Hunger in CT and New London County

Imagine a day when you weren’t sure if you or your family would have food on the table. Now imagine that day was every day. This is the reality for about one in seven Connecticut residents, and that number appears to be on the rise. The face of hunger is diverse, effecting children, single parents, seniors, working families, and so many more. The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) estimated that 15% of Connecticut residents did not have enough money in the first half of 2012 to purchase the food that they needed. Why didn’t they have enough money for food? In a study done prior to the recent recession, 42% of Connecticut residents had to choose between food and utilities, 34% had to choose between food and rent, and 30% had to choose between food and medical care (CT Food Bank). What would you do if you had to choose between putting food on the table for your kids and risk being evicted because you couldn’t pay your rent? Would you keep your home for a little while longer but go hungry? This is a decision far too many people in Connecticut have to make on a daily basis. Hunger is happening right here in New London County, too. Approximately 12% of New London County residents are food insecure (Feeding America), and 54% of these people don’t qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Some of us won’t face these difficult choices in our lives, but chances are we know or will meet someone who does. So what can we do? The first thing to do is to remove any stereotypes or stigmas we associate with hunger, as these only make the situation worse and perpetuate the problem. Host a food drive, or encouraging your place of work to do so, and donate food to the Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Center in New London, CT. These are two great and simple ways you can help alleviate hunger in Connecticut. On December 29^th, the Gemma E. Moran Food Center will have a truck parked in front of the Garde Art’s Center in downtown New London, CT, and will be taking donations of non-perishable foods from 10am-10pm. Together we can help ease the hardships for those who are going hungry in Connecticut and New London County. 

Child Hunger in New London County

Child hunger is an issue that affects communities across the country – including our community of New London County. The statistics are startling. According to Connecticut Food Bank, 16.9% of New London County’s children, nearly 10,000 young individuals, were food insecure in 2011. This means that on a daily basis, 10,000 children did not know where their next meal, if one at all, would come from. But New London County’s children aren’t the only ones going hungry. In 2011, Connecticut had the 5^th highest increase in child poverty in the U.S. and more than 150,000 children throughout the state are currently food insecure (American Community Survey census and Child Food Insecurity 2012 Study).

How can you help? The first step for many of us is to acknowledge that these issues exist in our communities. We can all begin by starting to bring the issue of child hunger into more conversations, more frequently—because this issue affects all of us. Child hunger contributes to failure to thrive and poor performance in school. The repercussions of these outcomes can and do affect these individuals, destined to become our neighbors and coworkers, later in life. You can also help by hosting a food drive at your place of work, at a community center or at a local school. Then take the food items you receive during your drive to a local food pantry or food bank, like the Gemma E. Moran United Way Labor Food Center. We invite you to be a part of the solution every day of the year – and especially on December 29^th, the day of the Robert Irvine LIVE! event at the Garde Arts Center in New London. We are challenging the New London County community to fill United Way of Southeastern Connecticut’s brand new Mobile Food Pantry. This refrigerated truck will hit the roads of New London County beginning next year, offering fresh produce and shelf-stable pantry items to food insecure individuals and families throughout the county at no cost to them.  The Mobile Food Pantry will be parked near the main entrance of the Garde Arts building and will be accepting donations of healthy, non-perishable food items from 10a.m. until 10p.m. on December 29^th. We hope to see you there!  Together, we can take the necessary steps to end child hunger in our community. 

Mobile Food Pantry and Robert Irvine Event

On December 29, the United Way of Southeastern Connecticut is partnering with The Garde Arts Center in New London to introduce its new mobile food pantry to the community. United Way and the Garde will host a food drive to fill the Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Center’s new mobile pantry on December 29, from 10am - 10pm at the Garde Arts Center located at 325 State Street. We will be accepting donations of non-perishable food items. All food will go to the food center to help feed families in need throughout New London County.

The launch of the mobile food pantry is taking place the day that The Garde Arts Center is welcoming Chef Robert Irvine from the Food Networks television show, “Restaurant: Impossible”. “Robert Irvine Live!” will be an interactive culinary experience, with chances for audience participation that will create the experience of a TV show live on stage. The event will start go from 8-10pm, with a VIP seminar starting at 5:30. In the VIP seminar, Irvine will demonstrate a spontaneous cooking demonstration in the Oasis room of the Garde, for up to 50 people. In addition, both the food center and the New London County Food Policy Council will have tables set up inside providing information on the food policy council, how to run a food drive, and statistics on hunger in Connecticut and New London County. Check out the information tables before you head to the “Robert Irvine Live!” event to see how you can help fight hunger in New London County. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit The Garde Arts website.

It Takes a Community

Joe and Ellen, AmeriCorps VISTAs serving the New London County Food Policy Council, helped pick up 50 turkeys at the Norwich Shop Rite last Tuesday. These turkeys were generously donated to the Gemma E. Moran United Way Labor Food Center by Dime Bank. An announcement was made mid-November stating that the Food Center would not have enough turkeys—2,300 total were requested by agencies throughout the county—to give to community members in need. Following this announcement, New London County residents, businesses and organizations responded with donations of turkeys, Thanksgiving food items and money. This coming together of community filled the gap and made it possible for the Food Center to distribute over 2,300 turkeys and traditional Thanksgiving meals items including stuffing, cranberry sauce, and fresh vegetables throughout the county. We are very grateful to be part of this caring and generous community! Tuesday’s turkey pick-up was an opportunity to take pause and remember this.

 

Eat Local Thanksgiving Results

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and all that's left to do is digest the copious amounts of food eaten, and start planning for next years meal (which will be mostly local, right?).

Thanks to all of you who participated in this years Eat Local Thanksgiving Pledge. The results are in, and 24 of you pledged to include at least one local, Connecticut produced food item in your meal this year. Some of you even included more than one local food item. We had people purchasing their foods from places such as Davis Farm in Pawkatuck, Provider Farm in Salem, and Gracie Mae's Kitchen in Griswold. Some of the local food items included apples, cranberries, various herbs, produce, pies, and turkeys. I used local beets and eggs, as well as Dutch Cocoa from Fiddleheads in New London, to make a chocolate beet cake.

We'd like to hear what else you ate, and from where you got your local, CT food items. Let us know in the comment section below. If you didn't take the pledge, but still had a local food item or two for Thanksgiving, tell us about it! And remember, just because Thanksgiving is over, doesn't mean you need to stop eating local. Every day is a perfect day to eat a locally produced meal. Check out our eat local resources page, which is useful all winter long.