Part of the solution; POTS; Belmont; Fordham; Bronx; Food pantry; Soup kitchen Hunger

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Food insecurity

Food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters represent the main emergency food programs in place to help the needs of the roughly 1.4 million hungry people living in New York City.
Food pantries and soup kitchens try to fill an ever-growing need

As a Hispanic woman slowly made her way into the food pantry with her shopping cart on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in mid-September, the receptionist called after her: “You have to come in the morning, señora, mor-ning,” she said. “We are only open before midday, and the first time you come you have to bring a proof of address and documents of all your family members.”

The Hispanic woman, noticeably disoriented and put off by the news, wasn’t listening anymore. “You don’t understand!” she shouted, using the little English she could speak, “I need food, you don’t understand, I’m here to get the food.”

Food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters represent the main emergency food programs in place to help the needs of the roughly 1.4 million hungry people living in New York City. According to the data provided on its website, the Food Bank for New York City helps one in five New Yorkers get food on the table every day. In 2010, almost two-thirds, or 64 percent, of the people visiting food pantries were women, and almost three-quarters of households with children experienced difficulties in affording the food they need.

However, the area of Belmont, in the Bronx, represents an exception.

Its streets buzzing with chatter and laughter from cafes and restaurants where people can sit outside enjoying the sun, residents of Belmont appear to have a higher standard of living then the rest of the borough. Talking in her office on Arthur Avenue, Ivine Galarza, district manager of Bronx Community Board #6, said the historically Italian neighborhood is in a renaissance, even though it is part of a district, together with Bathgate, Fordham, East Tremont, Bronx Park South and West Farms, which “is the poorest in the country”, according to Galarza. “I hear that every single day of my life.”

The most important Catholic church in Belmont, Our Lady of Mount Carmel on 187th street, attracts the majority of Mexicans and Hispanics who live in the area. Most of them work in restaurants and cafes in Little Italy, but are not able to afford the food served in those places for themselves, Galarza said. According to Father Rapaglia, the church’s priest, although the Catholic Church is the second largest provider of social services in the nation, second only to the U.S. government, it is not able to provide Mount Carmel with the necessary quantity of food to distribute to the community on a regular basis. The church, therefore, does what it can to help out the residents on a case-by-case basis, but the donations do not ensure a permanent soup kitchen.

Part Of The Solution (POTS) is the biggest service in the area, the only organization providing both a food pantry and a soup kitchen, and open at fixed times every week. According to Kimberly Roginski, volunteer and development coordinator at POTS, the other food pantries and soup kitchens in the area, mainly run by churches, are too small to have their services running regularly and can’t handle the large influx of people. “We serve everyone,” Roginski reported, “no matter who they are or where they come from.” Founded in 1982 as a private non-profit organization, POTS not only helps the hungry, but provides a whole array of social services. Roginski listed a number of them: case management, legal help to fight evictions, and application assistance and legal representation for public benefits like food stamps and social security. Furthermore, she added, “People can get their mail delivered here, get new clothes, and even a haircut.”


read more Part of the Solution | Uptown Chronicle
 
Granny says it's a distribution problem, not a production problem...
:eek:
Half of all food 'wasted' report claims
10 January 2013 - The report said half the food bought in Europe and the US ended up in the bin
As much as half of the world's food, amounting to two billion tonnes worth, is wasted, a UK-based report has claimed. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers said the waste was being caused by poor storage, strict sell-by dates, bulk offers and consumer fussiness. The study also found that up to 30% of vegetables in the UK were not harvested because of their physical appearance. The institution's Dr Tim Fox said the level of waste was "staggering".

'Waste of resources'

The report said that between 30% and 50% of the four billion tonnes of food produced around the world each year went to waste. It suggested that half the food bought in Europe and the US was thrown away. Dr Fox, head of energy and environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: "The amount of food wasted and lost around the world is staggering. This is food that could be used to feed the world's growing population - as well as those in hunger today. "It is also an unnecessary waste of the land, water and energy resources that were used in the production, processing and distribution of this food. "The reasons for this situation range from poor engineering and agricultural practices, inadequate transport and storage infrastructure through to supermarkets demanding cosmetically perfect foodstuffs and encouraging consumers to overbuy through buy-one-get-one-free offers." And he told the BBC's Today programme: "If you're in the developing world, then the losses are in the early part of the food supply chain, so between the field and the marketplace. "In the mature, developed economies the waste is really down to poor marketing practices and consumer behaviour."

The report - Global Food; Waste Not, Want Not - also found that huge amounts of water, totalling 550 billion cubic metres, were being used to grow crops that were never eaten. The institution said the demand for water for food production could reach 10 to 13 trillion cubic metres a year by 2050. The United Nations predicts there will be an extra three billion mouths to feed by 2075 as the global population swells to 9.5 billion. Dr Fox added: "As water, land and energy resources come under increasing pressure from competing human demands, engineers have a crucial role to play in preventing food loss and waste by developing more efficient ways of growing, transporting and storing foods. "But in order for this to happen governments, development agencies and organisation like the UN must work together to help change people's mindsets on waste and discourage wasteful practices by farmers, food producers, supermarkets and consumers."

Tristram Stuart, from food waste campaign group Feeding the 5000, said: "Amazingly, there has been no systematic study of food waste at the farm level either in the UK or elsewhere in Europe or the US. "In my experience, it's normal practice for farmers to assume that 20% to 40% of their fruit and vegetable crops won't get to market, even if they are perfectly fit for human consumption." Tom Tanner, from the Sustainable Restaurants Association, said: "It is the power of major retailers - convenience shopping and supermarkets on everyone's doorstep, you can nip out and buy a ready made meal in 2 minutes rather than make use of what's in your fridge." He added that the weight of food equivalent to three double decker buses is thrown away per restaurant per year in the UK - 30% of that is off the consumer's plate.

BBC News - Half of all food 'wasted' report claims
 

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