out to those in need of food assistance.

Among client households served by Channel One, 43 percent report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities or heating fuel. Research shows that while both affluent and poor families increase their expenditures on home fuel during the winter, poor families offset this cost through decreasing food purchases, with an average 10 percent decrease in caloric intake.

The struggle to find adequate nutrition for millions of Americans is a real and growing problem. This year, Channel One and other programs throughout the country will need to strongly depend on the generosity of our communities for donations, both food and funds, to meet increasing demands for emergency food assistance.

Hunger is an issue — one we can choose to ignore in the hopes that it will disappear, or one we can attack head-on at the local level by helping our neighbors in need.

In this time of giving, consider getting involved in addressing the hunger issue in your community. Donate. Advocate. Give time.

Cynthia Shaffer is executive director of the Channel One Food Bank and Food Shelf, based in Rochester.