May 9, 2009
By Christina E. Sanchez
THE TENNESSEAN
Susie Winston knew if she paid both the rent and the electric bill this month she might not be able to put food on the table. She had to choose. The meals she makes are stretched among six grandchildren, ages 4 to 13, whom she helps raise. “It’s so hard,” said Winston, who was at the Martha O’Bryan Center’s food bank on Friday.
“I work over 40 hours a week, plus I am trying to keep food on the table.” The East Nashville resident has been going to the food bank for years, so she never has to worry her grandchildren will ask her, “When are we going to eat?”
Many children are asking that question, going to bed hungry or unable to concentrate in school because of growling stomachs. More than one-fifth of Tennesseans under age 18 — 293,038 children — are at risk of not getting enough to eat, according to a national anti-hunger group’s analysis of government information for 2005-07. Only three states have more children who lack consistent access to food. Advocates expect the recession and layoffs will edge up the number of children without regular, healthy meals. But while need has grown, resources haven’t.
“We are seeing an increase,” said Jaynee Day, president and chief executive officer of Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. “The numbers are going to change and only go up. People are having to make tough decisions right now.”
The research by Feeding America, a nonprofit network of food banks and similar programs, also showed that Tennessee is one of 11 states with more than 20 percent of children at risk for hunger. More than 77,500 of Tennessee’s at-risk children are under age 5. Food stamps see spike Second Harvest, a member of Feeding America, serves 46 counties in Middle Tennessee, including Davidson, Williamson, Wilson, Sumner and Rutherford. The growing child hunger follows the trend of increases for food stamps and the number of free and reduced-price lunches in schools. Unemployment and poverty rates in Tennessee, each higher than the national averages, contribute greatly to child hunger, advocates said.
“Families have to make choices between food and house payments,” said Cassi Johnson, director of the Food Security Partnership at Vanderbilt University. “The issue really comes down to income, poverty and lack of living wage.”
Tennessee’s unemployment rate for March was at 9.6 percent, more than a percentage point above the nationwide figure. Its poverty rate in 2007 was 15.8 percent, compared with a national average of 12.5 percent. The Food Partnership works with more than 70 organizations to create healthy and sustainable food systems.
Food banks help Winston, the East Nashville grandmother, said she goes to food pantries when she can. The emergency food boxes she is able to get give her staple meals to feed her grandchildren. “This place helps a lot,” she said about the Martha O’Bryan Center on South Seventh Street. “I make it work. I’ll be all right.”
Programs that help fight child hunger have seen steady increases from organizations offering aid to the number of children who access it. Kids Cafe gives snacks and meals to children after school. One fast-growing program sends backpacks home with schoolchildren on weekends. Second Harvest and local school districts co-sponsor the program. The number of those sent home has grown from 17,000 in 2006 to 55,100 so far this school year, with two weeks left. Day, the Second Harvest president, said some kids might not eat without the backpacks or Kids Cafe program.
“A child who comes to school unequipped to learn is likely not to be successful as an adult,” Day said. “They don’t learn, they don’t have any energy, they have more learning disabilities, and they have more health issues.”
During school, low-income children can qualify for free or reduced-cost lunch. But when they go home, only about 10 percent of the eligible children get food assistance, said Bill Hutchison, child nutrition program manager for the state Department of Health. He coordinates a statewide Summer Food Service program. The number of children it serves has increased about 4 percent a year since the middle of the decade. More than 37,500 lunches were served at 1,378 sites across the state from June to the start of this school year. “We expect to have more sites and children this year, and that is likely because of the economy,” Hutchison said.
Day said that the economy also has hurt money and food donations. “Our children, who are our most valuable asset, are at risk, and we need to send a very clear message that these children should not go to bed hungry,” Day said. “It is our moral responsibility.”
