San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
FINDING HELP FOR THE HUNGRY
Even as distribution efforts have increased, thousands still suffering from food insecurity during pandemic
Charities, nonprofits and service providers throughout the county have expanded food programs this year to help people in need during the pandemic, but leaders in those organization say people still are going hungry despite their efforts.
Deacon Jim Vargas, president and CEO of Father Joe’s Villages, said the service provider has expanded its meal service at its downtown campus to three a day — breakfast, lunch and dinner — to meet a growing need.
Sensing that they weren’t reaching people in need further away, the nonprofit also began serving takeout meals at Father Joe’s Thrift Shop at 1457 University Ave. in Hillcrest and at 1404 Fifth Ave. in downtown San Diego.
Other hunger-relief organizations throughout the county also have expanded their services this year, but they also recognize that the existing need extends beyond their reach.
Jim Floros, president and CEO of the San Diego Food Bank, said that concern was behind a pilot program being launched Dec. 18.
“We have been having that same discussion just within the last few weeks,” he said about ongoing concerns of not reaching everybody in need.
Floros said many people are comfortable with accessing the system and
tribution event held specifically for workers in hotels, restaurants, bars and other jobs in the service industry.
Partners in the effort include the Tourism Authority, Labor Council and the association of volunteers who support the Holiday Bowl, which will not be held this year.
Floros has not heard of anyone starving in the county, and he said the Food Bank works with 500 nonprofits connected with people in their communities to find everybody in need.
“We’ve got every inch of the county covered,” he said, adding that the Food Bank has increased its mobile pantries from one to three this year to reach more places, including rural communities.
Feeding San Diego also operates mobile pantries that serve the rural communities of Borrego Springs, Boulevard, Shelter Valley, Julian and Guatay.
Floros said the Food Bank has more than 200 food-distribution sites and has created 35 “super pantry” sites this year. By the end of December, the nonprofit is expected to have distributed 48 million pounds of food, while two years ago it distributed 32 million pounds, he said.
The increased distributions by the Food Bank and other organizations have helped but still are not reaching every person in the county in need, said Anahid Brakke, president and CEO of the San Diego Hunger Coalition.
“The need is pretty staggering,” she said.
A recent Hunger Coalition study found the meal gap, or meals that a person is going without, has increased from 5.8 million a month in 2017 to 17.5 million a month this year.
The study also found the greatest needs are in El Cajon, central and south central San Diego, College Grove, Logan Heights, National City and Paradise Hills, among other neighborhoods. In North County, Oceanside, Vista, San Marcos and Escondido also have many residents facing food insecurity. In Escondido alone, the meal gap is 400,000 a month, she said.
Brakke said charitable programs have reduced the gap, but greater participation in government programs is needed to truly eliminate it.
About 80 percent of food distributed countywide comes from government programs such as Calfresh and the free and reduced meal programs at schools, she said.
The good news is that local participation in Calfresh is at an all-time high, with about 322,000 recipients this year, up about 21 percent from last year. An additional 39,000 in the Calworks program also participate in Calfresh.
Still, that’s not enough to fill the gap in people missing meals, Brakke said, stressing that food distribution programs alone cannot meet the need.
Floros agreed that more people need to sign up for Calfresh, and he said two employees with the government program often go to Food Bank distributions to encourage people to participate. San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency employees will join the effort at the Dec. 18 event.
Brakke said the pandemic also contributed to food insecurity by causing the closure of schools that provide free and reduced priced lunches.
Almost 25 percent of food to families in need was distributed through schools, and Brakke said school districts should make it easier for families to pick up a week’s worth of meals while campuses are closed.
She also encourages people to sign up for Calfresh by visiting Getcalfresh.org or by calling the county’s assistance line, 2-1-1.
Dana Henderson, director of programs for Feeding San Diego, said her organization has seen a 50 percent increase in services this year, but also said more needs to be done.
“There’s certainly still a meal gap in San Diego County,” she said. “We’re not reaching everybody.”
Henderson said Feeding San Diego works with 300 local charities, schools and pantries to help find people in need. In past years, the organization provided 28 million meals, and midway through this fiscal year it has provided 31.2 million meals.
“Folks may not be starving, but they may be skipping meals,” she said. “If anyone is skipping meals, that’s enough to step in.”
Paul Downey, president and CEO of Serving Seniors, also said people still are going hungry despite the extra efforts of distributing food.
“We have the capacity to serve more meals but not the money to do it,” he said.
“There is definite demand for more meals based on the calls we receive and the fact that we are not doing any outreach to find more seniors in need.”
Downey said the organization received hundreds of calls each week for meals in March, when it still had the ability to accept more clients.
“I know if we ‘advertised’ meal availability now, especially with the stay-at-homeorder, we would receive a similar number of calls,” he said.
Brent Wakefield, president and CEO of Meals on Wheels San Diego County, said the organization has increased its services, but they have referred people to 2-1-1 San Diego if new demands create a bottleneck.
Meg Hersman Storer, chief of staff of 2-1-1 San Diego, said one of the top needs this year was for grocery and meal deliveries because of the stay-at-home order, and people asking for assistance in applying for Calfresh increased 25 percent.
In April, 1 in 6 clients calling 2-1-1 were requesting food assistance. That dropped to 1 in 9 in May and has declined since then, but Storer said calls for food assistance in October began to rise to the highest levels since May.
When the pandemic started, California launched its “Great Plates” program
to keep the most vulnerable residents in the state from venturing into their communities and potentially exposing themselves to the virus.
The first iteration of the program offers three meals per day, seven days per week, to any senior older than 65 and to those 60 to 64 with certain health conditions. In late August, San Diego County funded a 2.0 version of the program to those age 18 and older with certain health conditions.
The second version is a bit more limited, providing only dinner rather than a full three-meal spread each day.
The program is designed to help local restaurants and catering companies by allowing them to contract with the county and serve meals to assigned clients whose eligibility is confirmed by the county health department.
Since May 16, Great Plates-enrolled restaurants, according to county records, have served more than 1.4 million meals to 4,104 seniors. Great Plates 2.0 has served 62,912 meals to 1,054 participants since Aug. 27.
More than 300 per day come from the Kearny Mesa kitchen of California’s Best Catering, which was full of workers Friday assembling Saturday’s reheatable meals: scrambled eggs, turkey links and fruit for breakfast; Swedish meatballs over whole grain pasta for lunch; and ginger chicken with Asian vegetables for dinner.
Rick Jones, the company’s owner, said he currently employs 28 people, from chefs to delivery drivers, at least part time.
“Without Great Plates right now, we would be shut down for sure,” Jones said.
Already used to offering gluten free and other options in its regular catering business, California’s Best has found itself getting even more specific for those it’s currently serving.
Special tweaks are made daily for a broad range of dietary restrictions from no onions and no seafood to full vegan and gluten free.
“We already tried not to leave people behind, and we’ve made this an opportunity to get even better at giving people what they need,” Jones said.