Hunger Solutions Minnesota/Minnesota Partners to End Hunger
present

A Legislative Response to Hunger

Monday, March 30, 2009
9:30 am
State Office Building (Room 181)

Congressman Keith Ellison along with State Senator Patricia Torres Ray and State Representatives Karen Clark and John Benson will appear at a Hunger Solutions Minnesota/Minnesota Partners to End Hunger press conference on Monday, March 30 to introduce recent and pending legislation that responds to hunger in Minnesota.

Hunger Solutions Minnesota will also release their first volume of a newly developed quarterly report. “Keeping Food on the Table”, is a quarterly review of the state of hunger in Minnesota. This first issue is a 2008 review. The review looks at food shelf usage, Food Support, Federal commodities, suburban hunger and other factors contributing to the rising issue of hunger in Minnesota.

Invited Press Conference Speakers include:
• Congressman Keith Ellison
• State Senator Patricia Torres Ray
• Representative Karen Clark
• Representative John Benson
• Representative Jerry Newton
• Colleen Moriarty, Hunger Solutions Minnesota

A strong Legislative response to hunger is vital as food insecurity impacts an estimated 10% of Minnesotans. One in ten Americans receives Food Stamp benefits.

The Federal Government has already responded with The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The stimulus provides Minnesota food stamp recipients with a temporary boost of an additional $175 million beginning April 1st.

Food shelves and other feeding programs are under pressure to meet the unusual demand for food assistance from middle class families suffering from unemployment, underemployment, home foreclosure, food cost inflation and other financial strains.

2008 was the first time we’ve seen over 2 million visits to food shelves in Minnesota. Statewide, visits to the 300 food shelves in Minnesota were up 14.8% from 2007. Visits (194,665) by senior citizens were up 18.7% from 2007.

Children are adversely affected in this economy. A newly introduced bill was designed to address how crucial school nutrition programs are to alleviating hunger among students. A full one third of students in Minnesota qualify for free and reduced school meals. In the last 10 years, there has been an 87.8% increase in free/reduced lunch participation. Thousands of low-income Minnesota children are required to pay for school lunch; however, a growing number of families cannot pay. For thousands of Minnesota families earning between $22,000 and $32,000, $8-$24 per month for school lunches is unaffordable.

Hunger Solutions Minnesota/Partners to End Hunger applaud the State and Federal investments that provide long-term solutions to food insecurity and lawmakers that bring forward improved nutrition policies.

ABOUT HUNGER SOLUTIONS MINNESOTA:
Hunger Solutions Minnesota (HSM) is a comprehensive hunger relief organization that works to end hunger in Minnesota. We take action to assure food security for all Minnesotans by supporting agencies that provide food to those in need, advancing sound public policy, and guiding grassroots advocacy. HSM advocates for the maximum use of all federal public nutrition dollars available and works to improve low income Minnesotans’ access to all nutrition programs. HSM recommends that people struggling with hunger and poverty screen themselves for public program benefits by using http://www.bridgetobenefits.org/.

ABOUT MINNESOTA PARTNERS TO END HUNGER:

Minnesota Partners to End Hunger is a statewide network of service providers and advocates working to end hunger in Minnesota by motivating decision-makers to take supportive action on state and national hunger policy issues.