BELLOWS FALLS — Food is getting scarcer, while the number of people who need food is growing, and the impact of Tropical Storm Irene added to the 86,000 Vermonters served last year by the Vermont Food Bank. This was the consensus opinion at a roundtable discussion hosted by Our Place Drop In Center on the Island last week.
The tension between the shortage of food and the growing need is felt not just in Vermont, but nationally.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, family household poverty rose from 14.3 percent in 2010 to 15.1 percent in September 2011, the highest since 1993. Of 250,894 Vermont households, 23,498 received supplemental nutritional assistance in 2011, and 48.5 percent of those served live below the poverty level. A family of four with an income of $23,050 qualifies for the national poverty threshold.
For the second year in a row, Our Place Drop In Center hosted about 35 people for a discussion on hunger.
Professionals from all over the state as well as state Reps. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney, and Matt Trieber, D-Bellows Falls, and state Sen. Jeanette White, D-Windham, came to share information, discuss problems and potential solutions, and “get to know people we deal with directly but never meet,” said network relations manager Joe Dauscher of the Vermont Foodbank.
“It’s always helpful to get as much feedback from as many people working at the grassroots level,” said Mrowicki, who also works for Putney Family Services.
At least one homeless person attended the roundtable discussions to lend his perspective.
Participants discussed the elements of success, their greatest frustrations, and what kind of assistance from outside their organizations would find most useful.
“A successful full-time grant writer to craft the perfect grant” was on top of the wish list for Sherry Willumitis, the board treasurer for the Chester/Andover Family Center. She said her staff is plenty busy between the thrift store and food shelf and grant writing, while necessary, is not the first priority.
“Serving our clients is,” she said.
That means that grant opportunities can be missed. And having a professional grant writer reduces the chances that submitted grants will be rejected.
“It would make it so much easier if grants we would be interested in were standardized,” Willumitis said.
“You mean they were all the same online?” asked Our Place board member Louise Luring.
“Yes,” Willumitis replied. “It would save a lot of time we could use elsewhere. They know who we are,” she said of the common federal and state grant suppliers. “Why do they need to know what my degree is each time? Don’t they have that on file somewhere?”
Successfully feeding 86,000 Vermonters in 2011 coincides with what Dauscher termed “the domino effect” of more people needing food because of the sluggish economy, while fewer people can afford to donate food.
He noted that in the last few years, with the increasing participation statewide of more and more farmers contributing to the Foodbank, “more fresh food is available. But as soon as food comes in, it goes out again. There’s no shelf life.”
At the same time, Mrowicki noted that “one common challenge that we are seeing at the Putney food shelf is helping people utilize fresh produce they aren’t familiar with, and/or don’t know how to turn it into something appetizing and nutritious.”
Participants agreed that solving the growing hunger crisis needs to become a top priority for everyone in Vermont, especially considering that about 15 percent of Vermont’s households need assistance.
“It has to be an issue” that politicians discuss, Luring said.
Despite increased demand, the federal government’s funding for food-related programs keeps getting cut, noted Maurice Casey, director of the Southern Region for Vermont Foodbank.
“We need more donations,” he said.
Our Place board member Kathryn Wright agreed. “We need more food everywhere,” she said.
Catching up with the clients
Inside Our Place, burritos and desserts cooked by Matt Gowell were served by volunteers as part of the center’s 20th anniversary celebration.
Phae and Jared, who declined to give their last names, sat at a table together. The couple talked to The Commons last fall, when they were homeless. The couple has since moved from their tent and housed in separate apartments last fall. Phae looked a bit more filled out than she did at that time, and Jared sports a shiny shaved head.
“It’s a lot easier to care for,” he laughed.
Now, things are “going a lot better” for them. Phae was able to keep one of her three cats to live with her.
At another table sat two men, one bearded and the other sporting a ponytail, but both clean and well dressed. It was unclear if they were part of the roundtable or there because they needed a meal.
It turns out, it was both.
“Bill” sported a yellow polo shirt with khaki shorts and was, indeed, part of the round table discussions, up from Brattleboro where he volunteers at the food shelf.
“Yes, I am homeless,” he said, living in a tent at an undisclosed location. He noted that the way he was dressed was intentional.
“If you don’t blend, you offend,” he said.
The Greater Falls Warming Shelter, which has had trouble getting approval for permits year after year from the Zoning Board, is in the process of being relocated across the river.
“We have just signed a lease to go into a building in North Walpole, N.H., and anticipate opening Nov. 1,” said Luring. “Although we would prefer to be in Bellows Falls, this location is just over the bridge and convenient for walkers. It is small, however, and can only accommodate 10 people at a time, plus two volunteers. We will be looking to other entities to help with the overflow.”