|
Letter: Food pantries cannot cover nutrition needs
Op-Ed · October 27, 2016
I am writing in response to your editorial of Oct. 20, “Move toward food pantries.”
I disagree with your conclusion, that volunteer-run local pantries along with friends and family can provide all that needy families need to get by until they can support themselves. In my opinion, this is not a viable goal we should strive to achieve.
First, I’m wondering if you have visited the West Branch Food Pantry? It is stocked with donated foods, with a preponderance of boxed and canned items with long shelf lives. It provides no fresh fruit or vegetables or bread. There is no milk, meat, cheese, eggs, or other refrigerated or frozen foods. You will find a lot of boxed mac-and-cheese, cans of beans, corn, spaghetti sauce. While these items may fill bellies, they will not provide adequate protein, calcium, vitamins and minerals children need to grow healthy bodies.
The local food pantry cannot provide all the food that a family with children needs. It is a supplemental service, just like the backpack and school food pantry programs.
I do not intend to put down the local food pantry or the backpack and school pantry programs. I am a volunteer for those programs. I just want to point out that the responsibility to help feed hungry children and families should not fall solely on the shoulders of generous local people who contribute to support those programs. All taxpayers ought to contribute to the fight against hunger. And they do, through federally funded SNAP, WIC and our school’s free lunch program. Personally, I am happy that my taxes help feed hungry people.
I regret any fraud or waste in a program intended to help hungry people. My main objective in writing this letter was to disagree with your assertion that a volunteer-run food pantry is a viable alternative to federally funded programs like SNAP, WIC and school free-lunch programs.
No small-town food pantry, or even any in a city, can serve our hungry citizens half as efficiently as the programs developed and maintained by our hard-working federal employees and supported by our local taxpayers.
Sincerely,
Barbara Wilcox
West Branch
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
