{"id":2955,"date":"2021-02-21T17:00:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-21T22:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/?p=2955"},"modified":"2021-06-03T13:00:40","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T17:00:40","slug":"food-insecurity-in-benzie-and-beyond-during-covid-19-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/betsiecurrent.com\/index.php\/food-insecurity-in-benzie-and-beyond-during-covid-19-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Insecurity in Benzie and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An endemic issue, exacerbated by the pandemic<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Kelly Ottinger
Current Contributor<\/strong>

On April 22, 2020, a Benzie woman\u2014who asked to remain anonymous\u2014was reviewing her current situation and becoming more concerned by the minute. She had held the same year-round retail job for nearly four years, but the business had closed during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She could not get through on the website or phone to apply for unemployment. When she called the local Department of Health and Human Services, she says she was told that her income\u2014based on recent historical activity\u2014was too high to receive help.

Her small savings were already exhausted. Her elementary-age daughter was not in school, and her toddler\u2019s daycare had closed. They were all hungry, down to a partial box of cereal and some peanut butter.

\u201cIt was hard enough to ask for help. I\u2019ve never had to. I\u2019ve always struggled financially, but was able to make it work,\u201d the woman says. \u201cThis time, I was out of options and scared. I had moved up here to be near my dad, but he had passed away. I finally found a local pantry that would help me twice each month, and they told me of a few other area resources I could also visit each month. That night, I was only able to sleep because I knew at least we would have food.\u201d

It has been almost a year since the looming COVID-19 pandemic began to affect life in Northern Michigan. We did our best to adapt as new information about the virus became available. We scrubbed our hands, stayed home, ventured back out, closed businesses and then reopened some. Kids stayed home from school, as parents became teachers and wondered if they would ever go back to their own jobs.

While the data continues to trickle in regarding the pandemic\u2019s effect on our economy and collective mental and physical health, one of the constant issues remains food: where to find it, who will keep selling it, how to safely get it to our homes, and how to pay for it as household incomes dwindle.

Even before the pandemic, one in seven Benzie County residents did not know where their next meal was coming from. Hunger is one of our endemic issues that continues to be exacerbated by the pandemic.

Defining Food Insecurity<\/strong>
Before March 2020, about 1.3 million Michigan residents were facing food insecurity; that is up to 1.9 million now, and most of those are children. So, back in August, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order to create the Food Security Council within the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The group filed an extensive report<\/a> back in October, with recommendations released to the public last month. Among the findings, it was noted that there had been a 38 percent increase in food-insecure individuals across the state during the pandemic, with a 67 percent spike among children.

The United States Department of Agriculture\u2019s Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) defines food insecurity<\/strong> as: \u201cThe economic and social condition of a household leading to limited or uncertain access to adequate food.\u201d The committee goes on to define hunger<\/strong> as: \u201cThe individualized physiological condition which may result from food insecurity.\u201d

In plain terms, food insecurity is when a household does not have consistent access to enough affordable and nutritious food.

Though the United States is considered a land of plenty\u2014in fact, the world\u2019s top food exporter\u2014many of its own citizens struggle with food security and did so even before the pandemic. In 2012, Feeding America, the nation\u2019s leading domestic hunger-relief organization, found that one in seven American households had experienced food insecurity at some point during that year. Moreover, the years between 2009 and 2014 saw the demand for federal food assistance climb by more than 50 percent.

Was Northern Michigan experiencing the same increase in demand?

To find out, the Benzie Sunrise Rotary Club invested in an substantial study<\/a> of food insecurity in our five-county region of Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau. In 2014, they surveyed 52 of 57 pantries and emergency meal sites then belonging to the Northwest Food Coalition. The study found up to 72 percent of the residents who were visiting the pantries and meals sites did not consistently know where they would find their next meal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Goodwill
Fresh carrots, corn, collard greens, green beans, and watermelon from local farms were available at the food pantry at Benzie Area Christian Neighbors (BACN) this fall, thanks to a partnership with Goodwill’s Food Rescue of Northwest Michigan. Photos by Aubrey Ann Parker.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since the COVID crisis began, information gathered by Feeding America from emergency food sites in our five-county region has led to projected 2020 poverty rates of 17 to 23 percent for adults and 24 to 30 percent for children, a sharp increase over the 2018 figures of 10.5 percent for adults and 11.1 percent for children.

Considering that a lack of financial resources is directly tied to food insecurity, any increase in people living in poverty is of grave concern.

A Difficult Time to Need Help<\/strong>
COVID-19\u2019s impact on those needing help with food has been palpable in Benzie County.

\u201cOh my goodness, yes, the pandemic has had a huge effect on our numbers,\u201d says Joy Foster, director of the Baby Pantry at St. Philip\u2019s Episcopal Church of Beulah. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a 197 percent increase in visits for food and clothing, compared to the time prior to COVID. Families who were maybe just getting formula and cereal before are taking everything we can provide\u2014first and second infant foods and graduate toddler foods. In addition, we\u2019ve been doing what we can to also assist the household caregivers, which includes providing protein. While we used to give some salmon and trout, provided by local fishers, we\u2019ve started adding ground beef, chicken quarters, sausage, and ground turkey. Some people have found us through our Facebook page, but the need is so great, most come by word of mouth.\u201d

Request forms are filled out, either ahead of time or on site, and items are picked up in the parking lot, due to COVID precautions.

Another local food-providing organization that changed its service model to a drive-through operation is Benzie Area Christian Neighbors (BACN). Since mid-March, those receiving food do so by first calling and placing an order for the number of \u201cstaple\u201d bags available to their household. These staple bags contain items such as canned fruits and vegetables, soups, beans, brown rice, peanut butter, pasta and sauce, oatmeal, tuna, toilet paper, and paper towels.

Beyond the initial staple bags, orders are customized by letting the recipient choose from additional items in stock that week\u2014everything from fresh produce, milk, and eggs to other proteins, plus toiletries and special items, such as sanitization supplies and Christmas treats.

The State of Michigan and the federal government have introduced programs that are designed to reduce the impact of COVID-related insecurity. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provided expanded unemployment benefits, stimulus checks, a temporary moratorium on evictions, and an interest-free payment deferral for student loans. Schools were given funding to continue providing the breakfasts, lunches, and extra food that families counted on during the school year while classes were out last spring and over the summer. Recently, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) increased benefits to 115 percent of the normal amount, and the increase has been extended through June 2021.

Even with these initiatives in place, with more businesses reopening, and with \u201chelp wanted\u201d signs seemingly everywhere, food insecurity continues to be an issue in Benzie County and the northwest Michigan corridor.

\u201cThings weren\u2019t fixed quite so simply for some of our neighbors,\u201d says Michelle Northrup, BACN\u2019s operations director. \u201cFor example, in Michigan, many seeking help [from the government] were forced to wait for retroactive pay, because technology hiccups prevented their claims from being processed for months. There was a period when many people literally could not buy food. Even with all the [government] help available, BACN began serving 138 new households during 2020.\u201d

Although some people feel that offering additional unemployment benefits is detrimental and lowers incentive to seek employment, this can be another example of things not always being as simple as they seem. Our anonymous single mother shares her own experience:

\u201cOf course I\u2019d like to go back to work. I\u2019d like to go back to things like they were. But even with my one child back in school, I still need to find replacement, affordable childcare for the younger one. I have a high school diploma, but most jobs I qualify for are part-time. Between transportation to a job 10 miles away and the childcare issue, I simply cannot afford to return to work. I know this time will pass, and I\u2019ll be working again, but this is my reality at this moment.\u201d

The suspected seasonality of coronavirus is not helping, with more cases appearing as we all headed inside for winter. On top of the uncertainties of the ongoing pandemic and relief efforts, winter is typically a time when food insecurity grows\u2014household resources going toward food can be reduced by seasonal layoffs, higher heating bills, and car repairs, for instance.

Cindee McLaughlin, of the Lake Ann Methodist Church food pantry, allows that sometimes it is a struggle to reach people who might need food assistance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Benzie
Meat and other proteins are often some of the hardest items to come by at a food pantry. However, several Benzie County pantries report that their freezers have been full of meat during the COVID-19 crisis. Photo by Aubrey Ann Parker.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope this [article] helps get the word out,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are part of [Goodwill\u2019s Food Rescue of Northwest Michigan program] and have plenty of food available. We have been extraordinarily lucky, in particular with meat donations, and have two freezers full of meat.\u201d

She admits that the Lake Ann United Methodist food pantry has not seen a huge uptick in numbers since COVID, as some other local pantries have.

\u201cIn fact, we were down a bit in the beginning,\u201d McLaughlin explains. \u201cBut then the numbers grew again over the holidays. We don\u2019t have the numbers of the larger pantries, but for our little church, we are doing well here.\u201d

Community Generosity Feeding Souls and Stomachs<\/strong>
In addition to existing food pantries and emergency food sites, other local organizations worked to become part of the solution to the growing food-security issue.

Thanks to state funding, both Benzie County Central Schools and Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools made free home deliveries via bus<\/a> to more than 1,000 children from March through June, after the school year ended early, and both continued to provide pick-up service throughout the summer. As both schools have had to periodically close this fall and winter, due to COVID-related precautions, the pick-up services resumed again.

Additionally, not long into the growing season, food-focused organizations realized that farms which traditionally sold their fresh produce to local restaurants would find themselves with excess product literally rotting in the fields, since dine-in service was stopped and\/or limited for an undetermined amount of time. In another stunning example of generosity, Traverse City\u2019s Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities launched a fundraising effort in April with the hope of raising $30,000 to purchase this food from local farms.

An amazing $185,000 was raised, allowing Food Rescue of Northwest Michigan\u2014a program of Goodwill Northern Michigan that works to increase healthy food access to people experiencing food insecurity, while reducing food waste\u2014to pick up and deliver thousands of pounds of this food to regional pantries and meal sites. Typically, Food Rescue trucks run routes twice weekly, picking up food from area groceries, restaurants, and farms that would otherwise be discarded and delivering it to the pantries and meal sites in the Northwest Food Coalition.

During the same time period, the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation created an Urgent Needs Fund, which gave more than $700,000 in grants to area service organizations to help individuals and families access needed help during the pandemic, including the acquisition of emergency food. The Foundation experienced one of the largest growth years in its 30-year history, directly empowering their community partners to help those in need.

A little closer to home, during the early months of COVID, Crescent Bakery in Frankfort established a community bread bank and stocked a shelf of fresh-baked artisan bread that people could slip in and take, no questions asked. The demand was high at first, but tapered off as the tourist season blossomed, despite the pandemic.

\u201cWe\u2019re not sure exactly why people started taking less,\u201d says co-owner Heather Kiplinger, who had the idea for the bread bank. \u201cWe think, perhaps as the store became more crowded, it was just too embarrassing to be seen coming in for bread.\u201d

A Difficult Time to Give Help<\/strong>
Despite the influx of much-needed short-term solutions to help with the urgency at the beginning of the pandemic, some of our area\u2019s long-standing food resources have struggled to provide their traditional help.

Father Christian Baron and Mother Jodi Baron, co-rectors of St. Philip\u2019s Episcopal Church of Beulah, have spent several years bringing quality protein to residents through the Order of Naucratis – West Michigan, of which St. Philip\u2019s is an outpost. The Order provides fresh fish and professionally processed game to local food pantries and meal sites.

However, nearly all of the tournaments that typically have provided fish through the Order were cancelled during 2020.

\u201cJodi and I were still able to personally supply BACN and Fresh Wind [Christian Community\u2019s food pantry] with 40 processed lake trout and king salmon,\u201d Christian Baron says. \u201cWe were not able to distribute any venison this past season, both because it\u2019s a big operation for just two people, and also we were not able to use the [licensed] church kitchen.\u201d

He is hopeful, however, that the fishing tournaments will carry on as planned for 2021.

Even when people had money to purchase food, the food supply chain and trucking industry experienced disruptions that made getting certain items unpredictable at best.

\u201cIt\u2019s just crazy sometimes, the things we struggle to get in,\u201d says Robert, an employee of Meijer in Manistee. \u201cOf course, in the beginning, it was the toilet paper and cleaning products. Over the summer, it was pancake syrup. Lately, it\u2019s canned mushrooms. We never know what is going to present a challenge.\u201d

Jenna Noffsinger, food services director for the Frankfort-Elberta Area Schools, has struggled with supply, as well.

\u201cThey are coming out with more products that are pre-packaged already, which makes it easier, but a lot of them are hard to come by,\u201d Noffsinger told the FEAS school board at its January meeting, explaining that since most schools have returned to in-person status, food service companies are no longer able to project accurate numbers, resulting in low and variable supply levels.

School meal preparation is not without its current share of frustrations, too: instead of a salad bar filled with local produce and a vat of homemade soup, Noffsinger\u2019s team prepares 50 pre-made salads with packaged condiments daily, and the time-consuming endeavour means that she would not have time to make soup, even if she could find a way to package it individually.

Thanks to the return this year of the state\u2019s 10-cents-a-meal program\u2014in which schools get a funding match for up to 10 cents per meal when they purchase Michigan-grown foods\u2014Noffsinger has been able to once again take advantage of local food providers. The catch, however, is that she worries for when COVID precautions will cause the school to close, and food will sit on shelves going to waste.

\u201cI\u2019ve been getting a lot of [local] frozen fruits and vegetables that I know will last,\u201d she said at the January FEAS meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Benzie
Since mid-March, those receiving food from Benzie Area Christian Neighbors (BACN) do so by first calling and placing an order for the number of \u201cstaple\u201d bags available to their household. These staple bags contain items such as canned fruits and vegetables, soups, beans, brown rice, peanut butter, pasta and sauce, oatmeal, tuna, toilet paper, and paper towels. Beyond the initial staple bags, orders are customized by letting the recipient choose from additional items in stock that week\u2014everything from fresh produce, milk, and eggs to other proteins, plus toiletries and special items, such as sanitization supplies. Photo by Aubrey Ann Parker.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Goodwill\u2019s Food Rescue program was a big help for the Fresh Wind Christian Community\u2019s amped-up food-relief efforts, especially when it came to offering fresh local produce: Fresh Wind opened twice a week with a drive-thru pantry at the Cherry Bowl Drive-In movie theater in Honor from the beginning of the pandemic through May, when they were able to move the pantry to their church\u2019s location between Honor and Interlochen. Katie Osborn, ministry coordinator, says that they could not have been able to do what they did without Food Rescue, and that they continue to be supported.

\u201cIt has been a wave effect,\u201d Osborn explains. \u201cIt was crazy, then things settled a bit by May, and then numbers were really low. We think that equates to both changing locations and people were kind of a little more financially stable; they had gotten the stimulus at that point, unemployment benefits were good, seasonal summer employment was going on. But now, we\u2019re again seeing an increase, and our numbers have been larger than normal for the year.\u201d

According to Taylor Moore, manager of Food Rescue, that program has delivered about 17 percent more fresh produce and 10 percent more food overall during 2020 than most years. Fortunately, their supply was also up, thanks to initiatives like Groundwork\u2019s purchase of local farm produce and the Northern Food Coalition\u2019s Farm2Neighbor program. At the same time, they saw a 5 percent drop overall in food that they were able to rescue from grocery stores, and in the case of meat, that figure dropped by 30 percent. Although the program was able to rescue some food from restaurants that had closed or went into a hiatus, Moore says his hope is that that number does not increase.

\u201cWe want everyone to continue supporting our local restaurants,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s better news when we are not picking up from them.\u201d

Full Disclosure: <\/strong>Kelly Ottinger is director of development for BACN.<\/em>

Featured Photo Caption:<\/strong> In the Benzie Area Christian Neighbors (BACN) food pantry, volunteer Julie Walton packs \u201cstaple\u201d bags that contain shelf-stable items. Beyond the initial staple bags, orders are customized by letting the recipient choose from additional items in stock that week\u2014everything from fresh produce, milk, and eggs to other proteins. Since the pandemic began, BACN has not allowed people to shop inside the food pantry, instead opting for a pre-order and drive-up system. BACN began serving 138 new households during 2020. Photo by Aubrey Ann Parker.

—————————————————

SIDEBAR
Benzie County\u2014Where To Find Help Today?<\/strong>

Baby Pantry of St. Philip\u2019s Episcopal Church<\/strong>
785 Beulah Highway\/US-31, Beulah
1st and 3rd Saturdays of each month
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Benzie Area Christian Neighbors (BACN)<\/strong>
2804 Benzie Highway\/US-31, Benzonia
Mondays – Thursdays
10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
*Twice monthly visits for residents of Benzie and northern Manistee counties.

Benzie Food Partners, Inc.<\/strong>
10907 Main Street\/US-31, Honor
1st and 3rd Saturdays each month
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
*Twice monthly visits.

Benzie Friends Resource Food Pantry<\/strong>
1034 Michigan Avenue, Benzonia
Tuesdays – Fridays 10:30 a.m. – 4:40 p.m.
Also Tuesdays from 5-6:30 p.m.
*Once weekly visits.

Crescent Bakery Bread Pantry<\/strong>
404 Main Street, Frankfort
Wednesdays – Saturdays
7 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Fresh Wind Christian Community Food Pantry<\/strong>
18201 Honor Highway\/US-31, between Honor and Interlochen
2nd and 4th Fridays of each month
10 a.m. – noon

Outpost: Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians<\/strong>
7282 Hoadly Road, Benzonia
Currently closed.

Lake Ann United Methodist Church Food Pantry<\/strong>
6583 1st Street, Lake Ann
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Wednesdays, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Government-based food help:<\/strong>
\u2022How do I apply for SNAP Benefits? <\/strong>
Visit the MI Bridges website<\/a> or call 1-888-642-7434

\u2022How do I apply for the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program?<\/strong>
Visit fns.usda.gov\/wic <\/a>online.

For more information:<\/strong>
The Food Security Summit is a six-part virtual series to address regional food insecurity and hunger in the greater Grand Traverse region; it began in December and runs through the beginning of March. Registration for the remaining sessions is still available on the Northwest Food Coalition\u2019s website: NorthwestMIFoodCoalition.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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