Feeding our Neighbors: NW Food Coalition

Over the past few months I’ve delved into our region’s food insecurity and the loosely woven group of mostly private, often faith-based, agencies on the front lines, who feed the hungry and alleviate the hardship that up to 14 percent of our neighbors experience.

This group is the Northwest Food Coalition (NWFC), a nonprofit in existence for 24 years that links the 34 food pantries, eight baby pantries and 26 meal sites in our six counties. To learn more about it, I spoke with a number of its members, including Val Stone of Northern Michigan Goodwill; Les Hagaman of the Father Fred Foundation; Meghan McDermott of Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities; Michele Worden, a former FoodCorps volunteer and coalition facilitator; Kris Thomas of Benzie Rotary Club and coalition steering committee member; and Mary Clulo, director of treasury and tax at Munson Healthcare and operating committee chair for the coalition.

LIVING, AND MAKING A LIVING, UP NORTH

As lovely as our region is, it is also a region of low wages, high rents, long distances to travel by car (if you have one) and minimal public transportation.

Consider two scenarios:

In the first, you live with a partner and you both have stable incomes. You’ve lived in your home, purchased or built by you, for years. Your kids are emotionally and physically healthy and you and your partner are free from life-threatening illness or accident. You likely do not consider yourself rich—many earn less living up here compared to their colleagues in urban areas. But you either have or can afford health insurance, your winter heating bill doesn’t jeopardize your ability to purchase food or gas for the car, and you might even be able to travel somewhere on vacation and put away some money for your retirement.

In the second, you are a single parent, raising your children by yourself, coping on a single income in the service or agricultural industries. Your rent takes 50–75 percent of your income. You have little to no savings as monthly bills require all you have, sometimes more. It’s precarious, but even worse if you get sick or injured, or are caring for a sick or injured relative. (Teenage depression is on the rise, and injuries can happen when least expected.) Your car is too old to be insured for more than collision and you just hope it doesn’t get crunched by a new driver sliding into you across the ice.

Many of us know people who fall into each of the above categories. And yet, often, those spared severe hardship don’t see the realities of what the less-privileged experience. If you don’t need a safety net, you might not be aware of its fragility, nor of its too-short reach. Thankfully, there are those who do see, and are doing their personal best to help.

One of these who has taken the time to witness, interview and investigate has drafted a thorough report on what she discovered by visiting food pantries and meal sites in our region. In 2014, Kris Thomas, nuclear power engineer and member of the Benzie Sunrise Rotary club, published “Food Security Study of the Five Counties,” in which she wrote:

For a single parent with two children living in Grand Traverse County, a living wage (i.e. the hourly rate an individual must earn to support a family) is $22.86 an hour. At the same time, the same parent would have to earn $8.80 an hour, or less, to be considered as living in poverty. What happens to our neighbors that obtain employment with wages that fall in between the poverty wage and living wage?

As Kris noted in her study, if you are at or beneath the national poverty level ($20,420/year for a family of three; $24,600 for a family of four) Federal SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, aka food stamps) benefits are available to you. To get these, paperwork must be filled out, documents transmitted (bank statements, taxes, pay stubs, rental contracts); assets declared (no more than $2,250 per person—excluding anyone with a somewhat decent car or a family with two vehicles in any condition). The duration for receiving these benefits is predetermined, and frequent recertification is required. And, incredibly helpful though these benefits are, they peaked at $134/person/month in 2009 and were down to $124/month at the end of 2016.

The trend has been toward fewer SNAP recipients and lower sums nationally. Had the current iteration of the Farm Bill passed in mid-May of this year, the legislation put forth by the U.S. House of Representatives would have required:

… able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 59 to work or be enrolled in a job-training program for at least 20 hours a week beginning in fiscal year 2021. That minimum number of hours would jump to 25 hours per week starting in fiscal year 2026.

Those who violate the work requirements could become ineligible for SNAP benefits for a 12-month period. Subsequent violations could result in three years of lost benefits. —NPR, Food for Thought, April 12, 2018.

Speaking with a number of colleagues in the service and agricultural industries, I learned that regional wages tend to range from $9.25 to 15 an hour. A starting wage for prep cook might be $11.50. After two years of steady work, that wage might rise to $13.50. However, this is an hourly position. During high season (Mother’s Day through October) it might be 30–45 hours/week. During low season—the rest of the year—it might be as few as 15– 25 hours/week.

Take a glimpse at a job in the cherry industry. During harvest— about five weeks from mid-July to mid-August—Leelanau County cherry farmers tell me they pay shaker and catching frame handlers $13–15/hour with the promise of bonuses for showing up to every shift on time, without fail. Those with machine repair skills can earn more. Shifts range from 8 to 10, even 12 hours per day every rain-free day. The money is great for a college student’s summer job, and would make a good dent into university living expenses, though barely touch current tuition costs. However, those earnings wouldn’t last long for a parent of small children, particularly if the spouse works summers as well, and childcare needs can’t be filled by nearby family.

Working at a local vegetable farm CSA—out in the sun, tending organic produce, weeding, washing, sorting, selling, as well as planting and harvesting—you might earn $10/hour May–October. It’s a pretty awesome job where you can learn, make new friends and be part of something significant. But will you be able to afford the $400/month necessary to pay your portion of a shared house through the winter months? You certainly couldn’t afford a studio rental in the region, much less a two-bedroom to house dependents. Will you be able to find a winter job to stave off hunger and pay rent? Gas? A heating bill?

HELPING OUR NEIGHBORS

Northwest Michigan is blessed with growing and diverse food and farming networks. Local vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy, honey, pastries, bread, chocolate and more are becoming the norm for those with the means to purchase them. And yet, the numbers show a large gap between being poor enough to qualify for government SNAP benefits and earning enough from your local job(s) to cover your family’s food needs. How might we help our neighbors caught in-between? And, to take a further step, put local, nutritious foods within their reach? Can we help alleviate the cycle of going hungry, eating poorly and the resulting nutrition-related illnesses that make everything else so much harder?

Our local community of food pantries, meal sites, baby pantries, Northwest Michigan Goodwill, Leelanau and Benzie Christian Neighbors, churches and nonprofits such as the Father Fred Foundation and Prayer Fyre have taken on this role. These are the people of our community out in front on this issue. But they are only as strong as their volunteers and the donations from residents and local businesses that they receive. It is not a perfect system, but the NWFC acts to weave these entities together, and guide volunteers’ efforts to make a difference and offer sustenance to those who arrive at their door.

Note: Most of NWFC members are privately funded on purpose. By not accepting state or federal funding, they are not required to means test, and thus can offer assistance without first requesting extensive paperwork or running background checks. If you come asking for help, you will not be turned away. In their interactions with those in need they stress respect, understanding and non-judgment.

BEHIND THE SCENES

Meghan McDermott started attending Northwest Food Coalition meetings a couple years ago. She has been party to the coalition’s decision to go beyond being a hub for sharing experience and support, to focusing on the specific goal of “getting more nutritious options, and where possible fresh, local produce to those in need through the existing network of pantries, meal sites, Food Rescue trucks and volunteer labor.”

Meghan conveyed to me concerns her fellow coalition members have voiced around what food gets to our pantries, how, how much and how often. She brought up issues of nutrition, choice, dignity, dietary limitations, access and means.

To this end, Meghan, now on the Coalition’s steering committee, connects Groundwork’s farm-to-school initiatives with the coalition members. This connection is manifested in partnerships with local farmers, distribution of the Harvest of the Month pamphlets, and the recent production of The Guide to Food Assistance

and Eating Local for consumers, using funding from the Food and Farming Network, Traverse City Rotary Club and the Healthful Food for All Taskforce: The Father Fred Foundation, Grow Benzie, Taste the Local Difference, SEEDS, MSU Extension, Benzie Sunrise and Food Rescue.

Illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease affect those using the pantries at higher rates than they do their better-off neighbors, according to the American Diabetes Association. Though these individuals may be quite aware of healthier diets, they’re not in a position to be picky when facing the donated options. As a volunteer on the Food Rescue trucks, I’ve witnessed firsthand the disproportionate abundance of bread and pastries as compared to fresh produce, dairy and protein. Thus, the hungry eat what they can get: ramen, mac-and-cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches— cheap and available, but not the foundation of a nutritious and balanced diet for adult or child.

Kris Thomas, a Rotary member herself, has spoken about her Food Security Study at Rotary clubs in our region, raising awareness on the issue and encouraging donations to the Farm to Neighbor Fund (currently at $27,000) with the specific purpose of purchasing local produce to distribute directly to the pantries, benefiting the local economy and delivering nutritional options to those who need them most. This past May the fund enabled an initial purchase of 500 pounds of parsnips, turnips, carrots and radishes from Providence Farm to be distributed by members at their respective pantries and meal sites. June’s goal was to purchase sufficient asparagus to distribute 20 pounds per participating agency. As the program evolves, so will quantities and options. Groundwork’s Harvest of the Month pamphlets are available at more and more sites to share recipes and suggestions for the seasonal produce. No administrative overhead or costs are covered by this fund.

Mary Clulo ran the St. Patrick’s Church pantry for 18 years as a volunteer before taking on the role of operating committee chair for NWFC. Because of her work experience at Munson Healthcare, she is well positioned to observe the combination of poor health and short funds that affects so many pantry clients. Nutrition cannot be their highest priority, and yet quality nutrition could lessen some of their problems in the long run. “Nutrition is so crucial to quality of life,” she says. “We want to make a com-mitment to the pantries—the safety net for so many. We want people to walk away with quality items that positively impact their health. When you see people coming to the pantries with special diets, diabetes, low salt, celiac, etc., we can’t just offer them canned vegetables and standard nonperishables. At the very least, we can try to obtain low-salt and higher-quality items for distribution.”

“Eating healthier has a pretty large educational component,” says Michele Worden, a former FoodCorps participant in the farm-toschool program and facilitator for NWFC for the past two years. She brought up some common concerns. “Some people say we’re forcing people to eat broccoli, etc. But food is nutrition and essential to health and success. Are we being preachy? But it’s also educational. We run into barriers, people don’t know how to prepare fresh food.” To that end, Love INC (In the Name of Christ) of Traverse City offers free cooking classes through its Healthy Cooking on a Budget program. MSU Extension offers a Cooking Matters training program at multiple locations and Manna Food Project offers Crock-Pot Cooking Classes, teaching healthy Crock-Pot dishes, offering the ingredients for the meal plus a Crock-Pot to participants.

IN THE TRENCHES

Les Hagaman, operations director for the Father Fred Foundation in Traverse City, is diligent about stretching the donations Father Fred receives as far as possible for the 70 or so families a day who come through the door. (Note: according to Father Fred’s records, the average number of visits per year for a family is just under four, though they are permitted to come twice a month). In his three years managing the food pantry he has put his chef and management expertise towards making the process more efficient, dignified and nutritious:

“We’ve significantly increased the amount of produce we’re purchasing, doing our best to ensure freshness and variety,” Les says. “Unique things are fine—unique fruit, kale, rutabaga—but we need staples such as broccoli, carrots, potatoes, onions—good standard things. If we rely exclusively on donation—Food Rescue, grocery stores—we can’t choose.

“Whether or not we have donations, we will carry the inventory needed. There will always be fresh milk, butter, frozen meat (turkey and chicken), eggs. There will be a meal: tuna/chicken casserole or chili or spaghetti with tomato sauce. We hold to our ethical commitment to provide a menu that is sound nutritionally, that meets generally accepted nutritional standards. We work with nutritionists from MSU Extension and Munson Hospital to review the product list and provide suggestions, cautions, etc.”

Father Fred’s has taken a stand to no longer accept soda as a donation, and does its best to limit sugary foods in favor of nutritious options. It also takes a leading role in supporting local food drives, staffing many of the tables present in the participating grocery stores.

Les spoke eloquently of the power of a food drive that goes beyond what is received: the moment of transmission, when a parent guides their child to purchasing then offering a can of soup, a jar of peanut butter or a bag of dried beans. We need to teach our children and ourselves to see our neighbors in need, he emphasized, and to recognize that our personal generosity makes a difference, and can be taught.

During these drives, in keeping with Father Fred’s mission to offer the most nutritious foods at the pantry, the following “best items to donate” list is handed out:

5-ounce canned chicken • 5-ounce canned tuna • oatmeal • peanut butter • dried beans • rice • spaghetti or pasta • pasta sauce • soups • canned fruits in juice

As I followed Les Hagaman into the food pantry and storage area, I saw a collection of small containers being readied to distribute that day throughout our area’s schools. Blessings in a Backpack Program, an initiative that grew from teachers’ observations of poor performance and weariness in some children on Monday mornings, provides a “backpack” of nutritious and portable foods that are handed out to over 300 children every Friday—cereal bars, apple sauce, cheese and crackers, fruit—to stave off the worst of their hunger before their next school meal on Monday morning. In our region 57 percent of students qualify for the reduced-price breakfast and lunch program.

Last of my interviews, though first on my list, was Val Stone, office administrator of Goodwill Industries, former caseworker at the Community Action Agency, go-between for the five counties’ food pantries, meal sites and Food Rescue. She was there 24 years ago, when the coalition was just an idea, with a small grant that lasted only a couple of years aimed at connecting the state’s various food entities. Since that day she’s been deeply invested in doing her part, including assisting at the creation of the Food Rescue program nine years ago, which has grown from a little refrigerated truck to the current fleet of six going throughout the five counties. Val invoked the feast-or-famine norm of the pantry world: “All it takes is one restaurant cooking a lot of food for a Vasa Trail Ski Event, but then there’s a storm and half the people expected don’t show up. Then all that food is there to be distributed and apportioned out to the pantries and meal sites.” But she also pointed out that the seasonal tourism of our region affects what is available and how much. The winter months are downtimes for many businesses, including grocery stores and others who donate, and as such, they stock less and have less to offer.

Val keeps track of the numbers, the visits, the pounds and varieties of food going in and out via Food Rescue. She records the shifting trends and needs. Sometimes the numbers of visitors goes down—for a month, from one year to the next. She’s the one who connects the dots and notes that the multiple snowstorms in March kept people away, and the closing of two pantries due to lost volunteers reduced the options. Sometimes the numbers tell not the story of fewer people in need, but of more complicated situations. Speaking compassionately of our neighbors in distress, she addresses an oftcited complaint concerning repeat visits and possible over-dependency on this support system:

“You find yourself in a moment of need, you visit the pantry of your local church. A friend is kind to you. You’ve shared a meal with people who smile, look you in the eye, greet you and offer you sustenance and companionship. Does this create a dependency? On the food or the human contact?”

What can you do to help? Volunteer and donate. Volunteers are needed to drive and assist Food Rescue trucks; to cook, prep and distribute food; to teach and organize cooking classes; to staff food drives; to receive and organize pantry food. The list is long. Check the list of agencies on NWFC’s website and/or reach out to Val Stone to guide you to those most in need of your services, and/or those closest to your home or work. She can be reached by email at ValS@GoodwillNMI.org.

Whether you’d like to donate nonperishables or the overabundance of vegetables and fruit from your garden, there’s a pantry or meal site near you. Check the list at NorthwestFoodCoalition.org/ or go to OnePantry.org to find their address and a contact number.

Other possibilities: Become a Healthy Harvest volunteer by registering online at GoodwillNMI.org/healthy-harvest. Write a check. When purchasing power is collected, prices go down and more people can be fed. Checks can be mailed or dropped off to:

Northwest Food Coalition
2279 S. Airport Rd. W.
Traverse City, MI 49684