Act Now for Indiana Food Banks
June 23rd, 2009Our elected representatives are down there in Indy trying to rework that state budget. I know what a job it is here at Second Harvest to keep our budget balanced.
You have got to have income equal to expenses. If you don’t, you start squeezing those expenses and you work hard for more revenues.
I heard Gov. Mitch Daniels say that the state will have less money to spend in 2011 than it did in 2007 even with economic recovery. He maintains that Indiana spends less per person now with better services and that only five other states do better than we do.
That said, many of us have different notions of what kind and quality of services the state should provide.
Food banks in Indiana have formed a state food bank association called FIsH, Feeding Indiana’s Hungry. We looked hard for state money this year. Ohio and Illinois both have large appropriations going to their state food bank associations and we wanted to follow suit.
Sen. Sue Errington (D-Muncie) after a discussion with Rep. Terri Austin (D-Anderson) introduced a bill that would have allowed Indiana taxpayers to designate their state refund to the state association. It did not pass out of committee. We thought it might generate a quarter of a million dollars or more for hunger relief. Because of the failure of that bill, an appropriation of $300,000 each of two years was put into the budget.
So far, it is still there. This money would be used by Feeding Indiana’s Hungry food banks to access Indiana-grown foods and could provide as many as 1.5 million meals throughout the state.
It couldn’t come at a better time. Hunger is rampant. Food pantries are unable to keep up with the numbers of people needing their services. More than 30 percent are first-time users. Our own direct distribution, the Tailgate Program, serves increasing numbers of families at each site in every county. We often have 600 families drive through in a two-hour period.
I understand the need to cut expenses in the state budget. I agree that we must live within our means. But critical elements must be funded and making sure that our nutrition safety net is secure is one of them. People are out of work and can’t find work. We believe things will get better but until then we must help Hoosiers with basic needs.
You can make a difference. Log on to www.hungeractioncenter.org and sign in. You can then send a letter to your representatives that will encourage them to do all they can to keep this money in the state budget. When I saw Gov. Daniels, I asked him personally to pass a budget that includes this allocation.
This is national Dairy Month and we are happy to be distributing hundreds of pounds of cheese purchased with a grant from the Indiana Dairy Association. Most of this is going to local pantries that are including it as one of the choices for people needing assistance.
Remember, you can find the list of pantries, their locations, with days and times they are open on our Web site, www.curehunger.org . While you are there consider making a contribution on line and designate it to Kresge. We need about $474,000 more by the end of the year to claim the $400,000 Kresge Challenge grant.