Give a Man a Fish…..

By Dave Jordan
Executive Director
Washington County Community Action Council

There is an old adage, proverb, saying, famous quote or infamous quote – ”Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

In today’s world it is more and more difficult to live by those words. Are you hungry? Do you know people who are hungry? How about kids who don’t get enough to eat or suffer from learning loss due in part to the effects of not having good, nutritious food to eat? Most people would think having basic food would not be an issue in today’s society and particularly in our own community. The reality is this very thing happens every day right here in our own Washington County. The issue of lack of nutritious food and the effects of learning loss in our youth has almost become the norm.

Currently there are over 20 known food pantries in Washington County. At Washington County Community Action Council, Inc. (CAC) alone the agency has provided over 1,000 bags of groceries to households in need since July 1 of 2011. In addition statistics show there are over 10,000 Washington County school students eligible for the FARM (Free and Reduced Meal) Program. FARM doesn’t mean these students have something to do with farming but means they qualify for the federally subsidized Free And Reduced Meals Program.

People are hungry in Washington County and in need of food. The solution to the issue is extremely convoluted. There are a number of organizations who provide meals on a regular basis at soup kitchens; pantries are helping to fill gaps; and the FARM Program is getting food into the hands (or literally stomachs) of children in the public school system. The United Way of Washington County and the Community Foundation of Washington County identified food and nutrition and learning loss as activities that must be addressed in our community as a result of the Strategic Community Impact Plan or SCIP.

In addition to the efforts of these two organizations and the countless hours and people who worked on SCIP and came to these conclusions, other organizations are starting to look at the problem as well.

United Way and some others in the community are now working to address the hunger issue in our community. Recently a work group came together to do something and do it in a structured manner. This work group has put together a larger “taskforce” to do community mapping of who is doing what and where they are doing it. This larger group will next look at a Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) analysis to determine how these problems can be addressed.

Did you know that of the 10,000 plus children in the public educational system that qualify for the FARM program many may not eat or eat nutritious meals or even have access to sufficient quantities of food when school is not in session? Did you know CAC has a summer food program that can and does provide breakfast and lunch to children who participate at 11 summer recreation sites in the greater Hagerstown area during the summer? Did you know that this program only reaches about 800 of those 10,000 plus children who are eligible for FARM? Did you know that even with this program there is approximately a 2 week period between the end of the school year and the start of the summer camps when these children may not have sufficient food to eat? Did you know that this pattern repeats itself again at the end of the camp programs and before school starts in the fall? Why does this happen? Have you heard the saying “Food that’s in when school is out”? This refers to the summer food program and all of these meals are prepared by the Board of Education and the Board does not work during those 2 periods of time; after school ends in the spring and before school starts in the fall.

The Taskforce is seeking ways to end this situation in our county by facilitating getting food to children. This may be accomplished by expanding recreational programs to entice children to come to feeding sites, expansion of Backpack programs that provide food for children to take home for weekend when food at home maybe limited, or creating a means to have food prepared for distribution during those times when food is not being prepared at the Board of Education.

This is not an insurmountable task but one that will take time, effort and money. Factors that play into this include motivating parents, developing partnerships and simply saying we need to do this for the good of our future generations. Getting healthy food to our youth tied to quality summer programs will have a number of positive effects, the least of which are, good nutritious meals means improved ability to learn.

Last but not least, it has been determined that this group will continue to work on food related issues in our community such as coordination among the pantries and soup kitchens, community gardening, senior feeding programs and the relationship of learning loss, obesity and healthy eating.