Hunger

In Detroit, less than an hour's drive from Ann Arbor, where I live, cars line up in huge numbers to receive food distributions
from The Gleaners Community Food Bank. Source: "These Photos Show the Staggering Food Bank Lines Across America."

Hunger and disease are two of the traditional and tightly linked horsemen of the apocalypse. While struggling to contain the spread of the coronavirus throughout Michigan, as well as in most other states, state governments out of necessity and prudence have shut down productive industries, retail businesses, restaurants, entertainment venues, schools (including many school lunch programs), and government endeavors. Despite being considered essential, other industries have shut down because of high rates of illness spreading among the workers: notably in meat processing plants. Several million people in the United States who were earning a living one month ago are now jobless, and emergency funds allocated by the federal government have not to date been effectively distributed. Hunger and disease haunt our land.

From the Food Gatherers' twitter feed https://twitter.com/FoodGatherers

Start with my own town, Ann Arbor. The high incidence of coronavirus in Michigan has hit the state very hard, despite recognized success in keeping the disease at bay through severe shutdowns. Our county, Washtenaw County, with approximately 1000 cases, is less affected than the neighboring Detroit area, but there's plenty of suffering throughout our area.

Ann Arbor's local food bank, Food Gatherers, is experiencing very high demand. Food Gatherers partners with the nationwide organization Feeding America, the largest hunger relief organization in the United States, from which it obtains bulk purchases of food. It also receives food and other necessities from  local businesses and food drives. Food Gatherers supplies many local food pantries and welfare organizations, which distribute the food to their clients. Volunteers who staff Food Gatherers in normal times include many retirees, whose risk is too high to allow them to continue to work in the warehouse or other jobs. Members of the National Guard have been assigned to work at the warehouse to ensure that shipments of food are stored and distributed in a timely way.

From an article published in Common Dreams online news: "As Food Banks Face Shortages and Fresh Produce Rots,
Pandemic Spurs Calls for Sustainable Supply Chain." A picture of a volunteer with a Detroit mobile food pantry. 

Ann Arbor is very close to Detroit, where the food emergency is very much worse, as Detroit is extremely hard-hit by the pandemic, and already had a high rate of food insufficiency. An article in Bridge, a website representing Michigan nonprofit organizations was titled "Detroit food banks overrun by coronavirus demand."  From the article:

"Tens of thousands of residents show up each day at a growing number of food sites, with many going away empty-handed because there still isn’t capacity to meet the profound needs. 

"'There is so much of that going on,' said Phil Knight, executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan. 'The need is huge all across our service areas. And we serve all of Michigan’s 83 countries,' The Lansing trade association represents seven major food bank suppliers in the state. Those regional food banks supply more than 3,000 sites in Michigan where residents get food, from soup kitchens to schools to senior citizen centers."... 

"In Washtenaw County, the donations from local grocers have dropped by half while requests for food has tripled, said Eileen Spring, president and CEO of Food Gatherers food bank. 

"Donations by grocers have nosedived partly because retailers are having enough trouble keeping stores stocked for buying customers, said Knight, ...'Another stress point is retailers are struggling with logistics and transportation,' of getting more food delivered to them, Knight said. 'There is enough food. It’s not getting to people in the time we are used to-- because so many things are fluid. It’s unprecedented.'"

Pam Smith, president and CEO of the Washtenaw/Ann Arbor United Fund, a source of funding for Food Gatherers and other partner non-profits was interviewed by MLive, the closest thing we have to a local newspaper:

"There is exceptional need in the county, Smith said, saying over 37% of households were already struggling to afford basic necessities and the pandemic only exacerbated the problem. Even in Ann Arbor, there are pockets of poverty, she said, citing a 22.1% poverty rate in the city." (link)

The cascade of consequences of the rapid increase in want and poverty among the unemployed is overwhelming to think about. I have been trying to grasp the enormity of this situation, as it's depicted in the press. In this post I have only tried to explore what's going on in food banks and food pantries near me. The shocking waste of farm produce due to the closure of restaurants is another horrifying part of the picture. On a national scale, want and desperation is scaled up many times, so that I can hardly grasp the massive suffering. I have found numerous articles detailing what's happening throughout the country, but have tried to grasp only this little part of the picture.

As for me, I'm shut down in my home; on fresh-air walks I only see my own neighborhood and a few parks that I judge to be empty of people. As a result of being locked down, I have no first-hand observations of anything. I'm not even going into the grocery store. All I can do is read the news and look for images on the web.

Don't worry about me: I am able to afford what I need. We can buy food from stores with curbside pickup, order online, or ask generous friends to do our shopping for us. But I'm really worried about my fellow human beings whose resources are drained. The only thing I can do is to send a check to Food Gatherers in hopes that they will continue to have sources for purchasing quantities of needed food. Dear readers, if you have the means, I hope that you too will contribute to your local food bank.

This blogpost copyright © 2020 by Mae Sander. Photos are credited in the captions.