Confronting reality of hunger

Food insecurity is another way of saying you don’t know where your next meal is coming from. It can happen to anyone who has lost a job, is struggling with medical bills, or is simply trying to cope with rising costs for housing and living expenses.

It happens often to the elderly and to children whose parents seek to provide for them.

Fortunately, there are those who stand to help. Nine food pantries in McKean County served 19,157 individuals and one soup kitchen (the Friendship Table) served 39,656 meals in the past year. These efforts were supported by the generosity of local individuals and businesses and the Second Harvest Food Bank of Erie.

Sadly, as of June 30, the food bank will see a 30% reduction in their food purchasing budget representing 1.5 million meals this year alone due to government cuts. Those cuts, coupled with those proposed to the SNAP program, will put children and the elderly at risk.

Additionally, these cuts will severely affect our farmers who supply much of the dairy products and fresh produce out of their surplus — a surplus upon which the Food Bank depends and provides income that benefits farmers. This also eliminates the terrible waste of unsold crops rotting in the fields.

This nation has the proven capacity to make certain that no one goes hungry as well as to provide for the alleviation of hunger in much of the world as we partner with other providers. To not do so is not only a tragedy, it is a scandal.

We are represented in this congressional district by Rep. Glenn Thompson who, as the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, is in the unique position to address this problem. If you share these concerns, please let him know your feelings.

The health and wellbeing of our neighbors is at stake, let’s do the right thing.

Lee Beckes, Bradford

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