The number of Rhode Islanders who lack access to enough food has reached a five-year high; over a third of state residents are experiencing food insecurity, according to a recent report from the Brown University School of Public Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield Rhode Island. Local food banks across the state say they are struggling to meet the increasing need, due, in part, to a noticeable decrease in food donations.
Can Rhode Island develop effective approaches to fighting hunger? Morning Host Luis Hernandez posed that question and others to the new CEO of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, Melissa Cherney.
Interview highlights
On the increasing number of food-insecure Rhode Islanders
Melissa Cherney: The cost of everything is going up and wages are not keeping up with the high inflation, so people are not able to make ends meet like they used to. I think there’s this assumption that things would’ve gotten better after COVID, but really, they haven’t. And we’re seeing such a dramatic decrease in donated food as well. So we’re in this perfect storm that people need us more than ever, but we have less resources and less food to give them than we did. We’re really having to get creative and work together, I think, with all of our community partners and all of our member agencies in new and innovative ways, because our typical way of food-banking and feeding the hungry is not, probably, going to sustain us into the future, because we’re faced with more need and less food.
On how food insecurity is impacting Rhode Islanders
Cherney: I was surprised at how many families are now moving in together. Extended families, they’re moving into one household instead of having several houses or apartments. They’re consolidating and that’s the way that they’re surviving. That was a surprise to me. That’s usually one of the first things people are thinking about: “How do I cut my costs?” And the first thing that they’re thinking about cutting is their housing costs. We also hear about transit. If they can’t get there on public transit, they may not have a car. So it’s getting harder and harder for them to actually be mobile and get out into different parts of the community. So we have to think about things a little differently and bring services closer to people. And they’re needing bigger quantities of food since they have more and more people living in their household.
On the challenges faced by food pantry volunteers
Cherney: They’re facing a lot right now. This is a very emotional job. You’re hearing those heart-wrenching stories and one of the things I think we need to be mindful of is that (volunteers) don’t burn out when they’re dealing with these very heavy emotional stories. That’s part of it. We are hearing about aging volunteers, and we need to make sure that there is a sustainable volunteer base at all of our partner agencies. They need more food, more funding, and they’re also looking for things, equipment like shelving, refrigerators, and freezers, because they’re getting a lot of produce, which is great, healthy, nutritious food, but they need to be able to store it safely and they don’t have adequate storage right now.
On how Rhode Island will be impacted by federal reductions in SNAP benefits
Cherney: What we’re looking at is probably a $15 million loss in SNAP benefits annually. That’s what the Department of Human Services shared with us, and we can’t fundraise or charity our way out of that. I don’t know what the answer is, but it’s not only going to affect the clients and the guests who are getting those benefits, but think of that $15 million not going into our local economy and our local grocery stores. That’s a huge loss for them as well. We’ve been part of conversations [with the state] thinking about, “What’s the safety net? Who are those people going to turn to when they don’t get those benefits?” And the answer is, they’re going to turn to us and we’re already strapped.
We are expecting that our lines are going to get longer. We’re talking with some of our agencies, letting them know we need to start preparing for this, and how do you prepare for it? We might have to look at providing less food to people. Otherwise, it’s turning people away with nothing and that is not what we want to do. So we want to make sure they’re able to get something, but we may have to make some tough decisions around less than the amount of food that people are (now) getting.
