{"id":859,"date":"2011-11-29T14:01:57","date_gmt":"2011-11-29T21:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/?p=859"},"modified":"2011-11-29T14:01:57","modified_gmt":"2011-11-29T21:01:57","slug":"california-watch-more-californians-struggle-to-afford-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2011\/11\/29\/california-watch-more-californians-struggle-to-afford-food\/","title":{"rendered":"California Watch &#8211; More Californians struggle to afford food"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/californiawatch.org\/dailyreport\/more-californians-struggle-afford-food-13730\">http:\/\/californiawatch.org\/dailyreport\/more-californians-struggle-afford-food-13730<\/a><\/p>\n<p>November 28, 2011 | <a title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"\/user\/bernice-yeung\">Bernice Yeung<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/californiawatch.org\">California Watch<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On a recent November afternoon, Hermelinda Hernandez, who had spent 27 years packing cauliflower and cantaloupes from the farms of the Imperial Valley, found herself fourth in line for the monthly distribution of emergency food at the New Life Assembly Church in Calexico.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of residents had lined up behind her, but Hernandez had arrived around 10 a.m. \u2013 nearly five hours before the church doors opened \u2013 because she knew that last month, people had been turned away when the rations of canned goods ran out.<\/p>\n<p>Hernandez, 62, is one in a legion of Californians who either go hungry or worry about where they will get their next meal. It\u2019s a <a href=\"http:\/\/feedingamerica.org\/hunger-in-america\/hunger-studies\/map-the-meal-gap.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">persistent and ongoing concern<\/a> in the Imperial Valley, which has the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edd.ca.gov\/About_EDD\/pdf\/urate201111.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">highest unemployment rate [PDF]<\/a> in the state and where <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/73524489\" target=\"_blank\">23 percent of the population<\/a> lives in poverty.<\/p>\n<div id=\"caw-inset-1\">\n<div>\n<p><!-- AddThis Button END -->The economic downturn also is driving the demand for food: Between 2008 and 2011, the Imperial Valley Food Bank tripled the number of people it served at distribution sites like the New Life Assembly Church. The food bank now serves about 12 percent of the county\u2019s residents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to an <a href=\"http:\/\/cfpa.net\/struggles2011\" target=\"_blank\">analysis<\/a> released this month by California Food Policy Advocates, an estimated 20,000 Imperial Valley residents struggle to afford food.<\/p>\n<p>That struggle is a growing problem statewide. The recent report, based on UCLA&#8217;s 2009 California Health Interview Survey data, found that the number of people with limited access to healthy food had grown by 30 percent since 2007, and it&#8217;s now a problem that affects 3.7 million Californians. In a study slated for December publication, the National Latino Research Center at CSU San Marcos surveyed residents of rural California communities most affected by the economic crisis. It found access to food is a top concern in all nine counties studied.<\/p>\n<p>Food stamp use, another indication of the struggle for food, is also is <a href=\"http:\/\/cfpa.net\/CalFresh\/CFPAPublications\/CalFreshIncreasesByCountyFrom2006-2011.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">on the rise [PDF]<\/a> in California. Between 2006 and 2011, the number of Californians who signed up for the program has nearly doubled to more than 3.8 million. And in 2010, California received <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/73525864\" target=\"_blank\">$28 million<\/a> from the U.S. Department of Agriculture&#8217;s Emergency Food Assistance Program \u2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.fns.usda.gov\/fdd\/programs\/tefap\/FY11_Admin_Funds_Food_Allocations.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">the most funding [PDF]<\/a> for emergency food of any state \u2013 with more than $223,000 going to Imperial County.<\/p>\n<p>The county with the highest rate of hunger is Contra Costa. Larry Sly, executive director of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano, said high unemployment in cities like Pittsburg and Antioch have contributed to the problem.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very disconcerting,\u201d Sly said. \u201cIt\u2019s people who used to have pretty good jobs who are coming to our distributions. They have never been in a position to ask for help, and they are humiliated. I don\u2019t see it leveling off, which is the scary part.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In Imperial County, the bitter irony of hunger is that it\u2019s the home of a <a href=\"http:\/\/ceimperial.ucdavis.edu\/Vegetable_Crops_211\/\" target=\"_blank\">$1.5 billion agriculture industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMuch of the economy relies on agriculture, and many other economic sectors that have tried to move into the area have not created opportunities that provide a livable wage,\u201d said Arcela Nunez-Alvarez, research director of the National Latino Research Center, who has spent a decade studying Imperial County. \u201cThe lack of access to food is an expression of the economic challenges the community has faced over the course of many years, and it has been exacerbated by the economic situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That means those who have worked to get fresh fruits and vegetables into grocery stores often can\u2019t afford to buy them for themselves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe healthier food is more expensive,\u201d Hernandez, the former produce packer, said in Spanish through an interpreter. \u201cI can\u2019t keep my eyes on that. Instead of a healthy meal, I prepare what I can afford.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sara Griffen, executive director of the Imperial Valley Food Bank, said the extent of hunger can be hard to identify.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest clue is someone who is willing to stand in line for hours for a couple cans of food,\u201d she said. \u201cHunger, or food insecurity, is a silent thing. It\u2019s difficult to spot. People don\u2019t want other people to know, and it\u2019s difficult to know by looking at them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those who are hungriest actually might be obese, what some health researchers have called the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2640743\/pdf\/jnma00868-0057b.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">hunger-obesity paradox [PDF]<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are living on processed food and empty calories and food that will not fill you, but it\u2019s cheaper to spend money on Doritos than prepare a meal,\u201d Griffen said. \u201cWe grow amazing produce here in Imperial Valley, but we are so detached from the land.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some local growers are trying to help through the California Association of Food Banks\u2019 Farm to Family program, which gleans and donates produce from the fields that aren\u2019t picture-perfect enough for market. Last year, 102 million pounds of fruits and vegetables were offered to food banks across the state through the program, but the need still outstrips what\u2019s available.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEveryone knows someone who has lost a job,\u201d said Steve Sharp, a third-generation farmer in Imperial County who solicits produce for the Farm to Family program.<\/p>\n<p>At the November distribution at the New Life Assembly Church in Calexico, volunteers spent nearly three hours handing out food. But as the afternoon progressed, bags containing items like beef stew and applesauce began to dwindle, and those still in line had to make do with a box of cereal, crackers and a bag of potatoes.<\/p>\n<p>By the time the sun had set, most of those provisions had run out, and the last dozen people were given a plastic sack of potatoes and a bag of marshmallows. Rachel Espejo, a food bank volunteer, jokingly suggested that everyone could go home and make potatoes with chorizo, even though many wouldn\u2019t be able to afford the meat.<\/p>\n<p>Espejo, her husband and her two school-aged children spent most of the day packing and handing out 384 bags of canned and dried goods to others, but they also were among the 36 households that didn\u2019t get an allocation of emergency food that evening.<\/p>\n<p>As transplants from the greater Los Angeles area, Espejo has come to rely on the food bank because she only recently landed a part-time job at Marshalls at the mall in neighboring El Centro. Her husband, a former deputy sheriff, bolsters their household income through a part-time job at the church, where he does maintenance and janitorial work. They now make too much to qualify for welfare and food stamps, but they make too little to live comfortably. By the end of December, the family will no longer receive $560 in food stamps each month, and Espejo says she\u2019s not sure what they\u2019ll do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to explain to the kids,\u201d she said. \u201cThey ask if we can have milk, and I have to tell them there is no milk. They understand that it\u2019s hard. They don\u2019t ask for many things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although she didn\u2019t get any of the canned goods she had given away to others that evening, Espejo had reserved a box of crackers and cereal for her family. And there were plenty of leftover potatoes, which she would use to make soup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou feel better that people got something to eat that day,\u201d she said, surveying the room of empty food cartons. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to give hope that there is one more meal, even if it\u2019s just potatoes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>http:\/\/californiawatch.org\/dailyreport\/more-californians-struggle-afford-food-13730 November 28, 2011 | Bernice Yeung, California Watch On a recent November afternoon, Hermelinda Hernandez, who had spent 27 years packing cauliflower and cantaloupes from the farms of the Imperial Valley, found herself fourth in line for the monthly &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2011\/11\/29\/california-watch-more-californians-struggle-to-afford-food\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>California Watch - More Californians struggle to afford food - CDFA&#039;s Planting Seeds Blog<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov\/wordpress\/index.php\/2011\/11\/29\/california-watch-more-californians-struggle-to-afford-food\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California Watch - More Californians struggle to afford food - CDFA&#039;s Planting Seeds Blog\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"http:\/\/californiawatch.org\/dailyreport\/more-californians-struggle-afford-food-13730 November 28, 2011 | Bernice Yeung, California Watch On a recent November afternoon, Hermelinda Hernandez, who had spent 27 years packing cauliflower and cantaloupes from the farms of the Imperial Valley, found herself fourth in line for the monthly &hellip; 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