September is Hunger Action Month, a nationwide campaign highlighting the urgent need to end hunger. WMRA's Calvin Pynn spoke with Les Sinclair, Communications Manager for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank about food needs in our region and the efforts underway to address those needs.
LES SINCLAIR: Hunger Action Month is a month-long effort to raise awareness about hunger in our communities. Hunger exists in every zip code in the United States, and that means every zip code here in the Blue Ridge. And this effort, which is put on by our partner organization Feeding America and all of the hunger-related organizations across the country during the month of September, is really all about making sure that hunger is on the radar of not just the politicians and the elected officials, but everyday folks because it's more prevalent, I think, than people know.
CALVIN PYNN: What factors will be driving food insecurity in this year, but also just in our region?
LES SINCLAIR: Well, costs, really. It is the cost of food, which is ever rising and has continued to rise since the pandemic. Just coming out of the pandemic, it was double digits into the 20-25% range and just continues to climb steadily, two or three percent every single year. And that food cost is where a lot of people struggle. But there are also other factors like housing costs have gone up, which means rent, childcare costs have gone up, and transportation costs have gone up. All of these things factor into people having to spend more money and then not being able to afford as much food.
CALVIN PYNN: You know, one of the purposes of the campaign is to highlight the power of food to nourish more than just the body. What does that mean exactly? How would you define that?
LES SINCLAIR: Well, you can imagine the despair if someone doesn't have the food that they need, how challenging that would be. There's the story of a couple with three children, and he was working, and the mom was a stay-at-home mom because the children are little. And they, the parents were living off a potato a day so that their children could have meals. And that's the sort of struggle. And when they discovered this food pantry, that the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank helps support, they were able to have food for their entire family, which provides not just nourishment for their body, but nourishment for their soul and hope for the future that their kids are going to be okay and that their family's going to be all right.
CALVIN PYNN: You also mentioned advocacy for stronger hunger relief policies, particularly the next farm bill, which I understand, I mean it's still in development, it's still getting through. What aspects of that bill would you want to highlight that people should know about?
LES SINCLAIR: Well, the farm bill is the biggest piece of nutrition legislation in America. And it is renewed every five years, and we are in year number seven of a five-year farm bill. So it hasn't been updated since 2018. So this is an important time when folks can reach out to their elected officials and let them know that hunger is important. We're advocating for a doubling of TEFAP, which is the Emergency Food Assistance Program. And we also receive food through the USDA and a program called senior food boxes, or the CSFP, and that helps seniors with food. So these are just a couple of ways that folks can help support the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, and all the food banks across the country, and the farmers that provide the food to them. And it is simply by taking the action of reaching out to your elected official and letting them know that hunger is an important issue and we can solve it, but we need the political will to do so.
CALVIN PYNN: That drives so many of these factors here.
LES SINCLAIR: Well, in America, there is plenty of food. We have enough food. We have an excess of food. But we need to make sure that it's able to get to the people who need it.
CALVIN PYNN: For people who are seeking assistance, how would they be able to best get in touch with Blue Ridge Area Food Bank?
LES SINCLAIR: So if they need food, rather than going into debt for it, visiting a food pantry is a great way to make sure that your family has the food that it needs. And the easiest solution is just use the food finder tool on our webpage or call the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and we'll help walk a person through it if they need that help. Or maybe it's not for you, maybe it's for someone else that you know and we can help with that as well.
CALVIN PYNN: Les, thank you so much for joining us and thank you for everything you're doing.
LES SINCLAIR: I appreciate it, Calvin. Thank you so much for your time today and for putting this on the radar of so many people.
