But there’s something even more fundamental as a measure of quality of life – food.
While most of us take access to food for granted, there are some 367,000 families in this state struggling each and every day to put food on the table.
As the Legislature seeks to balance the state budget, there is much talk about providing a quality education for the children.
But a hungry child is a child left behind in the classroom, his or her aching stomach robbing the energy and attention needed to learn.
Others at the state Capitol lobby long and hard to protect access to health care for infants, the disabled and the elderly. But good health begins with access to healthy foods.
The state is fortunate to have a network of food banks serving the hungry. With the help of volunteers and food donations, the food banks are the last line of defense in the war on hunger.
However, the demand for services is outstripping food supplies. The Thurston County Food Bank recorded 178,000 client visits in 2011, a 19 percent increase over 2010.
Even more telling, the food bank is averaging some 200 new families served each month.
At the same time, food drives in the community are in decline, placing even more pressure on the Olympia Kiwanis Club and others who grow fresh produce in community gardens, then donate it to the food bank.
State-supported hunger relief programs have not been immune from the state budget cuts that have totaled some $10 billion in the past three years. Every time a food assistance program is cut, it sends more people scurrying to their local food banks for their food.
As state lawmakers ponder their next budget move, they must make every effort to protect the programs and infrastructure that ensure people have an ability to meet the most basic of all human needs – food.
If it means new sources of tax revenue and reform of the many tax breaks on the books, so be it. The hemorrhaging of hunger relief programs needs to stop.
A statewide coalition of anti-hunger and nutrition groups make a strong case to:
• Maintain funds for school meals. The number of hungry households in the state has more than doubled since 2007. School meals for those in need, funded by a mix of state, federal and local sources, are a crucial part of the child nutrition safety network.
• Continue support of the state Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Food Assistance Program. The program provides critical funding for food banks across the state to help pay for food, transportation and operating costs. The support totals $80,000 per year in Thurston County, helping the food bank deliver food to food bank outlets throughout the county.
• Preserve a pilot project that allows low-income mothers, seniors and children to purchase healthful food from local farmers at farmers markets across the state. The Farmers Market Nutrition Programs operated by the state Department of Health and state Department of Social and Health Services provides the vouchers that can be redeemed at farmers markets. It’s a program that helps hungry people and helps strengthen the local food supply. In 2011, the $100,000 in state funding leveraged nearly $900,000 in federal support for the program. That’s a darn good return on investment for the state and should not be eliminated.
• Maintain the state Food Assistance program for all currently eligible recipients. The food stamp program is needed to bridge the gap to economic recovery and stave off hunger. Again, cuts in food stamp programs will just place a greater, untenable burden on food banks across the state.
The food security network in this state is stretched to the breaking point. It can’t afford further budget cuts. The food banks won’t be able to respond to the demand for services that further cuts would unleash.
