Policy Opportunities to End Hunger
According to Feeding America, nearly 44 million people across the United States and over 265,000 in West Virginia suffer from not being able to put food on the table. These numbers have only grown under the compound pressure of the COVID-19 global pandemic, and include more than 60,000 seniors, 10,000 veterans, and 70,000 children that call West Virginia home.
These stats demonstrate the growing problem of food insecurity, which the U.S Department of Agriculture defines as uncertain access to food, meaning you may not know when you can expect your next meal or how you’re going to pay for it.
Food insecurity is a complex issue that takes many community helpers, new partnerships, and innovative approaches to address. It takes private-public partnerships, government support of local, community-based food systems, protection of federal food policy, and state policy choices that realize food is the foundation for success. With that in mind, below are some policies that could help us make access to affordable, healthy food for thousands of people facing food insecurity in the Mountain State.
01.) Annual state funding for food purchases and critical infrastructure to fight hunger.
02.) Expanding existing veteran feeding programs by increasing partnerships and participation across the state to ensure no veteran goes hungry. Funding and expanding the Veterans Table program will support almost 10% or 10,000 food insecure veterans.
03.) Increase business opportunities for local farmers and access to nutritious food for hungry neighbors by bolstering state support for farm-to-food bank efforts
04.) Keep federal tax dollar paid by West Virginians in-state by protecting federally funded nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
05.) Create and deepen partnerships between medical providers, managed care organizations, and the charitable food network to deliver Food is Medicine programming to target populations across the state to realize cost-savings by mitigating chronic conditions like diabetes.
06.) Invest in our state’s future workforce by implementing Summer Feeding for All to make sure that when kids are out of school that they have access to food and have the necessary foundation for future success
07.) Pass the Hunger Free Campus Act to help students stay in school and increase West Virginia’s workforce readiness for high-tech jobs
MFB State Policy Priorities
The time has arrived for transforming hunger relief efforts in West Virginia and the momentum with the Legislature and funding streams supports the creation of this change.
Facing Hunger Food Bank serves twelve counties in West Virginia out of the total of seventeen counties within our service area.
Over 111,000 souls in need, representing 42% of the total of our food insecure brothers & sisters in our great state, rely on FHFB for not only emergency hunger relief, but children & families need our back packs.
We have an ever growing Medically Indicated Food Box Program that has recently expanded to serve a proposed 1,771 diabetic patients in collaboration with Williamson Health & Wellness in Mingo County.
We focus on partnerships and growing the capacity of our partners & impacting those we serve.