Reinventing Conn. to feed the hungry

It’s not about the loss of jobs, shuttered eateries or empty supermarket shelves. People are just dropping laps behind in the race against inflation.

The spring of 2020 and the pandemic brought back something not seen in 80 years: People waiting in lines for food.

Few at the time were left to remember the food queues of the Great Depression. Most people only know them only from grainy back-and-white news footage. Yet they were suddenly in living color.

It's understandable that most people would prefer to forget such images from the more recent crisis. Waiting in lines to get COVID vaccines seem to have scarred the memories of too many area residents who remain resistant to getting boosters, even as the coronavirus stubbornly remains in our presence. It's not as easy to avoid eating.

The Great Depression started in 1929 before ceasing about a decade later. Four years after COVID, it's easy to miss that the need for food remains an immediate crisis in the daily lives of many Connecticut residents.

Those working at the front lines know better. They are the people at the food banks who see the need rising while donations dwindle. Unlike four years ago, the problem isn't sudden, but has been creeping. It's not about the loss of jobs, shuttered eateries or empty supermarket shelves. People are just dropping laps behind in the race against inflation.

“Grocery prices and cost of living are so high right now that we are seeing more people both at our local pantries and mobile food trucks,” Connecticut Foodshare President and CEO Jason Jakubowski told Hearst Connecticut Media. “And many of them are fully employed. In our line of business, unemployment is usually the problem; but in this case it's inflation and cost of living, not unemployment.”

The price of groceries spiked about 25 percent over the past four years, while few people have seen increases anywhere near that in their weekly paycheck. The most recent United

Way of Connecticut ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) report found that 39% of households were below the agency's defined threshold of financial security. That was three years ago, when a family of four in the state needed to bring home about $126,000 a year to cover daily expenses.

The pandemic did provide inspiring examples of resolve from countless invisible heroes who launched grassroots efforts to bolster the likes of food banks in many towns. It may be the fastest way to feed a child, but loading food into cars will never be a sustainable solution to ending hunger.

Agencies in the state have come a long way, easing some of the stigma for those in need with the creation of mobile pantries that remove the obstacle of finding transportation.

The big picture may require digging even deeper into history, beyond the Great Depression to when farmland covered much of Connecticut. State and city officials need to continue to promote opportunities for urban farming, starting in our schools.

In the meantime, though, consider anything you can do to help feed a stranger.