Food drive supports Hunger Action Month

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September is Hunger Action Month as Utah Food Bank partners with Feeding America to gather donations, edible and monetary, leading up to a statewide food drive on Sept. 24.

On that day, non-perishable food should be taken to donation points in Walmart parking lots across Utah. Feeding America, a network of about 200 food banks across the United States, is promoting Hunger Action Month with public service announcements featuring celebrities like Matt Damon and Taye Diggs. Donation of time, money or virtual food is also encouraged. Virtual Food can be picked out and donated online at utahfoodbank.org.

“Feeding America, along with Utah Food Bank, invites everyone to participate in our efforts this September by donating their time, food or money, in any measure or amount,” said Utah Food Bank interim CEO Sue Skanky in a news release.

According to Feeding America, 15.1 percent of people in Utah suffer from food insecurity — which means they aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from — compared to the national average of 14.6 percent. Among children in Utah, 14.6 percent suffer from food insecurity.

Daniel Nielsen, an associate professor of political science at BYU, said that food insecurity is part of the generally risky lives lived by the poor.

“Food insecurity is not food insecurity — it’s insecurity,” Nielsen said. “The food part is just the most immediate.”

Poverty and food insecurity often go hand in hand, and Nielsen said the poor and food insecure are often hardworking people in a bad situation who cannot take the risks necessary to better their situation, such as going back to college.

“It’s not that they’re deficient somehow, it’s that they face a lot more risk,” Nielsen said.

Utah’s poverty rate — 10.4 percent — is lower than the national average of 14.3 percent, despite Utah’s higher food insecurity rate.

Nielsen said the permanent cure for food insecurity is an improvement in job quality for the poor, but in the meantime the efforts of food banks are essential.

“Starvation is rare in this country, and that’s because of food banks,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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