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Hunger Ministries

America’s Second Harvest’s 2006 “Hunger in America” Study reported that 1.2 million Ohioans turn to emergency food programs every year. A third of these households had members with a job. 35% of Ohio’s hungry were children, 10% aged five or younger. 9% were elderly. Almost half of the Ohioans requesting emergency food reported that they had to choose between food and paying for heat, and 37% had to choose between food and paying rent or mortgage.

Early this year, Ohio’s food pantries reported shocking news. Surrounded by some of the state’s most fertile farmland, the ecumenical Madison County Food Pantry (supported by Trinity, London) reported a 51% increase in the number of families seeking aid in a single year. In wealthy Westerville, the ecumenical ministry WARM, supported by St. Matthew’s, served over 2,000 families in 2006, a 33% increase over 2005. The Columbus Dispatch ran a front-page story in February reporting that food insecurity is rising sharply in Central Ohio, especially in the suburbs. From 2000 to 2006, food stamp enrollment more than doubled in each of the six counties surrounding Columbus, a development Fairfield County officials attributed to job and wage stagnation. (“Hungry in Ohio,” Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 10).

Responding to hunger is central to all our major religions. Churches, synagogues, and mosques operate 81% of Ohio’s pantries, 78% of the hot meal programs, and 43% of the shelters. The vast majority of Episcopal congregations in this diocese are engaged in some kind of hunger ministry, from collecting canned goods to making lunches for children who must go without free school meals during the summer months. These ministries rely overwhelmingly on volunteers: 71% of the pantries and 52% of the meal programs have no paid staff at all.

Churches use a number of innovative practices to make scarce dollars and food go farther. They can provide a meal’s worth of groceries for about 20¢ by obtaining commodities in bulk from the state’s network of regional food banks. Another strategy is the Choice Pantry model adopted by the Neighborhood Services, CAIN/St. Philip’s hunger ministry in Cincinnati, and the food pantry at St. James Piqua. This enables families to select items they will actually use rather than receiving a standardized handout.

Unfortunately, in the past year the state’s food banks have experienced steep increases in the cost of commodities and transportation which they have had to pass on to churches and other grassroots programs. In order to make the limited funds and food stretch as far as possible, Episcopal churches have started to do food stamp outreach using the free Ohio Benefit Bank software. Food stamps can add hundreds of dollars a month to a family’s budget, and can be used just like an ATM card in neighborhood grocery stores.

Second Harvest’s study shows that less than half of the households turning to emergency food programs in Ohio are enrolled in food stamps, though most are probably eligible. Putting together all the pieces of documentation required to win food stamps (including forms which must be signed by landlords and current or past employers) is burdensome and deters thousands of eligible people from completing the application process. Episcopalians are very active in advocacy at the county, state, and federal level to simplify the food stamp application process.

The federal Farm Bill, up for its 5-year renewal in 2007, includes funding for commodities, food stamps and food stamp outreach. Public health research has credited the federal food stamp program as a major factor in reducing malnutrition in the US over the past generation. These achievements are endangered by proposed cuts in the program and the failure to raise households’ allowable deductions to reflect other steep rises in the cost of living. Ecumenical hunger advocates are pressing Congress to increase funding for food stamps and to make deductions more realistic. Visit our Other Resources page to connect with ecumenical and Episcopal organizations which are keeping track of this legislation as it evolves.

For a list of churches in the diocese that have ministries addressing this issue, go here. You can network with them for ideas to establish or enhance your own ministries.

For other non-profit entities that may be helpful sources of information on community needs and program design, go to our Other Resources page.