Use federal COVID dollars to fight growing food insecurity
Our household is engaged in a robust annual debate: Do we cook a turkey for Thanksgiving or opt for Chinese takeout, which is arguably tastier?
Embedded in this family debate is our ability to buy a turkey, cook it in our home, or opt for another meal of a choice. We recognize that many families in Silicon Valley are not as fortunate.
Food insecurity has risen during the pandemic and data indicate it may increase in the coming year. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to provide relief for individuals and businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The act includes funding for state and local governments.
As the county of Santa Clara, city of San Jose and other local jurisdictions allocate American Rescue Plan Act funds and other dollars, we in the nonprofit food distribution sector urge our elected officials to not only sustain but also increase funding for food and food distribution.
When local shelter in place orders hit in mid-March 2020, our Meals on Wheels hotline immediately started ringing off the hook. In a few whirlwind weeks, we faced unprecedented demand and found ourselves delivering more than 600% more meals to low-income homebound seniors and people with disabilities, compared to prepandemic meal deliveries.
Some clients told us that Meals on Wheels was a lifeline when it came to nutrition. Others shared that their Meals on Wheels driver was the only person they saw during the early months of the pandemic, helping to reduce social isolation and loneliness. An adult daughter described Meals on Wheels for her elderly parents as, “This is the single most important thing in their daily lives. They look forward to this every day.”
While demand has decreased somewhat since the spring of 2020 for Meals on Wheels, the demand still hovers around triple our pre-pandemic levels, despite no formal advertising of our program. As much as it pains us, we have had to begin a waiting list for people in need of home-delivered meals, due to capacity constraints with delivery drivers and funding.
Recent reports highlight ongoing elevated food insecurity, with most people needing groceries and some people needing prepared meals if they are unable to prepare their own. For example, the Stanford Data Lab reports that 10.2% of California adults reported food insufficiency in October 2021, up from 8.0% in August 2021, and compared to less than 4% in December 2019.
In addition to food being a life-or-death necessity, food is a key influence on health. Unhealthful dietary practices increase the risks of chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer. In 2017, poor diet was responsible for 10.9 million deaths, or 22% of all deaths among adults.
That’s why a fast-growing branch of service is medically tailored meals, which are healthy home-delivered meals individually tailored to the specific medical needs of the recipient by a registered dietitian nutritionist. Research studies across the nation show that medically tailored meals improve health outcomes, lower the cost of care, and increase patient satisfaction.
As we seek to “build back better,” the time is ripe for innovation, but we also must not turn our backs on providing the basic necessities. The county of Santa Clara recently published a food system workplan, an assessment and roadmap for the development of a comprehensive food, restaurants, agriculture and health access initiative. We encourage full funding of this workplan, as well as renewed funding commitments from the city of San Jose and other local jurisdictions for food distribution.
Food is central in our daily lives, food is medicine, and collectively we should ensure every resident in our community gets the healthy food they need.