Don’t let Iowans go hungry this year

There is more than enough food in Iowa to feed every man, woman and child, yet close to 400,000 Iowans are food insecure.

Food insecurity is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's measure of 'lack of access at times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.”

Many myths exist about the nature of hunger and the people who struggle to get enough to eat. Hunger affects people you see every day - the senior citizen living next door, neighbor, a child in your son or daughter's classroom at school, your co-worker, or your elderly aunt. Many people are only one paycheck away from financial disaster. An unexpected illness, injury, car repair, or life changing event can put a self-sufficient person at risk of hunger.

We are the nation's 'breadbasket”, and yet people living in our state go hungry. In Eastern Iowa, that translates to 1 in 4 children going to bed hungry every night and 1 in 5 senior citizens not knowing where their next meal is coming from. Baby Boomers and seniors are becoming the largest growing population of food insecure households- these numbers are predicted to double over the next 10 years.

Two-thirds of hungry families that have children have at least one working parent. A household with children has a greater likelihood of struggling to keep adequate food on the table than the national average.

The HACAP Food Reservoir is prepared to provide more than 4 million meals to people in need in Johnson, Linn, Iowa, Benton, Washington, Cedar and Jones counties this fiscal year. We, along with our 97 local partner agencies, are helping to lead the fight against hunger in our community. Not only are we providing food to clients in need, but we are also working together to bridge the gap between hunger and access to healthy foods in order to address increasingly complex and interrelated public health concerns.

In the HACAP Food Reservoir service area, 56,220 individuals are food insecure. Below are the county statistics (number and rate of food insecurity).

- Benton: 2,900 (11.2 percent)

- Cedar: 1,970 (10.7 percent)

- Iowa: 1,840 (11.3 percent)

- Johnson: 18,760 (14.0 percent)

- Jones: 2,380 (11.5 percent)

- Linn: 26,030 (12.2 percent)

- Washington: 2,340 (10.7 percent)

The HACAP Food Reservoir is one of 200 Food banks within the Feeding America Network, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Earlier this year, Feeding America released a study, Map the Meal Gap 2015, which stated that HACAP's Partner Agency Food Banks had served more Veterans and Veteran's families than any other Food Banks in the United States of America.

Individuals, charities, businesses and the government all have a role to play in getting more food to people in need. We need to educate ourselves about the problem and call on the community to help solve it. Below are some suggestions as to how you can help:

' Visit the HACAP Food Reservoir or one of our community partner agencies to learn more about what they do. Ask how you can help financially, through food drives and through volunteer opportunities.

' For every $1 you donate to the HACAP Food Reservoir, we will be able to purchase 7 lbs. of food for our Food Box program. These food boxes will be equipped with shelf-stable items that will meet the nutritional needs of individuals and families.

' Engage with local grocers, supermarkets, restaurants and others in the business community to see how they might raise awareness, donate to emergency food agencies and address hunger near them.

' Educate yourself on where your elected officials stand on this issue, and then actively engage them to help fight the problem.

Whether through volunteerism, advocacy, financial support or simply sharing your own story about battles with food insecurity to raise awareness, there is something all of us can do to take action. During this Holiday Season, we hope that you help us lead the fight against hunger.

' Jane Drapeaux is chief executive officer of and Anissa Bourgeacq is food reservoir director for the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program. More information: www.hacap.org