Latest food stats paint bleak picture

By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
LarryM@argusobserver.com
Thursday, November 19, 2009 10:26 AM PST

Marilyn Rowe (right), a volunteer at the Next Chapter Food Pantry, helps Shana Burchard fill her basket.

ONTARIO — A report from the Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service shows that about 14 percent of families in the United States had difficulty putting food on the table at some time during 2008, and the numbers are not too far behind in Oregon or in Malheur County.

According to the published statistics, Oregon’s household average food insecurity was about 13 percent, up from about 11 percent in 2006. Along with Mississippi, Oregon had one of the highest increases in very low food security — 6.6 percent in 2006 to 2008 — compared with 3.9 percent in 2003 to 2005.

Across the river, Idaho had one of the most significant declines in food insecurity. The Gem State dropped from an average of about 14 percent in 2003 to 2005 to 11.4 percent for 2006 to 2008 in the food insecurity category.

The report shows the continuing challenges that many people face, Peter Lawson, branch manager of the Southeast Oregon Regional Food Bank, said. The average food insecurity percentage for Ontario is about 17 percent and 25 percent in Nyssa.

In Ontario, the most recent figures for the Next Chapter Food Bank show that 488 households were served in October, or 1,827 individuals.

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“The meal site at the First Christian Church averages more than 100 people,” Lawson said.

Over in Nyssa, the numbers had jumped back up to 183 households served and 753 individuals served, after the city encountered a drop to as low as 145 in September. The overall county’s percentages are lower because smaller communities do not have access to services, and the total number of people seeking food is not known, Lawson commented.

At the Next Chapter Food Pantry, Tuesday, it was busy as 13 families had been served within the first hour of it opening.

“We’re pretty busy the first couple of hours,” Marilyn Rowe, supervisor for the first shift, said. While food insecurity is by definition a condition resulting from insufficient household resources, the Economic Research Service said some households that experience episodes of food insecurity have incomes well above the poverty line and many low-income households.

However, low income households with children were more likely to be food insecure than those without children, the study found and single-parent households with children were highly susceptible to food insecurity.