Unity, Maine – November, 2008 – A report on area hunger compiled and released by a Unity College class points to a developing crisis in Waldo County, with attendant questions about the possible problem of hunger growing across Maine.

A finding of the report shows that the percentage of Unity Elementary School Students eligible for free or reduced cost lunch has spiked from 66% to 77%, by any measure a distressing figure.
Teams of Unity College students fanned throughout Waldo County during the Fall Semester with an eye on creating a realistic picture of hunger. They also gained an understanding of the programs and systems that deal with hunger in the county.

They wanted to understand the community’s sense of the faults, benefits and possible options regarding systems in place to deal with hunger.

The report presents information on food issues that relate to poverty, from use of food stamps to demand for food pantry support.

Four teams of student research groups each focused on a particular aspect of the need for food support services. The outcomes of their research will be available for public review at the 14th Annual Empty Bowls dinner in Unity on November 18 at the Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts from 5 – 7 p.m. They are also available below.

The students pursued the research project for an Environmental Citizen class taught by Associate Professor of Environmental Policy Nancy Ross.
Ross was careful to point out that the research is only a snapshot focusing on food, and does not comprehensively include elements of poverty such as shelter, clothing, heat, health care, transportation and other factors.

“We looked only at hunger,” noted Ross. She said that the cornerstone of the project was to gain an understanding of food insecurity, or the inability of some residents to be secure all of the time with respect to obtaining the food they need. The report offered recommendations on what Unity College can do to address Waldo area food gaps that contribute to rising hunger.

Steve Swartz ’10, an Adventure Education major from Peabody, Massachusetts, was part of a research team that is focusing on food programs available in Waldo County and food related activities, such as farmers donating some of their crop yield to benefit Waldo County food shelters and food banks. By mid-October team members had interviewed farmers, WIC Program officials, coordinators at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and others.
Molly Kiff ’11, a Wildlife Conservation major from Norwich, Connecticut, was part of a research team that focused on grass roots community efforts to fight hunger in Waldo County. She and her team members interviewed food pantry volunteers, officials at local churches, and other groups that are involved in feeding the hungry.

“Our questions pertained to the demand for food services,” Kiff said. “We also looked into how nutritional the food being served to those in need is, along with establishing details such as the frequency of families with children requesting assistance.”

The findings were clear: the demand for food services is consistently rising.
Kiff added that her group sought to establish an overview of demand for grass roots food services.
Another group that includes Ray Geist ’11, a Fisheries and Aquaculture major from Trappe, Maryland, focused on food stamp usage. Geist and his fellow research group members interviewed store managers, in the process gaining an accurate picture of the overall demand for food stamps in Waldo County.

“So we saw a trend of quite a few families in need of food stamp assistance,” said Geist. “We will also examined food stamp distribution from town to town.”

“This comprehensive research project on area hunger provides a real time snapshot of need within the Waldo County area,” noted Community-Based Learning Coordinator Jennifer Olin. “Armed with this type of information regional relief organizations will be able to make a compelling case for additional resources to meet these growing needs. The food pantry can take some of these hard numbers and use them to justify to grantors or donors the need for additional resources. Right now the food pantry is concerned about its ability to meet ongoing needs.”

The final of four research groups examined food programs in a selection of Waldo County schools.
The Empty Bowls event on November 18 will benefit the Volunteer Regional Food Pantry in Unity and People for People food distribution program in Belfast. It will feature a meal of homemade soup and bread.

The Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts is located at 42 Depot Street (off Route 202) in Unity, Maine.

Both Unity area and Unity College student potters have donated one-of-a-kind, hand made bowls for the event. Diners may keep the hand made bowl they have chosen for the meal. The suggested donation is $10 per diner.

“The need for food pantry services in the Unity region is greater now than in recent memory,” said Unity College Community-Based Learning Coordinator Jennifer Olin. “Rising fuel costs, rising health care costs, an uncertain economy have placed families in a difficult position. People are too often having to choose between putting fuel in the car and buying groceries.”

In addition to LIVE musical performances by Unity College students and community members, the dinner will feature results of the area food gap study.

Unity College is located at 90 Quaker Hill Road, Unity.

Unity College is a small private college in rural Maine that provides dedicated, engaged students with a liberal arts education which emphasizes the environment and natural resources. Unity College graduates are prepared to be environmental stewards, effective leaders, and responsible citizens through active learning experiences within a supportive community.

HUNGER AT HOME EMPTY BOWLS REPORT
November 18, 2008

INTRODUCTION
The “Hunger at Home” section of Unity College’s Fall 2008 Environmental Citizen course investigated and documented aspects of hunger in the Unity area such as trends in food stamp use at local grocers, food pantry use, and school nutrition programs. We worked with local groups to get a better understanding of hunger in Unity, recent history, resources devoted to the problem, and the community’s view of problems and solutions.

Students in the class conducted over 30 interviews with hunger relief program managers and volunteers, community opinion leaders, and other experts. We reviewed literature on the causes and nature of hunger in the US. We analyzed data from the US Census, Maine Dept. of Health and Human Services, Maine Dept. of Education, and other sources on poverty rates, hunger and poverty program participation, and free and reduced school lunch participation locally, nationally, and statewide.

Detailed reports on community feeding programs, school programs, the food stamp program, and other programs will be made final at the end of the semester. This report summarizes the major overall findings of our research and analysis and makes recommendations for actions Unity College could take to deal with local hunger.

HUNGER IN UNITY
• These are difficult economic times, for the state, for the nation, and for the world. The economy is declining and slipping closer to what may be an inevitable recession. Unfortunately, at the same time, costs are rising. Between the increase in food prices, and the declining economy, low income workers are having more and more difficulty feeding their families, and many parents are going hungry so their children can eat.
• The number of families using the local food pantry has greatly increased in recent years.
• In Waldo County where Unity is located, more than one in five children lives in poverty.(1) At Unity’s elementary school, the proportion of children eligible for free or reduced school lunch has risen 11 percentage points this year to 77%, nearly double the state average and one of the highest rates in Maine.(2) Poverty and hunger have disproportionate and lifelong effects on children.(3)
• The number of Unity families in the federal food stamp program has risen nearly 5% in the past year.(4)
• Elderly on fixed incomes are particularly affected by food price increases. Rural elderly without public transportation are less able to access nutritious food. More elderly are coming to the food pantry and to community meals they can walk to. There is no federally-funded senior meals site in Unity. Only 8 elderly in town are served by the Meals on Wheels program.

PROGRAMS AND RESOURCES
• School food service in the local school district provides free universal breakfast and participates in all federal programs for which they are eligible: After-school Snack Program, Special Milk Program, Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program, National School Lunch Program, and Summer Lunch Program. The Unity Elementary School garden helps kids learn responsibility as well as how to grow their own food and have fun doing it.
• Unity’s Volunteer Regional Food Pantry, open monthly, and The Open Door, which provides community lunches in the last week of each month, are both completely volunteer run and use 99% of their funding for food for the needy. Donations to support these two Unity programs come from Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, Quaker Hill Christian Church, local businesses, and local farms.
• Unity Barn Raisers won a Harry Chapin Self-Reliance award for innovative approaches to fighting hunger and poverty. Funding from a USDA Community Food Security grant allowed Barn Raisers to put on monthly meals open to everyone in the community and to underwrite community farm shares. During the growing season, the shares provide area residents who are under 65 and in need with locally grown, nutritious food from area farms.
• Arts for Hunger, sponsored by the Unity Area Rotary Club, raises funds to support local hunger-relief through a concert and an art sale featuring items donated by local artists and citizens.
• Veggies4all, funded by area groups and foundations, is a group of young area farmers who this year grew nearly 10,000 pounds of fresh, organically grown produce for area food pantries.
• Grow a Row for the Hungry, a program of Waldo County Cooperative Extension, recruits farmers and gardeners to grow vegetables for local food pantries.
• The annual Empty Bowls dinner, sponsored by Unity College (UC) and community partners, raises money for hunger relief, uses pottery as an art form to respond to hunger, and raises community awareness of hunger issues.
• The Local Food Guide, created with a grant from Maine Initiatives by Barn Raisers, Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners (MOFGA), the Vibrant Community Project, and UC, highlights nearby farms and markets where local consumers may find produce and value-added products.
• MOFGA gives technical assistance and puts on over 15 different workshops and seminars to help people grow, preserve, and prepare their own food.
• The Unity College garden provided over $700 worth of produce to the food pantry this summer and hosted its first formal Community Garden program, which served nine community members and helped bring new people and energy into the College garden.
• Senior Farm Share, a federal program administered by the state agriculture department, gives low income elderly individuals an annual $50 credit to buy food from local farms.
• The federal Women Infant Children Farmers’ Market Program provides a $20 credit ($30 next year) to low income families with young children to buy food from local farms.

UNMET NEEDS
• There is no all encompassing safety net to make sure no one goes hungry.
o Staffing and supplies for the emergency food system in Unity depend on a list of phone numbers the volunteer director carries in his pocket. The system lacks adequate resources, including funding for proper food storage. The Good Shepherd Food Bank, a major source of supplies for Unity’s and other feeding programs in Maine, faces shortages as food costs and need increase. Fresh produce in particular is in scarce supply.
o The State of Maine has pioneered a statewide signup for poverty programs so that those in need may access all available programs at one time. However, problems in accessing these programs remain, including transportation and disability as well as lack of knowledge of the nature and extent of programs. In addition, some eligible individuals, particularly the elderly, do not use the programs out of a sense of pride and/or shame. At the same time, in spite of major success by the state in eliminating fraud, there is still potential for abuse of some programs.
• Funding is not adequate.
o Unity relies significantly on emergency food programs to feed people on an everyday basis, particularly when help from food stamps and other programs runs out for families at the end of the month. If more money were allocated to the federal food stamp program, people would not have to rely so heavily on local feeding programs that are almost totally dependent on private donations and volunteers.
o As state and federal funding decreases, Barn Raisers and others may not be able to maintain programs begun with outside funding. Municipalities lack funds to pick up the programs.
o The class participated in a poverty simulation exercise in which we took on the actual circumstances of several anonymous low income Maine families. We tried to balance a budget and plan healthful meals for a family. It was very difficult and heart wrenching. We lived it for one hour; others for a lifetime.
• Unity College could do more to help.
o Of the 21 students in our Environmental Citizen: Hunger at Home class, only one had volunteered at the Unity food pantry prior to the start of the course. None had heard of, or been to, the Open Door community lunch. Student involvement in local programs to deal with hunger is limited.
o The Hunger at Home class was the college’s first investigation into the topic of hunger and local programs to deal with hunger.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR UNITY COLLEGE ACTION
• Build links with the Food Pantry and Open Door. Promote these programs as options for UC volunteer and paid work.
• Continue to support Unity Elementary School to increase food production in the newly built school garden. Through service learning classes and other programs, such as potential internships, build capacity to increase and manage onsite food production. Explore ways to connect elderly and youth through the garden.
• Improve communications and connections with MOFGA to enhance our mutual capabilities to grow local food for and by those in need.
• Hire a permanent farm manager to provide consistent professional staffing and support for the community garden and UC food production for both the college and local people in need.
• Through class projects and other faculty and student research, look into the needs of the elderly in Unity and develop means of effective outreach to this population.
• Help get the word out about community needs and programs. Use Empty Bowls and other college and community functions to
o Build awareness in the general community
o Reach out to those in need
o Recruit volunteers
o Raise funds
o Facilitate connections among the Food Pantry, Open Door, Barn Raisers, and other community programs and partners to meet community needs.
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(1)Maine Children’s Alliance (2008). Maine Kids Count 2008. http://www.mainechildrensalliance.org/am/uploads/2008book_noprint.pdf
(2)State of Maine Department of Education (2008). % Free & Reduced Lunch by County. http://portalx.bisoex.state.me.us/pls/doe_sfsr/eddev.ED534.ED534_report
(3)Brown, J. L., Shepard, D., Martin, T. (2007). The economic cost of domestic hunger: Estimated annual burden to the United States. An analysis commissioned by the Sodexho Foundation, in partnership with the Public Welfare Foundation and Spunk Fund, Inc. http://www.sodexofoundation.org/hunger_us/Images/Cost%20of%20Domestic%20Hunger%20Report%20_tcm150-155150.pdf

(4)State of Maine Department of Health and Human Services Office of Integrated Access and Support (2007-2008). Geographic distribution of programs and benefits. http://maine.gov/dhhs/OIAS/reports/reports.html#gdpb