By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The Kentucky Hunger Task Force held the first of 10 regional meetings Tuesday at the Campbell County Extension Office in Highland Heights.
Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles speaks with community stakeholders prior to the Hunger Task Force regional meeting Tuesday (photos by Mark Hansel).
Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles was joined by Kurt Reiber, CEO, Freestore Foodbank and Tamara Sandberg, executive director, Kentucky Association of Food Banks to begin the discussion on how to address food insecurity throughout the state.
“These regional meetings will give the task force a clearer picture of the need, as well as actions being taken locally to meet the need,” Quarles said. “With this information, the task force can develop measurable, attainable goals for reducing hunger in Kentucky and a plan of action to achieve those goals.”
Also in attendance were more than 50 community stakeholders, many of them from local food kitchens, pantries and churches that are helping to address the issue in Northern Kentucky.
Reiber said the Freestore’s partner network provides nearly 3.7 million meals a year, but needs more than 10.8 million meals to meet the demand in the nine-county area it serves in Northern Kentucky.
“What we are really here to say, is that hunger doesn’t know a zip code,” Reiber said. “There are hungry folks in every county, every township, every municipality, whether it’s rural suburban or urban.
Kelli Horn of the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission Pendleton County office said getting to the food that is available is a challenge in rural communities.
There are an estimated 61,440 food insecure people in the Freestore Foodbank’s Northern Kentucky service area, including 20,970 children.
Quarles said about two weeks ago, the Department of Agriculture started the conversation about food insecurity, which is a reality for one-in-six Kentuckians, including one-in-five children.
“My perspective has been, that we can do a better job,” Quarles said. “Especially in a state that has such a strong agricultural history, a strong farming heritage and tradition, and a state where farming today continues to be a dominant driver in the local community.”
Quarles gave everyone that attended the meeting an opportunity to identify themselves and briefly explain how they were dealing with hunger in the region and the obstacles they face.
Concerns included availability of food in some areas to finding ways to better educate those in need of the resources that are available.
Many in the group are members of the Safety Net Alliance of Northern Kentucky, an organization committed to providing assistance to residents in need throughout the region.
The Alliance focuses on sharing information about available resources within its network, which has grown to 233 community partner agencies and organizations, instead of competing against one another.
Statistics provided by the Freestore Foodbank show the number of food insecure people in the Northern Kentucky counties it serves (click to enlarge).
Andrew Brunsman, executive director of the Be Concerned food pantry in Covington, said the Safety Net Alliance concept could benefit communities throughout the state.
For folks from rural Kentucky, getting a collaborative group like that, that gets together on a regular basis to not just meet, but do meaningful work…is an extremely powerful tool,” Brunsman said. “We have larger agencies like Brighton Center, with 35 service areas, that really provide a continuum of care, not just a safety net.”
The challenges of feeding the food insecure, however, can differ greatly from one community to another.
In almost all regions, it’s a matter of having more hungry people than available food, but in rural counties the problems go beyond that.
Karen Yates of Henry Hosea House in Newport said not all food insecure people are homeless or unemployed.
Kelli Horn, community services center manager for the Northern Kentucky Community Action Commission in Pendleton County said knowing about available resources is only part of the solution in rural areas.
“Many of the people we serve walk to our center to get help because they don’t have transportation,” Horn said. “Even if they know about resources in other communities, they can’t get to them.”
Karen Yates, executive director of Henry Hosea House, a facility in Newport that runs a daily soup kitchen, said it is a common misconception that the hungry are homeless or unemployed.
“At least half the people that come into my soup kitchen work,” Yates said.
The Hunger Task Force is part of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Hunger Initiative, focused on alleviating food insecurity in the Commonwealth.
The regional meetings are a first step to identifying similarities, as well as problems that are unique to some communities.
The ultimate goal is to identify issues that affect different regions of the state and take an inventory of resources that can be brought to bear to address the problem.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hasnel@nkytrib.com
Thx for reporting this event.