TEFAP Alliance Blog

Foodlinks America - May 26, 2006

Friday, May 26, 2006
In this issue:

· House Passes Budget Plan; Agreement with Senate Unlikely
· Ag Appropriations Pass House with Food Stamp Restriction
· Food Stamp Briefs
· School Food News and Notes
· Sagging Sales, Bird Flu Scare Prompt Chicken Donations
· New Funding Scheme Considered for Indian Commodities
· Obesity Round-Up
· Reports from the Field
· Small Bites

Foodlinks America is published 24 times a year by California Emergency Foodlink in Sacramento, CA and distributed by Weinberg & Vauthier Consulting, 6412 CR 116, Burnet, TX 78611; Zy Weinberg and Barbara Vauthier, Editors; email: bvauthier@281.com.

Foodlinks America is not copyrighted, so the information can be freely shared with colleagues and friends, though attribution for reprinted articles is appreciated. For archived issues of Foodlinks America, go to: www.tefapalliance.org. To request the newsletter, contact Barbara Vauthier at: bvauthier@281.com.

House Passes Budget Plan; Agreement with Senate Unlikely

In the early morning hours of May 18, by a narrow 218-210 vote margin, the House of Representatives endorsed a budget resolution for fiscal year 2007. In order to secure the votes for passage, the Republican leadership allowed an additional $7 billion in funding on domestic programs in the $2.8 trillion blueprint for government spending next year. “We successfully worked with conservatives, moderates, and appropriators alike to come together as a team and pass a responsible budget that controls spending,” claimed House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH).

Representative Mike Castle (R-DE), leader of a group of moderate Republicans who insisted on increased allocations for human services programs, praised the agreement, noting that “the additional funds would not result in spending reductions for Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps or other programs for low-income individuals.” Democrats, however, remained skeptical of the outcome. Representative David Obey (D-WI) criticized the Republican moderates for “selling out for a promise that … some time in the deep, dark, distant future … there may be a table scrap or two left for additional education or health care.”

Indeed, the House budget still calls for cuts in domestic discretionary programs of $10.3 billion in fiscal year 2007 and $167 billion over the next five years. Savings from the program reductions would not go to lower the federal deficit, but would instead offset a portion of planned tax cuts.

Significant differences with the Senate budget plan, passed on March 16, 2006, remain. The House, in a separate vote on May 18, “deemed” that Congress had given final approval to its plan, making it binding on its appropriations committees. In actuality, however, there is no agreement with the Senate and it is unlikely one will emerge. The House budget contains $11.9 billion less in funding for domestic discretionary programs in 2007 than the Senate budget outline. Although the two plans will now go to a House-Senate conference committee which will try to reconcile the differences, it will be an uphill struggle to find common ground. “Clearly, at this point in the year it’s going to be tough to get a conference agreement,” commented House Budget Committee chair Jim Nussle (R-IA).

Ag Appropriations Pass House with Food Stamp Restriction

The House of Representatives, by a 378-46 vote margin, passed a $93.6 billion fiscal year 2007 agriculture appropriations bill (H.R. 5384) on May 23, 2006, that provides funding for most federal food assistance programs. The bill allows $17.8 billion in funding for discretionary programs and $75.8 billion for mandatory programs, such as food stamps and child nutrition services.

In a surprise move that reflects the ongoing controversy over immigration policy, the House adopted an amendment by Representative Scott Garrett (R-NJ) that prohibits the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from funding food stamps for legal immigrants. Under the provision, sponsors of the immigrants in this country would have to pay the cost of food stamps instead. The Garrett amendment, which was adopted 266-153, had been offered last year and was defeated then by a 169-258 vote, with only seven Democrats in favor. This year, Garrett’s amendment drew the support of 50 Democrats and most Republicans.

Otherwise, for nutrition programs, the House bill contains most of the funding levels approved at the Committee level (see Foodlinks America of May 12, 2006 at www.tefapalliance.org), including $37.9 billion for the Food Stamp Program and $13.3 billion for child nutrition. The full House also endorsed $5.244 billion for the WIC Program, $140 million for food purchases under The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), $50 million for TEFAP storage and distribution, and $118.3 million for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which the Bush Administration proposed to eliminate.

Appropriations action now moves to the Senate, which will consider fiscal year 2007 funding for agriculture programs after a week-long Memorial Day recess.

Food Stamp Briefs

· Spreading out the benefits: Retailers and anti-hunger advocates in Michigan are urging the state to revise its issuance of food stamp benefits to stagger them throughout the month, rather than sending them out to all households on the first of the month. Grocers say that spreading out the distribution of food stamps will eliminate huge swings in customer traffic that make it difficult to staff and stock their stores. The current system limits the availability of fresh produce throughout the month and also complicates suppliers’ delivery schedules.

“If we could get twice-monthly distribution, it would help us maintain product in the store,” said Najib Arisha, owner of two of the few remaining supermarkets in Detroit, who estimates that 25 percent of his sales revenue comes from food stamps. The change would also help stabilize staffing levels. “You just can’t hire somebody for 10 days and then lay them off,” added Arisha. Michigan is one of only eight states that still clumps all issuance at the start of the month. Other states spread out their distribution of benefits from between three and 22 days.

In mid-May, the Michigan Food Policy Council sent a recommendation to the Governor that the state adopt a staggered issuance schedule. “Better foods at small urban grocery stores require that the grocer be able to turn inventory and rely on sales all month long,” Jane Marshall, executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan and a member of the Policy Council, told Foodlinks America. “That’s not happening as much as it could when food stamp sales are so focused in the first days of the month,” Marshall added.

· Language and residency barriers limit access: Only about 15 percent of low-income food pantry clients in Los Angeles participate in the Food Stamp Program, although many more may be eligible, according to the results of a new study. Data gleaned from food stamp outreach programs on more than 14,000 individuals, over 90 percent of whom had income under $1,000 per month and 59 percent of whom were Hispanic, found that homelessness and limited English language skills prevented them from receiving benefits, according to an article published in the May 2006 issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

“Lack of permanent address prohibits many homeless individuals from being able to sign up for and receive food stamp benefits,” stated researchers from the University of California – San Diego and California Polytechnic University. “Undocumented immigrants are ineligible for food stamps and comprise many of the limited English language food pantry clients who are food stamp non-recipients in Los Angeles,” they added. “However, children of undocumented immigrants born in the United States are eligible to receive food stamps and can be enrolled through additional outreach efforts,” the study found. For details, see: http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/96/5/807.

· “Hunger Champions” recognition offered: The Food Stamp Outreach Coalition, a group of national organizations and individuals interested in promoting food stamp outreach, has announced its 2006 Hunger Champions Program. The program honors local food stamp offices that provide exemplary service in assisting eligible clients to enroll in the Food Stamp Program. Local offices with creative or unique approaches to serving clients will be selected as Hunger Champions and receive national recognition and publicity.

Nominations may be made by any individual, agency, or organization who has worked with, observed, or had personal interaction with a local food stamp office that provides exemplary service to food stamp applicants or clients. Nominations are due by June 30, 2006. To learn more, go to: http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/outreach/champions.htm.

School Food News and Notes

· Free meals for food stamp children: Changes to federal law made in the Child Nutrition Act amendments of 2004 require school districts to certify eligible students from food stamp households for free meals. Though this “direct certification” option has been around for more than a decade, states are at different stages in developing and implementing computer data-matching systems between state agencies and local school districts to utilize it.

To help move direct certification along, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently awarded $3.76 million in competitive grants to nine states – CA, IA, MI, NC, NH, PA, TN, WA, and WY – to develop or improve their computer capabilities. Awards ranged from $50,330 for Wyoming to $1,057,055 for Pennsylvania.

· Summer feeding urged: USDA is asking schools and community groups to operate the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) to help feed millions of children who lose access to nutritious meals during summer vacations when school cafeterias are closed. “This lack of access to basic nutrition is most pronounced among the Nation’s poorest children, who frequently have no alternative to school meals,” said USDA Secretary Mike Johannes in a proclamation declaring that June 4-10, 2006 is Summer Food Service Week.

“Far too few children take advantage of this important program, which serves fewer than 15 percent of the children who receive free and reduced price meals during the school year,” Johannes added. “I strongly urge additional eligible schools and organizations to make this vital component of the nutrition safety net available in their communities.” To view the proclamation, visit:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/summer/states/SFSP_2006_Proclamation.pdf.

· Parental monitoring made easier: Gwinnett County Public Schools in Gwinnett, GA is helping parents keep closer tabs on what their children are served at school via the Internet. “Nutri-Café,” a software program developed by a local company, Nutri-Link Technologies, Inc., permits parents to visit a web site and print out the menu choices offered at school for both breakfast and lunch. The effort is part of the local wellness policy that schools have recently been mandated to adopt.

“We feel that it’s a fun, entertaining way that both the parent and the children will benefit from having that positive interaction about selecting the meal components,” said Lora Novak, school nutrition director for the school system. It does not guarantee that children will make the same choices in the lunchroom that they make on their home computers, but Novak hopes it will make families consider and discuss the need for balanced meals.

“Obesity is easier to prevent than treat,” noted Michael Lobato, president of Nutri-Link, “and the most useful tool in prevention is through parent education.” The Nutri-Café program may be viewed on the Gwinnett schools web site at: www.gcsnp.org.

Sagging Sales, Bird Flu Scare Prompt Chicken Donations

The avian flu scare has hit the poultry industry hard this year. U.S. chicken exports have plummeted and wholesale prices for chicken are down 20 percent from a year ago. As a result, chicken processors have a glut of birds on hand that they are donating to emergency food networks nationwide.

America’s Second Harvest, the national food bank network, announced on May 10, 2006 that it would receive six million pounds of chicken from Tyson Foods, the world’s largest meat processor. Tyson also plans to donate another 10 million pounds over the next three years. Earlier this year, Perdue Farms, Inc., another large chicken processor, donated more than a million pounds to hunger relief agencies.

Huge production surpluses, consumer unease about avian flu, and reduced export demand have all contributed to the situation. “There is just an overabundance of protein on the market,” commented Jim Robb of the Livestock Marketing Information Center.

“Such donations are rare, and certainly generous, but not entirely altruistic,” reported the Chicago Tribune in a May 13, 2006 story. “Rather than dumping the chicken and meat onto the market and further sinking retail prices, the food companies are donating the products to food [banks] and taking a tax write-off on the charitable contribution.”

New Funding Scheme Considered for Indian Commodities

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has convened a work group to give advice on developing a new funding methodology for the allocation of federal funds in the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR). The current funding method is based on percentages that have been used for years, “and the basis of these percentages is unknown,” USDA admits.

The FDPIR provides a monthly food package of frozen and canned meats, canned fruits and vegetables, pasta, cheese, flour, beans, potatoes, and other commodities to about 100,000 individuals in American Indian households residing on or near reservations. The program, funded at $82.5 million in fiscal year 2006, serves over 250 Tribes nationwide. Approximately $25 million of the total covers the federal share of local administrative costs and the remainder goes for food purchases.

The work group, composed of representatives from Indian Tribal Organizations and state agencies administering the program, will be evaluating base grant amounts, participation-based grants, per participant grant amounts, tiering for economies of scale, and allocations based on other cost drivers, such as the number of warehouses and issuance sites. Input from interested parties may be made through June 30, 2006. For more information, go to: http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/programs/fdpir/FundingWkGrp/Comment_Letters/finalITOpackage5-18-06.pdf.

Obesity Round-Up

· Eating what they see on TV: Television food advertising targeted to children works and contributes to their weight gain. “Each hour of television viewing was associated with an additional 167 kilocalories [per day] and with increases in consumption of foods commonly advertised on television,” reported researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Children’s Hospital in Boston in an article published in the April 2006 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The authors also found that watching TV was inversely associated with intake of fruits and vegetables.

The researchers used food advertising data to identify six food groups for the study – sweet baked snacks, candy, fried potatoes, main courses commonly served as fast food, salty snacks, and sugar-sweetened beverages – and then measured total energy intake and intake of the selected foods among 548 students in five public schools in the Boston area. Most of the extra calories came from those foods. To learn more, go to: http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/160/4/436.

· Maternal choices affect children’s weight: Low-income mothers feed their children as best they can, but lack of access to adequate food, especially among food insecure households, increases the risk of children becoming overweight, according to researchers from Boston University and the Boston Medical Center. In one of the first studies to focus on how food insecurity may influence maternal choices of food that increase the risk for a child becoming overweight, researchers interviewed 248 mothers of normal and overweight Haitian and African-American children, ages 2-12. Twenty-eight percent of the sample experienced periodic dietary interruptions or food shortages, with significantly more Haitian families experiencing food scarcity.

“What we have is a paradox,” said lead researcher Emily Feinberg, a professor at Boston University, who presented her findings to a meeting of the Pediatric Academic Society in San Francisco in April 2006. “Mothers in households where food availability was either erratic or scarce had approximately twice the odds of giving their child food to boost calories or to stimulate the appetite. Our findings suggest that the mothers may choose to provide high-calorie nutritional supplements to children and that may increase the risk for a child to become overweight, specifically in households where there are food shortages,” Feinberg added.

Reports from the Field

· The demand for help with food and finances in growing in southeastern Michigan, as the Ann Arbor News reported on April 28, 2006:

The need for financial assistance is on the rise in Livingston County, and local food pantries are experiencing the greatest demand.

“There’s an escalating need in this county for assistance and an unprecedented number of people requesting food in this county at various pantries,'’ said Nancy Rosso, executive director of the Livingston County United Way. “The last time we went through a recession, Livingston County didn’t feel the effects like it is now.'’

The good news is that the Federal Emergency Management Agency increased its funding to the county this year, to $32,083, an increase of $8,912 over the 2005 contribution.
“This supplements already existing programs, and it hopefully helps so that they won’t have to turn away anybody,'’ Rosso said.

The United Way determined the distribution of the money based on federal guidelines, and a local board made up of human service organizations and community representatives met in March to do the work. The local Salvation Army is receiving $15,000 for rent and mortgage assistance; the Oakland Livingston Human Services Agency gets $6,000 for rent assistance; LACASA gets $3,500 for shelter assistance; the Gleaners Community Food Bank receives $5,583 for food; and the Knights of Columbus Council #2659 in Howell gets $2,000 for its food pantry.

Erica Karfonta, general manager of the Gleaners Community Food Bank for Livingston County said there is a 30-40 percent increase in the requests for food from the pantries in this county.

“There is a growing population of the working poor in Livingston County, and the cost of living here is going up,'’ Karfonta said. “The average person earning $9-$12 an hour can’t get by. After rent or mortgage, people use money for utilities and medical costs. The first thing they cut back on is food.'’

Karfonta said that the majority of people she knows in her age bracket – the late twenties – who live in Livingston County are using the food pantries. “They all graduated from high school and some graduated from college, but you have to make at least $15 an hour in Livingston County to be able to afford rent,'’ she said.

“There is no low-income housing. Many people move out of the county and don’t even try to work here.'’

· In Missoula, MT, the local food bank is struggling to meet growing needs, as reported in the May 20, 2006 issue of the Missoulian:
Bonnie Owens has a degree in resource management from the University of Montana and, with her husband, owns her own home. Food stamps feed Owens and her family - she has two children, one grown, one an 18-year-old special-needs son - for half a month. The Missoula Food Bank gets them the rest of the way.
Owens is part of a trend that has food bank officials both surprised and alarmed. Business for the first quarter of 2006 was up 20 percent over the same period in 2005. “And it’s across the board,” said outreach coordinator Aaron Brock. “Twenty percent more families, 20 percent more single people, 20 percent in every age breakdown. It’s a massive leap everywhere you look.” The food bank expects, and budgets for, annual increases of 5 percent to 10 percent, Brock said.
“The basic cost of living in Missoula is always increasing,” he said, “but you never see wages for the working poor and working families increasing.” The number of households the food bank served between January and March was 3,674 - a significant rise from the 3,040 that used the food bank during the same period in 2005.
“Our warehouse is like a sieve,” Brock said. “The food from our annual holiday food drive lasted less time than it ever has.” His best guess is that skyrocketing energy costs have forced more people to turn to the food bank to survive.
Owens’ husband, a timber faller and truck driver for 28 years, has been disabled and on a fixed income since 2003. They bought their home, for $127,000, about four years ago. Taxes on the property immediately more than doubled, to $1,500 a year, and they’ve gone up $100 a year ever since.
Without the food bank’s help, Owens said, they probably would have lost the house by now. Her husband’s fixed income is less than half of what he had been bringing home before he was disabled. “That shifted me from being the second income, to having to be the primary wage earner,” she said. “But I can’t make what he made. I top out at about $12 an hour.” And that’s only if she can find work. “Our biggest problem is the rise in housing and utility costs,” Owens said. “This community doesn’t have compensating wages for what it costs to live here.”
Every day, Brock sees new faces in the food bank with similar stories as the roster of clients grows. “We are seeing the community step up, but we’re not sure how sustained that will be,” Brock said. “This town is – is ‘stretched’ the right word? – and this increase could be difficult for us to handle. We’ll be more reliant than ever on Missoulians.”
Small Bites

Fried spuds: One in every five potatoes grown in the U.S. is made into French fries.

High-priced spuds: A pound of potato chips costs about two hundred times more than a pound of potatoes.

Mobile meals: Today, one in every five American meals is eaten in the car.

Fast food for kids: One-third of American children eat fast food every day.

Just not all at one sitting: A person will spend about five years eating during their lifetime.

Sitting and waiting: The average American spends two years of their life waiting for meals to be served.

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