Battling hunger in Montana one conversation at a time

PLAINS – The Montana Food Bank Network hosted a meeting at the Assembly of God church on Wednesday to increase awareness and help get a better understanding of the issue of hunger in Sanders County and across Montana.

The meeting, the first in a six part series, aimed at promoting a discussion about possible avenues to help alleviate hunger at the local level.

Local professionals from throughout the county attended the event to help share their insights on the issue at hand.

The first biennial Client Hunger Survey was completed in the summer of 2012, with a survey of nine communities across the state.

Twenty-five clients of the Plains Food Bank were surveyed and results showed the majority of households who utilize the food bank had one household member. Thirty-two percent included two to three individuals and another 32 percent included four to six individuals.

Out of those results, 36 percent of the clients who utilize the food bank house children.

According to statistics handed out by the Montana Food Bank Network, 1 in 5 children in Montana live in poverty and Sanders County has the eighth highest poverty rate in the state.

Sanders County also has the highest rate of children considered to be food secure with an alarming rate of 31.3 percent.

Diane Mathews, Agency Relations Assistant for the Montana Food Bank Network explained that food insecurity means a person may not know where their next meal will come from, often times causing a household member to skip meals or skimp on nutrition.

Certain programs are offered for individuals below the poverty line to help them receive better access to food and nutrition. Programs like the Summer Food Service Program helps children get the nutrition they need by providing free meals to anyone 18 and under.

According to the presentation, summer is often a challenging time in Montana with many families reporting difficulty making extra meals that their children do not receive through the breakfast and lunch programs during the school year.

There are six SFSP sites in Sanders County and only 30 percent of the kids who take part in free or reduced priced meals during the school year received food through SFSP in 2012.

Lorianne Burhop, Public Policy Manager for the Montana Food Bank Network, explained that many people who qualify do not participate in the programs provided.

Along with this, the presentation addressed that nearly 4,600 people or 40 percent of Sanders County residents live in a food desert where they have limited access to grocery stores making access to nutritious foods a challenge.

More than 17 percent of Montanan households reported having difficulty gaining access to affordable fresh produce – the third highest rate in the nation.

These problems tie into a $167.5 billion domestic cost in America. The domestic cost of hunger otherwise known as a “Hunger Bill” is calculated by adding the amount of money spent on preventable health care and medical costs, lower educational attainment which results in loss of productivity, and anti-hunger charitable donations.

In 2010 the costs of these indicators was $590.6 million for Montana.

In order to help battle the food security issue, the Montana Food Bank Network recommends increasing public awareness of the hunger epidemic on hand, and focusing on the impact it has on health, education and the economy.

After discussing the need for a change and the looming problem of decreasing hunger in the county, the attendees of the meeting broke into small groups and brainstormed ways to help the problem.

Spreading the word on both the issues and also letting people know where they could find assistance was one of the key items the different groups agreed on.

The Montana Food Bank helped make it easy for the health professionals to connect with one another, sharing their contact information after the meeting and hopefully creating a new network of people who are willing to stand up and fight hunger off of the streets of our local communities.