Area food shelves face cut in supply

HIAWATHA - Proposed cuts to federal food programs will be felt in the diets of thousands of working Iowans, according to those working to help put food on their tables.

“These are hardworking individuals,” Jordan Vernoy said Thursday. “They're trying to make ends meet, but they're just struggling.”

Vernoy, director of the Iowa Food Bank Association, spoke to about 60 people at a forum on hunger issues at the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program's (HACAP) Hiawatha headquarters. HACAP's food reservoir supplies more than 100 agencies in seven counties.

Half of the more than 382,000 Iowans classified as food insecure are working and ineligible for federal food assistance, Vernoy said, citing an analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics by Feeding America, a food bank consortium. In the seven counties supplied by HACAP - Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Linn and Washington - more than 54,000 are hungry, and 54 percent aren't eligible for federal assistance

“Food insecure” doesn't mean a person is always hungry, Vernoy said, but they lack regular access to adequate nutrition.

The proposed agricultural appropriations bill now before Congress would cut the USDA's commodities purchasing program by $51 million. The program supplies farm products when prices are low and passes them along to agencies like HACAP at a steep discount, usually pennies per pound.

The House bill would also cut $12 million for commodities storage and distribution, and $733 million from the Women Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program.

“These cuts will have a major impact,” Vernoy said. The commodities program supplies about half of the food stocked by HACAP, and about 23 percent statewide, he said.

Tamara Milton, aide to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said anti-hunger advocates need to lobby their members of Congress.

“I'm in the Cedar Rapids office, and we're not getting the calls,” Milton said.

Vernoy said Gov. Terry Branstad, who agreed to proclaim September as Hunger Action Month, will become more active on the issue.

“That's a large share of our population that won't be healthy,” said Vernoy, noting Branstad's goal of making Iowa the healthiest state.

“It shouldn't be happening in America, but it does every day,” said Cedar Rapids City Councilmember Justin Shields. “I was hoping we could have a national debate about this stuff, but we're not. It's going in the opposite direction.”

Jennifer Schulte, external relations coordinator for HACAP'S Food Reservoir, said citizen lobbying can work. She credited stakeholders' calls with convincing the USDA to purchase $40 million worth of chicken products last week. The chicken will be distributed to local food shelves, she said.

“I can't tell you when it's coming, but it's on the way,” Schulte said.