Hunger in Maryland

In Maryland, 370,000 people live at or below the federal poverty line. “Poverty level is … no money at all,” says Flateman. “These days, with the cost of gasoline, heat, rent—a family of four, even living on $35,0000 or $40,000 a year is difficult. So we see a lot of people who, because of their circumstances, they just can’t quite earn enough to keep food on their family’s table.” In fact, nearly half of people relying on food assistance in Maryland report having had to choose between paying for heat and utilities and buying food, according to the Maryland Food Bank’s Web site.

The current state of the economy isn’t helping. “We’ve seen more and more people who are working who can’t afford to feed their families,” says Flateman. In fact, nearly half of food stamp recipients are already working at least 40 hours a week. “Now we’ve got middle class families who, overnight, have found themselves going to emergency feeding sites.”

And when families who need food assistance get it, sometimes it’s not the best food. “We see it not only in the international population, but locally: As food prices go up, attention to nutritional value goes down,” says Stacie Oliver, Chair of the Public Relations Committee for the Junior League of Annapolis. “It’s about being full. Protein intake goes down severely because the cost of meat is much, much higher.”

It’s easy to believe that hunger only exists in outlying rural or gritty urban environments. So I pulled up the list of Maryland children receiving free or reduced-priced lunches, which is easily found online. I found my local elementary school. The school just down the street from my house. The school my son will probably attend.

402 students attending that school live in a family where the income is so low they can’t afford to pay the regular price for a school lunch.

Lunches are $2.25.

Hunger is here.

So what do we do?

“First, believe that it’s there,” says Flateman. “These people could be living next door to you. Get that message front and center.”

Then, “find ways to connect to the system,” says Flateman. “You can stay local, you can do volunteer work, you can always make charitable gifts.” But she warns that the most common ways of giving may not be the most effective. “People like to go to the grocery store and buy groceries and donate them,” she says—and that effort is appreciated. However, thanks to relationships with food producers and retailers, giving that $20 or $30 directly to the Maryland Food Bank means that they can buy more food for that same amount. In fact, if you go to MdFoodBank.org, you can buy cases of wholesale-priced food and tell them where you want it to go. “You can say, ‘I’d like it to go to Anne Arundel County,’ and we can purchase those on your behalf,” says Flateman.

Seasonal drives, especially around the holiday season, are extremely important to charitable organizations. “In general, we have done small efforts here and there, mostly around the holidays, to provide canned foods to The Lighthouse Shelter [in Annapolis], but this year we’re doing a more head-on approach to the issues and becoming more active,” says the Junior League’s Oliver. The JLA teamed with Annapolis Middle School this fall to replenish the falling stocks at the Anne Arundel County Food Bank, and their Homeless Outreach initiative is an ongoing effort to help homeless and hungry Marylanders by working with The Light House Shelter, Sarah’s House and Anne Arundel’s Department of Social Services.

Also, waste less. “There’s 96 billion pounds of food wasted in this country this year,” says Flateman. If the nation captured and redirected some of that, we would end hunger in this country as we know it.” That doesn’t mean you use the old “there are hungry people who would be happy to have those lima beans, young man,” line. It means you only buy what you need — then you take the money you save and pass it on to someone else who needs it.

“Everyone—the donors, the volunteers, the people who are helping us with food and distribution—are all part of this movement,” says Flateman. “And if we really, really got it going in earnest I don’t think anyone would be hungry.”

Some of the facts about hunger and homelessness in Maryland are staggering:

Maryland is the fourth-richest state in the country, according to the most recent American Community Survey.

One in ten Maryland children live in poverty.

Anne Arundel County is the fourth-richest county in the state, with a median income of over $61,000.

Anne Arundel County also experienced the fastest growth—over 26 percent, according to the Maryland Gazette—of applicants to Food Supplement, the state’s food stamp program, in 2008.

If you make $12,000 and have two children, you get $113 a month from the state to feed your children.

Earn $14,001 in a year and your assistance ends.

How to help

At The Light House, they welcome gift cards to grocery store, to pharmacies or prepaid phone cards, among others. They also have a “wish list” on their Web site (AnnapolisLightHouse.org), which includes items like applesauce, pasta and soup. Of the 17 items listed on the wish list at press time, the pantry was low on our out of 16 of them.

End Hunger Calvert (EndHungerCalvert.org) serves Calvert County and accepts both financial gifts and food donations at the Chesapeake Cares Food Pantry—which feeds over 1500 children a week.

The Maryland Food Bank-Eastern Shore serves more than 21,000 DelMarVa residents a month and accepts donations through MdFoodBank.org.

The Anne Arundel Food Bank accepts food and gently used items like baby items, clothing and cars. They also run a Soup Kitchen program, which fed more than 65,000 meals last year to local hungry and homeless people.  Visit aafoodbank.org to see how you can help.