By James Maroney
State Sen., D-14
James Maroney
For most people, September signifies back to school. For many that means resuming familiar patterns and more structure. For some, one problem becomes especially obvious: a lack of enough nutritious food. Perhaps that is why September is Hunger Awareness Month. It’s a month to spread the word and take action against the hunger crisis.
While this may seem like a distant problem, it actually impacts many of our friends and neighbors. In Connecticut, more than 490,000 residents struggle with hunger; more than 131,000 children are food insecure. Many of these children and their families who are struggling with food insecurity live right here in Milford, Orange, West Haven and Woodbridge.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment and food insecurity soared. According to FeedingAmerica.org, 53 million people turned to food banks and community programs for help putting food on the table in 2021, and according to the US Department of Agriculture, more than 34 million people in the US, including 9 million children, are food insecure. Every community in the country is home to families who face hunger. Many households that experience food insecurity do not qualify for federal nutrition programs and visit their local food banks and other food programs for extra support.
Unfortunately, many struggle to meet their basic needs. Layoffs at work, unexpected car maintenance or an accident on the job can suddenly force a family to choose between buying food and paying the bills.
What can you do to help? Join the fight to end hunger, advocate, give to people in need or volunteer your time. Five cans of food or a couple hours of your time can make a difference.
We are fortunate that we have a number of local groups that are trying to fight this crisis. The Purple Pantry, composed of family, friends and community members, is hosting a number of food drives for folks to contribute. The nonprofit has a group of volunteers who distribute food, maintain pantry boxes and work on creating food drives. They distribute 10,000 pieces of food per month. During September, they are holding school food drives at Live Oaks Elementary, Foran High School and East Shore Middle School. If you or someone you know attends these schools, you can bring a non-perishable food item there the entire month.
For other food drive donation locations hosted by the Purple Pantry, visit their website at purplepantryboxes.com/events. To see where their usual Purple Pantry Box locations are, you can visit purplepantryboxes.com/locations.
Food 2 Kids is another great local initiative that attends to the needs of children who have little or no food resources during the weekend away from school. Milford Food 2 Kids and Orange Food 2 Kids supply each child in their programs with several items of nutritious, non-perishable, prepackaged, precooked food that can be eaten hot or cold. These are foods that kids can prepare with little assistance.
Donations are always welcome and greatly appreciated. To learn more, you can visit milfordfood2kids.org or orangefood2kids.org.
Consider supporting these or many of the other great local organizations who are combating food insecurity.