Government Hunger Programs Weak, Former USDA Official Says

The federal government suffers from complacency in its approach to the worsening hunger problem in this country, said a former U.S. Department of Agriculture senior official.

The attitude, primarily a recent development, is fostered by a false belief that the poor already receive sufficient help from the food programs now in place, said Carol Tucker Foreman, an assistant agriculture secretary during the Carter Administration.

Foreman, currently the president of a public policy consulting firm, made her remarks recently during a speech to a food industry gathering in Washington.

“Poverty-related hunger is not over,” she said. “There is hunger in Texas where oil-riggers don’t have work. There is hunger in Pennsylvania where steel workers no longer have a job. And there is hunger in Iowa where some farmers can’t even afford to buy food. These people are not hungry because they are stupid or lazy, but because poverty and unemployment in this country are high.”

Nor is a lack of nutritious food the preserve of the homeless or unemployed, she said.

A new class of working poor is finding it increasingly difficult to survive financially. As an example, Foreman cited cases where individuals employed full time at the minimum wage still find themselves living at, or under, the federally defined poverty level. This is particularly true if the minimum wage-earner is one with children.

Compounding the situation is a national political climate which creates misconceptions about hunger-related issues by coloring government programs with partisan rhetoric, Foreman said.

“Some people . . . hear the words food stamps and automatically think, ‘welfare queens,’ ” she said.

As a result, Foreman called on the federal government to step up efforts to help poor and low-income groups. She proposed expanding nutrition programs aimed at needy mothers with infants, renaming the food stamp program in order to remove its present political stigma, and increasing the minimum wage.

The food industry should also play a role in helping address this issue because it stands to profit from improving the lot of the needy, she said.

“Some producers may be asking why they should be involved with fighting hunger. Well, these poor people are the last domestic market left unserved.”

Checkout Donations--One Southern California group concerned with the hunger problem is making inroads with a novel program that is gaining support among area food retailers. The project, entitled Food for All, has been in operation for almost a year, and has already generated more than $26,000 in contributions for local agencies dealing with the needy.

Under the plan, donation cards are placed at supermarket checkout stands. The cards are in denominations of 50 cents, $1 and $5. Shoppers can then elect to have one of these amounts added to their grocery bill before making payment.

Food for All was developed by a Redlands couple, Linda and Milan Hamilton, and is now operating at 12 stores, according to Ann Schmidt, who works with the program.

However, this week 60 Lucky supermarkets will also begin offering the contribution cards at the chain’s checkout counters throughout Southern California. The involvement of a major grocery company is likely to increase significantly donations to Food for All--100% of which goes to local agencies such as food banks, neighborhood pantries (which distribute free groceries) and family service agencies.

A distinguishing aspect of the program is that the organization’s administrative costs are not subtracted from public donations, as is normally the case with charitable organizations. Instead, the expense of operating Food for All is funded by separate grants specifically intended for that purpose.

Recognizing African Leadership--On yet another level, a New York-based relief agency has announced that it will annually recognize an individual who has done the most to help fight hunger in Africa.

The award, sponsored by the Hunger Project, is designed to “honor a distinguished African who, in the eyes of the jury, has exhibited exceptional leadership in bringing about the sustainable end . . . of hunger at the national, regional or continent-wide level.”

The designation will carry a cash prize of $100,000, and the first recipient will be announced in September to coincide with the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly.

The group will send out nomination ballets to more than 2,000 people familiar with the relief work now being done in Africa. The nominations will then be reviewed by a jury headed by Robert S. McNamara, former president of the World Bank and U.S. Defense Secretary in the 1960s.

The Hunger Project claims a membership of more than 5 million people from more than 152 countries.