College of Western Idaho
Idaho Hunger
A Growing Problem
Ron Zechmann
290373
English 102 034W
Leslie Jewkes
March 8, 2011
Ron Zechmann
Local Research Essay
English 102 034W
17 February 2011
Idaho Hunger
Today’s world has changed so much in the last ten years. There have been so many things that have changed within the United States of America and even in the individual state of Idaho. Talking about how far this problem actually extends, it stretches to the vast devastation and disaster in Haiti. The problem of the hungry is even here in the U.S.as well. An example of a disaster in our own country is with the terrorist attacks on the Trade Center. The disasters that we see in the world and locally there is one thing that is a constant, and that is the fact that there are children starving and dying from malnutrition, the shortage of good drinking water, and the lack of financial support to feed these children Unfortunately this problem has been around for decades and as much as the hunger organizations try to help—it just seems to never be enough. The sad thing is that the growing number of children that go without food is rising in an alarming rate. As a community we need to come together to eradicate the problem and help these children not only around the world but right here in Idaho. Becoming educated about this problem is the most important step and taking action is the next step for the eradication of fighting hunger.
Speaking locally, in Idaho there are many organizations and government agencies that are there to help these children. Ismael Hernandez who is a social worker for child protective services of Idaho for the offices of Health and Welfare states, “As much as we try to help these children and to place them into foster care to provide a safe and nourishing environment, it just isn’t enough. With the increasing rise of meth producers and people using meth the system is being flooded with children. Also with the increase of people losing their jobs and housing is also contributing to the increase of children being placed into the system”. Ismael has been employed by the Department of Health and Welfare for 12 years as a social worker.
Another organization that deals with this growing problem is the Idaho Food Bank. The Idaho Food Bank serves food to hundreds of people and a sad reality is that the vast majority are children, or single mothers that are homeless or displaced due to the economy with no-place to go. Shawn Redding who is a volunteer at the Idaho Food Bank said, “It breaks my heart to see so many people come in here that are hungry and starving. I hate seeing the children come through my line and I can’t help but give those kids extra pudding or dessert just to make them smile”. There is so much more to this problem than anyone really knows. As a community and a society there are many ways that can help the cause to save these children and/or their parents. In the November 2010 issue of Redbook they actually put together a good plan for us to contribute to this epidemic with an individual effort, The article had to deal with ten ways to feed a neighbor in need. Some of these ways are, to organize a food drive. They provide as much as one third of the food as pantries do. You can host a school, church, or community bake sale, and donate the proceeds to the Great American Bake Sale and in turn they distribute food to the community for the poor and poverty. The article also states that us as individuals need to support our local food banks. There is a staggering statistic, “Enough all ready! 49 million Americans are going hungry -- a 36 percent increase since 2008, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture” (Redbook Nov 2010).
Another organization that contributes to the relief aid of these children is also through Idaho Health and Welfare, and that is the Personal Care Services (PCS). The PCS program places children into homes with providers that are certified with Health and Welfare and also have foster care licenses. The duties of being a PCS provider are: you are placed with children that have been removed from their parents due to neglect, malnutrition, abuse, and in some cases these children have some behavior as well as mental issues. Children can also be placed by the parents or guardians as well, parents that place their children into a PCS home mainly out of love for their children. They actually realize that caring for their children may not be in their best interest or in the child’s best interest. Many times these providers must also take in medically fragile children. The children that enter these homes can vary from being just homeless, parentless, having mental illness, or having a physical illness. No matter how you look at it; this program is taking children from being a statistic and are actually giving them a chance at life. March Gould who is a nurse with Multi-care in Nampa Idaho states, “The PCS program is a necessity in our community to help reduce the number of kids that are placed into group homes and/or orphanages”.
There are many steps that need to be taken, and by taking these steps we can contribute to a bigger role in our children and their futures. By supporting an active role in helping to feed the children and to provide housing for them will ultimately keep these children from getting diseases and sicknesses that could kill them. As a society there is a need to save as many children that we can. So they can have proper essentials that are required to thwart off infectious diseases, there needs to be proper sanitation, drinking water and these kids need to have a chance to grow up instead of facing a future of uncertainty.
There are ways to reduce the hungry, and that is to research ways to feed them in a cost effective way. A lot of these methods are through agriculture. There is an article from The Targeted News Service and the article is directly dealing with the issue of reducing hunger. The article is about Reducing Hunger through Climate smart agriculture. One thing stated in this article is,” We will not achieve food security without serious investment in climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in the rural sector," It shows how our investment needs to be a serious one to achieve the goal of feeding the hungry”(The Targeted News Service, December 9, 2010). To make a brighter future for children and adults alike there needs to be a lot of attention towards agriculture and how food can be changed to grow in harsher climates, due to extreme: heat, cold, wind, and moisture.
As a society there are so many complaints about the problems in the world and locally with our children that are starving. Until there is a united stand with everyone joining in to take a stand against this epidemic nothing will ever change and the number of starving children will continue to rise. It really doesn’t matter what disaster or devastation occurs. As a community everyone has to band together and promote programs that will support the eradication of the hungry and starving in the United States of America and within the state of Idaho. There needs to be active roles taken with local food banks, church and community food drives, and there needs to be a larger volunteer support for these organizations. There also needs to be more support for local programs that take in children to provide a better way of life for them, and the government needs to pass legislation to increase incentives for farmers to increase agricultural development “Policies should shift from prioritizing food aid to providing poor farmers with access to training, markets and to farm inputs such as fertilizer and improved seed. In addition to being cheaper, such investments allow farmers to grow food to feed themselves, to sell the surplus and to diversify into high-value crops, livestock and tree products. This creates a sustainable exit from the poverty trap, thereby decreasing the requirement for aid. This is in support to provide more support to the poor farmer and to provide a way of life to get out of the poverty trap.” (Pedro A Sanchez).
Eradication of the hungry is not a pipe dream, it can be obtained and it can become reality with the proper support from within each community and through the support both with policies and financial from the government. By working together, this problem and epidemic can be dealt with in a positive manner. It would be great to see the astonishing numbers of hungry be cut in half with just improving farming. This can be a reality, but it will take everyone to make it happen.
Works Cited
Gould, March. Personal Interview. February 7, 2011.
Hernandez, Ismael. Personal Interview.Department of Health and Welfare. February 5,2011.
Redding, Shawn. Personal Interview.Idaho Food Bank. February 1, 2011
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