I know I’m appearing at my regular time, but I’d like you to think of this as an emergency newspaper column. In this message, I’m going to try to describe which programs on Cape Cod are providing emergency food assistance, who is running them, and most importantly, what you can do to help.
The problem: At this writing, the federal SNAP (food-stamps) program has dried up. A court ruling may challenge that, but it’s not clear how long relief might take. Massachusetts receives over $210 million every month in SNAP benefits for over 1.1 million recipients. Thirty-two percent of recipients are children, 26% are seniors, and 31% go to people with disabilities. One dollar of every $5 spent in Massachusetts grocery stores is SNAP funding.
Lawrence Brown
Back in late September, two months after making deep cuts to the food stamp program, the federal government announced that it would stop publishing annual statistical information on the state of food insecurity in the United States. We can only assume that either our government doesn’t want the electorate to have this information — or no longer cares to know it.
Nor can we know how long this government shutdown will last. Most of the poorest states in the nation reside in the old Confederacy… red states today. And red state children get just as hungry as blue state children do. What our parties are doing isn’t sustainable.
Remember, Washington had already cut or reduced USDA food aid to individual states. Other cuts, with no explanations offered, eliminated federal food aid to schools.
The ripple effect starts at the Greater Boston Food Bank. They supply more than 600 local food pantries and hunger relief agencies in eastern Massachusetts. The GBFB says reductions in U.S. Department of Agriculture funding is costing it nearly $2.3 million in emergency food resources. Last year, Barnstable County ate 5 million pounds of GBFB food.
Many of our Cape-based food programs depend on the Greater Boston Food Bank. Their problems become our problems. We were already seeing an uptick in visitors to food pantries and hot meal sources like Faith Family Kitchen in Hyannis. And then the food stamp cuts hit. From here on in, our readership breaks into two groups: the people who are going to be seeking food assistance on Cape Cod — and the rest of us who have an opportunity to help them.
Where can you turn if you can’t make ends meet and need emergency food assistance? For the last 65 years, our Cape Cod Council of Churches has been unifying congregations and private resources to offer assistance programs for our most vulnerable neighbors. These include food pantries and hot meal resources. Google capecodcouncilofchurches.org. Look under PROGRAMS for what you need and where to find it.
Please note that these and other organizations do not offer their services 24/7. You have to check the organizations near you for their specific days and times.
The Council of Churches directed me to Andrea Scarpellini, the Food Access Coordinator for Barnstable County. Visit the county’s website www.capecod.gov/foodaccess to download the Food Resource Guide with up-to-date listings for food pantries, community fridges, and meal sites. With well over 50 listings, the resource guide will tell you what’s available where you live. Also, check out the Hunger Network for the Cape. (Capecodhungernetwork.org)
The United Way offers the state’s largest anti-hunger program, serving over 1 million people. Google capeandislandsuw.org or phone at 508-775-4746 if you need their assistance. Your local libraries have public-access computers if you don’t have one of your own. Some, like the Hyannis Public Library, maintain a public fridge stocked daily with nutritious food.
And now, dear reader, if we don’t need food assistance ourselves, we have to be the last line of defense for those who do. Here’s how we can help. Years ago, my tiny seventh grade class at Cape Cod Academy decided they wanted to help feed people. Up till then, most food-drive efforts had been pathetic, so we decided the kids would have to shop with their parents and bring in one bag of groceries to give away. We kept no records on who bought food and who couldn’t. But by the time I retired, this little group had brought in over 1,400 bags of food for the Council of Churches’ food pantries.
Every community is going to have people who can afford to contribute, people who can’t afford to contribute, and people who personally need the help. The Bring-a-Bag approach can be easily duplicated across the Cape. For families who can afford it, the kids should accompany their parents to the supermarket — and be with them when the food is delivered to see how grateful people are to receive it. One affluent family I know gave each of their children $1,000 and invited each child to research local charities, explain which charity they picked and why, and personally make the donation. From the point of spiritual and moral development, the same lessons could be learned if kids give away $10 or even one.
Almost all the organizations I’ve mentioned prefer cash donations to stuff. It gives them a lot more flexibility to move the money where they need it most at the time they receive it. If your religious community is already engaged in a food-support operation, try to support that. If you’ve been supporting a homeless shelter, they’re going to need your support more than ever now.
We cannot expect to turn our national politics into a dark art and expect to arrive at a bright place. America’s food crisis is simultaneously a spiritual opportunity to revive our withering connections to one another. For years, this was a sign on my classroom wall; now I offer it to you all as a mantra. On your side… got your back… see you through. Bless your hearts.
Lawrence Brown is a columnist for the Cape Cod Times. Email him at columnresponse@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Food pantries, meal programs gear up amid SNAP crisis | OPINION
