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Aubrey Dunaway

Mr. Ryan Smith

English 11 Section 3

March 25, 2021

Food Insecurity: Fighting Hunger in Hawaii

Introduction

I was around 12 when I had my first encounter with hunger. My mom and I were at the

supermarket getting groceries. At checkout we were third in line, the lady in front of us was a

stuck-up woman with a snarky entitled look, she had a high-end purse, fancy shoes, and an

elegant blouse. She did not need any financial help. But the lady in front of her who was paying

for some water and perishable items had holes in her shirt, worn-out shoes, and an old hat. When

the cashier asked for her card she said, “I'm on EBT.” The cashier replied, “No worries, just

swipe your card and have a good day.” I did not know what this meant at the time but the rich

lady behind her seemed to have a problem with this. When the poor women left the rich lady

scoffed and made little comments like, “some people am I right?” and “that must be so

embarrassing.” I later learned that EBT was food stamps, and it is nothing to be ashamed about

because about 345,000 people in Hawaii are on food stamps.

Hunger in Hawaii is a major problem, especially in times like these with Covid-19.

80,000 people are new to hunger during this pandemic due to job loss and a constantly growing

economy. Government assistance like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP,

continues to provide some of the biggest help to millions of people needing food, according to

the Feeding America report.

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Hunger is a big problem in Hawaii, and it deserves more of our attention and generosity.

To reduce hunger Oahu can do multiple things to help. I propose numerous food drives around

my community to help on my part. As well as open more agricultural farms to provide cheaper

island-grown foods for those in need, also providing more attainable food services like food

stamps and EBT.

Problem

(Topic: food costs in Hawaii) Food insecurity is defined as a lack of consistent access to

enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life. This can be a

temporary situation for a household or can last a long time. Food insecurity is one way we can

measure how many people cannot afford food. Amartya Sen won his Nobel Prize for saying,

"Guess what, famines happen in the presence of food because people cannot buy it." Food can be

there, and people can't buy it. That is how it is here in Hawaii too. Things being imported to the

islands get more and more expensive where families can't afford it. Whether they are already

facing hunger or lost their jobs due to COVID-19 and are unable to get stable meals. We learn

this issue is taking place everywhere around the world. This affects everyone whether you’re

facing hunger or not, this is all our problems. The cost of food in Hawaii has increased more and

more because of the distance and time it takes to get it on the island.

(Topic: The U.S makes food insecurity a second priority) It was shocking to know in the

United States, nearly 40 million people experience hunger every single year, including more than

11 million children that go to bed hungry every night. Yet, we're wasting more food than ever

before -- more than 80 billion pounds a year, to be exact. “The EPA estimates that food waste

has more than doubled between 1970 and 2017, and now accounts for 27 percent of everything

in our landfills.” (Feeding America 2005). And as this food sits, it gradually rots and produces
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harmful methane gas, a leading contributor to global climate change. They showed how the US

spends less on children than other countries do like Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. In Several

countries, they also have minimum income assistance for individuals or families who are below a

certain threshold. For example, in France, unemployed or “low-income individuals can receive

Active Solidarity Income (Revenu de Solidarité Active) benefits if they do not meet the

minimum-wage annual income” (SNAP UN). This program aims to guarantee “sufficient means

of subsistence,” and encourage a continuation of or return to employment. Whereas the U.S aims

to punish those who are unemployed and make them and their children a second priority. These

are some of the big issues regarding food insecurity and poverty.

(Topic: COVID-19 effect on Hunger) Due to the coronavirus pandemic, 42 million

people may experience food insecurity in 2021. COVID-19 has taken its effect on the hunger

issue in Hawaii and highlighted the problem in a way that needs to be addressed immediately.

We can see from the article that Hawaii’s hunger issue is suffering because of COVID and the

numbers of children and people going hungry have gone up over 10%. In recent large-scale food

distribution drives, 78% to 83% of recipients said they lost their jobs during the pandemic. The

Hunger problem was already an issue before but due to recent circumstances it has only gotten

worse, the article also stated, “More people from all walks of life have been impacted for the first

time, on top of those who were already experiencing poverty and hunger, said Ron Mizutani,

president, and CEO of the Hawaii Foodbank, which serves Oahu and Kauai.” The problem keeps

getting worse and it’s up to the people that can help and are willing to do something.

(Topic: food system in Hawaii) It’s shocking to know how many people get food from

farms, but I soon learned how many people don’t have access to farming and agriculture in

Hawai’i. Thus, forcing people to buy from supermarkets where the food price is racked up
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because it is being imported from out of state. The market system is failing low-income

residents, there need to be different options for people to get the food they need with easier

access. It’s becoming hard to get affordable food on the island that is grown and sold. Growers

themselves report that farm income is not stable. The history of agriculture in Hawaii shows

long-standing trends that have worked against community wealth creation.

Previous Solutions (1 worked nationally, 1 worked globally, 1 failed nationally)

There have been many failed and attempted efforts to solving hunger nationally. One

positive solution that has been working was from a TED talk I watched. This lady Jasmine

Crowe has made an app that would inventory everything that a business sells and make it super

easy for them to donate this excess food that would typically go to waste at the end of the night.

All the user must do now is click on an item, tell us how many they must donate, and the

platform calculates the weight and the tax value of those items at the time of donation. She’s

solving hungry as a social enterprise. She said, “changing the narrative and the thought process

on how we think that hunger can be solved.” With food delivery taking off as well this app is a

great resource because restaurants are always throwing out good food that could be given to

those in need.

Now we look at around the world. What have others been doing to fix this issue? I

learned in 2016, France became the first country to ban supermarkets from throwing away

unused food. Instead, they must donate it, and they're fined if they don't. In 2017, Italy followed

suit, becoming the second European nation to pass an anti-food-waste ban. They stated it so

simple as it was passed through legislation: "We have millions of pounds of good food going to

waste, and we have poor people that are going hungry." That simple. It’s such an easy

adjustment that makes a huge difference. Why don’t we ban this in the United States? It could
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help so many people and reduce hunger over the years because of the amount of food that would

be given away. You might be saying it’s because the food goes bad, but stores throw away their

shelved foods a week or even 2 weeks before their expiration dates. It only takes a little effort.

These do seem good but here are the current solutions in the U.S that are poor. In almost

every major US city, the food bank is viewed as a beloved community institution. Corporations

send volunteers down weekly to sort through food items and make boxes of food for the needy.

And can drives -- they warm the hearts of schools and office buildings that participate and fill the

shelves of food banks and food pantries across the nation. This is how we work to end hunger.

And what I've come to realize is that we are doing hunger wrong. We are doing the same things

over and over and over again and expecting a different result. We've created a cycle that keeps

people dependent on food banks and pantries monthly for food that is often not well-balanced

and certainly doesn't provide them with a healthy meal. In the US, our approach to doing good,

or what we call "charity," has hindered us from making real progress.

The Solutions

Many people don’t know where to start when it comes to ending hunger, the reality is

there are a lot of solutions but not many who act on them or take the solutions seriously. One

solution is to advocate for federal nutrition programs. Programs, such as SNAP, WIC, and

public-school breakfast and lunch provide over 20 times more food than food banks, food

pantries and soup kitchens do, which is why it is so important to advocate for government

policies that help hungry people, especially as Congress considers deep cuts to these programs.

The opposing view is that you can only say so much. Many are not willing to do it or learn why

these programs are so important and useful. Some feel it is unnecessary to speak up because

people won’t listen, but we don’t know if it works or not because no one’s tried it! This is
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exactly why we need to do it to help people and make it more serious and known about these

programs that help people in hunger

Another solution is to create an app where people with hunger can contact direct food

banks and pantries for a certain amount of food for the week, so they don’t need to go out and

won’t be short on food or need to ration. The app would also update pantries if certain big food

chains throw out perfectly good food that can be given out. Although this seems good many

people might not have a smartphone for this app and cannot afford it. There is a possibility

people would not get the food they need in time because it would go to people with the app

faster. Those people that don’t have a phone are a little behind but still would get their food

sources from their local food banks, they wouldn’t be left out it just wouldn’t be as accessible

and efficient for them.

My solution for hunger in Hawaii is to have a personal community food bank to drop off

at the Hawaii Food Bank. I chose to address this issue because I need to take safety precautions

for covid reasons. For people not to gather but still feel connected in a way. It is also a way for

lots of food to come in throughout the weeks instead of smaller portions. There could just be

people donating food, but then they can’t find the time to donate, or it's too little to contribute so

it wouldn’t make all the difference, people need easy access like drop off in their neighborhood. I

would make 5 big drop-off boxes and place 2 cans in each, that’s already 20 cans, when people

see there are already donations they would be more likely to help. It could be anyone in my

neighborhood. Every week I would check the box and weigh it at home to try and reach my goal

of 150-200 pounds. Within a month I should raise close to 600 pounds. I want to achieve more

donations and community involvement during these times. I believe I am the best one to propose

this because I care about my community and those that can’t live in it. I’m young and eager to
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make a change for something I believe in. Although this seems nice it can only last so long,

people get busy. What happens when no one donates, it’s not long-term. The goal is to inspire

others to want to help and to educate on the issue, I know it is short-term, but people will see

how it is a bigger issue and want to help more and more.

Conclusion

In conclusion, people need to be more aware and take hunger seriously. It’s important to act and

create solutions for the people in Hawaii where it is hard to afford food in these times and be

able to get the help families to need. My goal is to decrease hunger and show people if they pitch

in a little and get educated it could be a lot easier to reduce the problem, and not just hunger,

every world problem that can’t seem to be solved yet! Get out there and help solve Hawaii’s

hunger crisis.