Finnegan Schick Photo
Levine (left) also helped DeLauro pass out food.
New Haven’s hungry were greeted Tuesday morning by a familiar sight — a truck with free veggies — and a visitor, their U.S. Congresswoman, who used the occasion to highlight food insecurity.
The Congresswoman, Rosa DeLauro, shook hands with people in line and handed out food at a Connecticut Food Bank Mobile Food Pantry outside the Door of Salvation Church in The Hill. Like a free farmer’s market, the food pantry delivers food to around 175 families at this location each month.
Some people began standing in line for food as early as 6 or 7 a.m. Tuesday. Several food recipients said the food is always healthful and the Connecticut Food Bank is under appreciated. They said they hope that DeLauro’s visit will give it much-needed positive attention.
“Connecticut is here!” shouted one man upon seeing DeLauro handing out bunches of cauliflower.
“Connecticut is statistically the richest state in the nation,” DeLauro said. “The role that this food bank and this mobile truck is playing is the difference between eating and not eating.”
Food trucks in Connecticut should be more mobile and reach more locations, said DeLauro: Using food banks should not be stigmatized, she said, even if some people are embarrassed to pick up food from them.
DeLauro tied hunger to rising unemployment.
“I met a woman who through no fault of her own does not have a job,” DeLauro said. Food trucks like the one in New Haven help lift people out of poverty and provide them with healthy food, she said.
Associate Pastor Ariel Martinez agreed that unemployment is a major cause of hunger and food insecurity. Some of the people who come to the Food Truck rely entirely on food stamps and food pantries to eat, while others use such programs sporadically.
“Poverty is taking a new definition,” Martinez said. “Being poor before meant not having things.” Now, he said, poverty can simply mean losing your job. Hunger is increasing because the cost of living is rising, he added.
Martinez said the safety net for people in New Haven needs to expand to accommodate unemployment and the high cost of living. Some of the people who come to this Food Pantry have no money and no job, he said. Others are recently unemployed, and use the pantry as a temporary way to put food on the table until they find work. They come from all areas of New Haven, not just The Hill.
One woman, who asked to remain anonymous, stood in line for an hour and a half with her daughter in a stroller. Food insecurity also reaches children; over a dozen people brought their babies and children to the pantry.
A recent four-year study reported that 14 percent of Connecticut residents are food insecure. The rate among children is even higher at 19.6 percent.
Both Martinez and Food Bank President and CEO Rob Levine said the number of hungry in the city has grown in recent years.
“It’s a sustaining issue for our community,” Levine said.
The partnership between Pentecostal Door of Salvation Church and the Connecticut Food Bank began in November 2011. The church does not have its own food pantry, so some members of the church’s congregation use the Mobile Food Pantry.
The truck, which gives out two million pounds of food annually at 32 distribution points, was bought by Connecticut Food Bank with federal stimulus funds through the 2009 Recovery Act. DeLauro was a strong supporter of the bill.
DeLauro has visited several Connecticut Food Bank stops, her district director, Jennifer Lamb said. A new food bank location is opening soon in Wallingford.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) set up information about why drinking milk can strengthen bones. Hanna Dubinia and Ashley Onion (pictured), who work for SNAP-Ed, said their organization follows the food bank across the state and gives nutrition information to people in line, teaching them healthy eating habits.
Levine said the Food Bank delivers nutritious food; 30 percent of the food is produce. On Tuesday, the truck’s crew gave out boxes of crackers, cauliflower, potatoes, bread, onions, and yogurt.
Levine called DeLauro a “passionate advocate” of food bank programs in the state.
The Food Bank works with 700 partners and programs, and distributes 22 million pounds of food each year.
DeLauro stayed for an hour. She returns to Washington D.C. Tuesday evening.