May is "Older Americans Month," so it seemed a good time to think about hunger and food insecurity among our seniors.

Nationally, 15.8 million households are food insecure, including 2.9 million households with at least one adult aged 65 or older. Millions more households with seniors face marginal food security.

1.2 million seniors who lived alone were food insecure in 2015, and approximately 548,000 of these seniors were experiencing very low food insecurity.

Ten percent, or 4.6 million, of seniors age 65 and over lived at or below the poverty level in 2014.

Source: Food Research & Action Council, 5/1/17, Senior Hunger

One more time... Hunger 101

It's been a busy couple of weeks for our Hunger 101 program and we presented it again last evening for the SUNY Potsdam Sociology Club.

Fifteen participants were very engaged and kept talking as a group for a good half hour longer than usual for this program.

Here are a few of their comments on the evaluation forms...

• I learned that college student hunger is a bigger issue than I thought.
• This presentation was hands on and opened the eyes of the participants
• This program made clear what SNAP is, who can qualify for it, and what the program is about
• I knew about SNAP but never realized how hard it really was to get them
• This was an eye-opening experience - itneractive and you really get to feel what it's like

If you would like to know more about Hunger 101 or schedule a presentation for a group, please get in touch, 315-261-8054

HEALTHY FOOD FINANCING IN OKLAHOMA

The Oklahoma legislature recently approved the Healthy Food Financing Act, which will establish a fund called the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. The fund would help construct grocery stores, expand local farmers’ markets, and help corner store owners buy refrigerators if they want to offer fresh foods — anything that would help expand healthy choices in Oklahoma’s food deserts. The money would be available as loans or grants. Liz Waggoner, the Oklahoma government relations director for the American Heart Association, says there are several private businesses and nonprofits ready contribute to the fund. And there’s federal money available for the program, too, because of the former first lady’s Let’s Move campaign.  

Source: KGOU, 4/21/17, Healthy Food Financing

Hunger 101 at SUNY Potsdam

Last evening, we presented our Hunger 101 program to a class at SUNY Potsdam.  While the students in the class have been learning about various social service programs all semester, some of them were still surprised by the experiential nature of the Hunger 101 program and feeling what it might be like to be in need themselves.

Here a just a few of their comments:

• Even though there were multiple programs to ehlp people, they ended up with very little food and or money
• I realized before the exercise that SNAP benefits were minimal, but during the exercise I realizsed (almost) realistic frustration.
• I like having to budget the monthly expenses because it showed how difficult it may be for someone to manage their money.
• I learned how difficult it is to get aid and how hard it is to provide for a family on a low food budget.
• It really simulated what people go through and actually put me in that situation.
• I liked that Hunger 101 opened a lot of people's eyes to real life situations that families actually go through.

And from one student who has experience using SNAP benefits in real life and who played the role of a grocery store cashier:  "I didn't like having to treat people the way I was treated at grocery stores because they were using SNAP or were undocumented."

Veggie of the Month: Asparagus

Some interesting tidbits about asparagus:

• Asparagus was so popular in ancient Egypt that there are paintings of the vegetable in tombs
• With asparagus growing up to a rate of up to 1 inch per hour, asparagus must be harvested daily to prevent over-growth 
• Asparagus is full of fiber, folate, vitamins A, C, E and K as well as antioxidants and carcinogenic fighting compounds 
• The Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, used to yell in Latin, “Faster than cooking asparagus” to his troops which translates to “get going already!” Romans were so obsessed with asparagus that there were even Asparagus fleets where fast runners would bring the asparagus back as quickly as possible to the cities 

Asparagus Pesto: Although typically thought of as a basil dish, pesto simply means paste in Italian and asparaguses offer a healthy alternative to an Italian favorite. Serve this NY Times recipe over fish, chicken, or pasta.

INGREDIENTS:

•     Salt

•     1 lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch segments

•     1 clove garlic, or more to taste

•     ¼ cup pine nuts

•     ¼ cup olive oil

•     ¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

•     Freshly ground black pepper

•     Juice of 1/2 lemon

DIRECTIONS:

•     Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Add the asparagus and cook until fully tender but not mushy, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain well, reserving some of the cooking liquid, and let the asparagus cool slightly.

•     Transfer the asparagus to a food processor and add the garlic, pine nuts, 2 tablespoons of the oil, Parmesan, a pinch of salt and a couple of tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Process the mixture, stopping to scrape down the sides of the container if necessary, and gradually add the remaining oil and a bit more of the reserved cooking liquid to moisten if necessary. Add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste, pulse one last time, and serve over pasta, fish or chicken

NO SHAME IN SCHOOL MEALS

Every day students come to school without a way to pay for lunch. In most places it's up to the school to decide what happens next. Some schools will provide kids an alternative lunch, like a cold cheese sandwich; others will sometimes provide hot lunch, but require students do chores, have their hand stamped, or wear a wristband showing they owe money; and some will deny students lunch altogether. But a new Hunger-Free Students' Bill of Rights Act in New Mexico requires that all students have access to the same lunch and ends practices like trashing lunches that have been served to students who can't pay, or making students do chores to work off debt. Texas and California are already working on similar legislation. With policies to handle unpaid meals all over the map, the USDA will soon require that all school districts have a policy on what to do when kids can't pay. By July 1, those policies must be in writing and communicated to staff, parents and the community.

Source: NPR, 4/17/17, School Meal Shaming

AMERICANS WANT MORE MONEY, MORE LIMITS FOR SNAP

The majority of Americans support increasing the amount of money SNAP recipients get each month, and they also very much support limiting what people can buy with those benefits, according to a new survey. The national survey included more than 7,000 voters and was part of a broader effort to gauge public opinion on a variety of anti-poverty programs. Participants were told that SNAP recipients who live alone earn on average $542 a month in income and get $140 a month in benefits. Overall, 81% of respondents said they favored raising the monthly benefit for such recipients. Among Republicans, 66% supported raising benefits. Among Democrats, it was 93%.  Those surveyed also expressed strong support for prohibiting soda and candy purchases using SNAP benefits. More than two-thirds favored banning such candy purchases (among Republicans, 85% supported, among Democrats 68%); 73% of respondents wanted to ban soda purchases (Republicans, 82%, Democrats, 67%).

Source: Voice of the People, 4/26/17, SNAP Survey