First Two Hunger Council Meetings of 2014

Hunger Free Vermont's Hunger Councils were launched in 2006 in Chittenden and Washington Counties as a way to bring influential community leaders together to tackle the issue of hunger in their communities. Since 2006, we have expanded so that Windham County, the Lamoille Valley, and Addison County also have Councils. Last Wednesday and Thursday were the first two Hunger Council meetings of 2014: the Windham Council met on Wednesday in Brattleboro and the Washington Council met in Berlin on Thursday.

Windham County Council Meeting:

The Council’s sub-committee of Food Pantries and Food Shelves has developed a plan for public education and advocacy about the reality of increasing hunger in Windham County, and of the increasing numbers of working families who are needing to rely on charitable food sources because of the high costs of living and the cuts to SNAP and other safety net programs. The Council will be working with local media to do a series to help raise awareness.

The Windham Council has, from the beginning, had a deep commitment to expanding access to summer meals for children throughout the county. At the meeting, the Council reviewed the results from last summer which saw a significant increase in the number of meals served to children in the rural areas of the county—and the Council plans to work on adding at least two new sites in rural towns that currently lack any summer meal sites. The Summer Meals Sub-Committee will also work to improve the marketing of the 14 summer meal sites in Brattleboro, so that more families take advantage of them this coming summer.

Washington County Council Meeting:

The Hunger Council of Washington County explored three major federal bills that will be debated in Congress in 2014 and will impact the nutrition safety net: the Farm Bill, Older Americans Act, and Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act. The outcomes will determine the vitality and funding level of programs ranging from 3SquaresVT (food stamps) to Meals on Wheels to school breakfast programs. Many successful programs have been cut or level funded for years despite a growing need.  Programs supporting low-income Vermonters are often administered at the state level and as the legislative session begins this month, there are many opportunities to protect Vermonters and improve the safety net.

From this meeting, Council members determined that their task is to share stories and anecdotes of the impact of the nutrition programs with our Congressional Delegation and Hunger Free Vermont—this will help us bring a face to the name. The Council will also continue with its focused efforts around summer meals—helping to problem solve how to add meal program to existing summer enrichment programs and help with barriers such as lack of transportation options for getting meals to sites.