Tanzina Vega: It's The Takeaway, I'm Tanzina Vega. It's great to be with you this Monday. The wrath of the pandemic, high unemployment, and months of government inaction have led 8 million people to be pushed into poverty since May. As a result, more Americans are suffering from hunger and just not knowing how they'll get their next meal.

According to researchers at Northwestern University, the number of food-insecure households had doubled by June and tripled for households with children. Black and Latino households are experiencing significantly higher rates of food insecurity during the pandemic than white households. That's left food banks scrambling to meet the increased need. We reached out to you to hear how you're dealing with food insecurity, and here's what you had to say.

Hannah: Hi, this is Hannah from Levittown. I've been working from home in a new job. I know everyone's experiences are different but I've actually been okay because unemployment equaled working two of my jobs, which I was working before the pandemic hit. I'm okay with paying my rent, but next month, I might have to start looking at participating in one of the local food banks. That's a little scary to me because I've never had to do that before.

Sunita: My name is Sunita. I live in Las Vegas. Getting food is always an issue, but during the pandemic, I got extra food stamps. When your income is already limited, everything is a sacrifice, a stretch, a struggle. The extra helped so much, but it was a one-time thing. It was almost like a taste of the way life should be. It was a tease. I'm really hoping that America can be great, but I don't know.

Tanzina: Very powerful story right there and thanks for sharing. Joining me now is Susan Goodell, the CEO of El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank. Thanks for being here, Susan.

Susan Goodell: It's great to be here. Thank you.

Tanzina: Christina Wong is the director of public policy and advocacy at Northwest Harvest, a hunger relief agency in Washington State. Christina, welcome.

Christina Wong: Thank you, Tanzina.

Tanzina: Susan, how many more people is your food bank serving now compared to before the pandemic?

Susan: We've seen about a 520% increase in need in our community.

Tanzina: You said 520% increase?

Susan: 520% increase. We see about between 6,000 and 8,000 families coming to our door every day. It is absolutely insane.

Tanzina: Christina, what about you? How has demand for food banks in Washington State increased over the past few months?

Christina: On average, according to our state department of agriculture, it's been about a 50% increase statewide, but we really see that vary from location to location. In some areas of the state, they said their lines are about 30% longer than normal, and in other areas of the state, they said it's up to 300% longer than normal.

Tanzina: Christina and Susan, just want to ask both of you, what adjustments have the food banks that you work with had to make in order to get food to people? Are you having to do get more funding? Are you having to give less food? Christina, tell us how you're adapting.

Christina: I always kind of joke that it's like Stranger Things. It's the upside-down world for us. Under normal operations, 60% of what we give out is fresh or frozen produce. Throughout this pandemic, at the start of it, we were faced with skyrocketing need for shelf-stable food items, and our warehouse that was primarily full of fresh food items so we couldn't really use those.

At the same time, our pantry partners lost their volunteer force since so many of those volunteers are seniors and others in high-risk populations. We had to pivot to packing pre-packed boxes of shelf-stable food items. That's a much more expensive model between the cost of labor, packing supplies, packing space, and buying that food. Luckily, with generous help from individual donors and the private sector, we've been able, for the most part, to make up for 80% loss in food donations.

Tanzina: Susan, what about you?

Christina: We have had to be incredibly nimble during this whole pandemic. We're the youngest food bank in America. We are four years old. We've not had the base nor the other resources that some of our older sister food banks have had. While we ran out of dry goods, boxed and canned foods, within two weeks of our pandemic response, we've had to find other sources of food. We actually pivoted to fresh foods, more fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen foods, that sort of thing, but we quickly ran out of those as well. That's when we transitioned to products that were packaged for the restaurant business, think about a two-liter bags of yogurt or 26 precooked chicken breasts in a package, that sort of thing.

We also had to transition the way that we were distributing that food. With 130 soup kitchens, shelters, and pantries that were dependent on our food, we could not quickly guarantee the safety of our clients at all of those locations. We shuttered most of our agencies. We stood up five mega drive-through sites for people to come through and have food loaded into their trunk in a low-touch methodology.

We had 96 National Guard troops assigned to our location, but that has rapidly over time. The National Guard left in early July. Food that came from restaurants became quickly unavailable. We transitioned to government sources of food. It's just constantly transitioning everything from the types of food that we were able to distribute and reengineering constantly our distribution methodologies.

Tanzina: Christina, who is showing up for food? Are we seeing people-- One of our callers at the very top said that they were considering potentially going to a food bank but that they had never had to do that before. Are you seeing a lot of first-timers? Single people, families, elderly, who is showing up?

Christina: I would say across the board, all that. In Washington State, there was recently a survey that was completed by University of Washington and Washington State University, and it found that 30% of the respondent households were now experiencing food insecurity and even more troubling is that 59% of those households have children. People of color were one and a half times more likely to report struggling to put food on their tables than their white peers.

Also, we could look for corroborating data from that with the weekly pulse data from the census. We're now seeing that 1 in 10 Washington adults with children are reporting not having enough food for their children. That's really troubling because we know that those families will do everything they can to make sure that their kids eat. The adults will skip meals. If we're at the point where now adults are now saying that their children don't have enough to eat, we're really seeing a food insecurity crisis turn into a hunger crisis.

Tanzina: Susan, the United States is, if not the richest, one of the richest countries in the world, how do you explain food insecurity at all? I mean, this just feels like it's absolutely unacceptable for a country that produces its own food in many places and has access to food.

Susan: I think that what most Americans don't necessarily understand is the disparity in income for people living in America. When you look at El Paso, we're talking about 24% of the population living in poverty. Then, when you look at a term called ALICE, which is people who are actually working, they're above the poverty line so they are not eligible for many of the safety net programs, that's another 32% of our population. Over 50% of the population for El Paso, for example, does not have enough income for a reasonable lifestyle.

Tanzina: Even given that point though, that the federal government chooses where and when to spend its money, why isn't this a bigger priority, and should it be? I want to pose that question to both of you because there are funding issues, funding problems at the state level and even at the federal government level, isn't that right, Susan?

Susan: That's exactly right. I think that the populations that Christina and I serve are often forgotten. Their issues are not brought to light so I'm incredibly grateful for you telling our story. We're looking at the government commodity trendline for the coming year, and in 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, the USDA is cutting the government Commodity Program in half, less than what it was in 2019. These are issues that just do not get enough attention, and I think it's because the people we serve are marginalized.

Tanzina: Christina, there is still stigma because of that being marginalized and just because a lot of people, particularly if they're first-timers, have around accessing food at food banks, what would you say to someone right now who's listening but is reluctant to go there?

Christina: I would say, we really need people to take care of themselves. Food is that catalyst that can help stabilize crises for people. We know that food insecurity persists because people are having to make what should be false choices. Do I pay the rent, or do I buy the food that I need for lunch? People are going to time, time again choose to skip eating because, "If I don't pay my rent, my landlord's going to come knock on my door, but if I skip lunch that day, nobody's going to come knocking on my door."

We really want people to not just consider going to their food bank, but if they are eligible for it, also applying for those nutrition assistance programs like SNAP or food stamps, WIC, if you are a pregnant or nursing mother or have an infant or a child under the age of five. All those resources, we know that it takes both those public resources and the private sector in order to help put food on the table.

These resources are available for you to use. People choose to decline using them for any number of reasons, but for your health and for your safety, there are resources that are available. If it's a matter of people are concerned or don't know where to go, your local food bank can help you connect both with those public resources as well as welcoming you and providing food at our programs.

Tanzina: Susan, there are people listening who are not dealing with food insecurity and who may want to find a solution for this issue that so many of their fellow Americans are facing and some that might not even want to say that they're facing it, what can people who do have the means to help, what should they be thinking about doing right now?

Susan: I think we're seeing a time of unprecedented hunger right now and everyone can be part of the solution. I'm hoping that those people who are unaffected by the pandemic, they've not seen economic loss, they can help their neighbors. It is an easy thing to do to go on a food bank's website and to make a donation. Food banks are incredibly resourceful. Every dollar that we receive here in El Paso is seven meals on a hungry person's table.

Tanzina: You said $1 provides seven meals for someone?

Susan: That's exactly right.

Tanzina: Hopefully, people are paying attention because that's a lot of meals in a very difficult time. Susan, in Texas, there've been recent state funding cuts that have affected food banks, including your own, what have those cuts meant for how you've been able to continue to feed people, particularly, as the winter months come?

Susan: We are deeply concerned about the cuts to surplus agricultural product funding. Those grants had been cut by 44%, which means 19.8 million pounds of produce is being destroyed rather than going to feed hungry Texans. In many cases, this is food that is not harvested, or it's tilled under, or it's destroyed in some way and it makes absolutely no sense in the middle of a pandemic to reduce the amount of fresh produce reaching hungry Texans.

Tanzina: What's behind that decision? Is that happening at the federal level? Is that just happening at the state level? If so, who made that call?

Susan: Unfortunately, many government budgets are in trouble right now. Income is down from taxes and governments are choosing where and when they have to make cuts. Here in Texas, the governor has encouraged all departments to make a cut, and unfortunately, this particular program was slashed 44%. We are deeply, deeply concerned about how are we going to get enough food for our people in need in the middle of this pandemic, and fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the best sources and the most nutritious sources that we can normally find. We're very distressed about the loss of this program.

Tanzina: I talked about those earlier but I'm wondering whether or not you're getting the help you need from the federal government to make up for that, but it doesn't sound like it right now.

Susan: No, USDA, again, is cutting these national food programs. The Emergency Food Program Assistance Program has been cut, and we're facing a cliff with government commodities being slashed and going to about half of what they were in 2019. Again, in the middle of a pandemic, when numbers of people in need are going up, it's insane to be looking at these large, massive cuts in federal commodity programs.

Tanzina: Finally, Susan, earlier in the Trump administration, President Trump decided that to, at least, attempt limiting SNAP benefits for undocumented immigrants in this country, are you seeing any lingering effect from that as we are now in a pandemic and dealing with the food insecurity crisis?

Susan: I think minority populations, particularly, Hispanic populations are often frightened by the different things that happen at the federal level that threaten support. Whether it's cutting SNAP benefits for people who are documented or not, these have a ripple effect across communities like El Paso, which is an 85% minority-majority community. I'm frankly horrified that this sort of thing would happen when our people are hungry. This is not a humane action, and we need to make sure that all people are fed, their children are fed. Without food, people cannot function. We need adequate nutrition for our kids to function in school, for adults to function at work, for seniors to maintain cognitive abilities. It's unconscionable to be cutting food at a time like this.

Tanzina: Susan Goodell is the CEO of El Pasoans Fighting Hunger Food Bank and Christina Wong is the director of public policy and advocacy at Northwest Harvest. Thanks to you both for the work that you do.

Christina: Thank you.

Susan: Thank you.

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