Organization seeks to help tackle hunger in Oklahoma

In late March, top chefs in Oklahoma City took part in the 30th annual Chefs’ Feast, which benefited the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma’s Food for Kids program. The event raised more than $150,000 to provide food on weekends and school holidays for 750 chronically hungry students.

It was one of many such events held across the state every year by individuals and groups seeking to reduce the number of hungry Oklahomans. And yet hunger remains a tremendous problem — 15.5 percent of Oklahoma households experienced “food insecurity” in 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA describes that term as an inability, at some time during the year, to provide adequate food for one or more household members.

A new entity hopes to drive down that number by, as its website says, bringing “a unified, statewide voice to the issue and solutions surrounding hunger.” Based in Tulsa, Hunger Free Oklahoma is funded presently by the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation, which also financed a study of hunger that produced a statewide hunger assessment.

The study found that one in four Oklahoma children is hunger insecure, as is one in six Oklahoma families —but also that there are considerable federal funds available that the state could be using to combat hunger, but is not.

For example, about 80 percent of those eligible to take part in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) actually do so. Pushing that to 100 percent would translate to $227 million in federal funds being reimbursed to Oklahoma.

Similarly, the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program is reaching 54 percent of eligible Oklahomans. Hunger Free Oklahoma would like to see that increase to 80 percent, which would benefit 67,000 people and generate $32.4 million in federal reimbursement.

Oklahoma’s participation in the federal Afterschool Meals and Summer Meals programs is quite low — the latter is used by just 6 percent of those who are eligible.

The Zarrow Foundation study recommended using public-private partnerships to develop and implement outreach and expansion programs. It also said statewide and community-level collaboration was needed, along with a summit of stakeholders statewide to make sure state agencies, policies and legislative actions are working properly. Hunger Free Oklahoma’s objective is to be a primary tool in helping carry out those recommendations.

After several years working in Chicago and Austin, Chris Bernard returned to his hometown to become executive director of Hunger Free Oklahoma in part, he says, because he believes hunger is a problem that can be addressed.

“You have to recognize the difference between addressing hunger and ending hunger as a state of being,” Bernard said in an interview. This effort “is not eradicating all the causes of hunger … but I think you can address hunger on a day-to-day basis via these programs.”

To be sure, there are myriad systemic issues related to Oklahoma’s percentage of the population that lives in poverty and thus is food insecure. But getting food and resources to these Oklahomans can help bend the arc in a better direction. For one thing, school children perform better when their bellies aren’t empty — and getting an education is the best way to avoid teen pregnancy, criminal behavior and other social ills that beset this state.

More information about Hunger Free Oklahoma is available at the organization’s website, www.hungerfreeok.org. It’s a laudable effort that bears watching.