Farm Policy to Heal Nations

January 19, 2012

Jesse Epp-Fransen writes about the the Hunger Report put out by Bread for the World and the need to refocus  farm policy on producing healthy food and supporting small- and medium scale farmers in the latest Mennonite Weekly Review.

The 2008 farm bill is expiring and will need to be reauthorized this year. This is a chance to put the focus of farm policy back where it belongs, on supporting farmers to produce the food we all need for healthy bodies and healthy lives… A farm bill is an opportunity to build justice, health and economic stability. This could be a chance to work for the healing of the nations.

Read the entire article here and then let us know what you think on facebook or in the comment section.

The full 2012  Hunger Report is available at Bread for the World.

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Posted by jesseeppfransen

Child Nutrition Reauthorization passes through Senate and House

December 2, 2010

Today the House of Representatives passed S 3307, the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act.  The bill, already passed through the Senate, reauthorizes important child nutrition programs like school lunches.  Highlights of the legislation include:

  • Expanding the Afterschool Meal Program to all 50 states;
  • Increasing the federal reimbursement per meal for free or reduced price lunches;
  • Enhancing the nutritional quality of food served in school-based and preschool settings; and
  • Making “competitive foods” offered or sold in schools more nutritious.
  • Supporting improvements to direct certification for school meals for children eligible for other assistance programs like Medicaid;
  • Improving area eligibility rules so more family child care homes can use the Child and Adult Care Food program – supporting care agencies operating outside of school systems.

The highlights included in this bill are important and should certainly be supported.  However, in order to pay for the new improvements Congress partially funded them with $2.2 billion in Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps). Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by Christina Warner

What Hunger Looks Like Right Now in the U.S.

November 16, 2010

Matthew Lester/MCC

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released data on food security in the United States during 2009.   The results tell us that hunger trends from 2008 have mostly stayed the same, with just a slight increase from 14.6% of households to 14.7% (17.4 million households) experiencing some food insecurity.  For households with children, 10.6% (4.2 million households) were food insecure; “they were, at times, uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food for all household members because they had insufficient money or other resources for food.”

As need stayed the same, enrollment in some of the country’s largest nutrition assistance program increased, including SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamps), national school lunches and WIC (supplemental assistance for women, infants and children).

Click here for links to the report. Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by Christina Warner

Congress Shows Us How To Make Hungry Kids Hungrier.

August 25, 2010

Matthew Lester/MCC

On August 10th Congress passed a bill that included extended federal aid to states for Medicaid and education.

However, to help pay for the bill Congress pulled $11.9 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps).  The cut comes from allowing SNAP assistance that was bolstered through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to expire in 2014.

Even with the ARRA supplement the average benefit for one person is $4.50 for one day. The cut means that beginning in September 2014 a family of four will see their SNAP benefits go down by about $59 – a very real consequence for real people living on limited income.

Are the provisions in the new bill important?  Yes.  But taking from one program benefiting low-income families to pay for another makes no sense and diminishes the effectiveness of the Medicaid and education systems to alleviate poverty or help low-income households.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by Christina Warner

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