Food Banks and the Need for Help with Food Banks around the World - Essay Example

?Food Banks and the need for help with Food Banks around the world Introduction Hunger problem has become a global crisis. In 2009, Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimated that 1.02 billion people around the world are without food. This represents the highest level of hunger in the world since 1970. The figure has been increasing every year for the last one decade (FAO, 2009). This worrying trend has been compounded even further by the global economic meltdown. Nevertheless, this problem existed even before the global economic crises. FAO (2009) noted the causes of the crises as poverty, climate change, conflict, poor governance. Increasing unemployment, low incomes, and high domestic food prices have also contributed significantly to the problem. However, FAO (2009) indicated that the major cause of hunger crisis is “under-investment in agriculture and rural development.” Mucha (2010) quotes the United Nation’s chief food honcho as saying, "If people go hungry today it is not because the world is not producing enough food but because it is not produced in the countries where 70 percent of the world's poor live and whose livelihoods depend on farming activities.” He further noted that the challenge is not only to solve the current hunger problem but also to ensure adequate food supply for the future world population. FAO (2009) noted that to achieve this height, it requires combined efforts of governments, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), companies, people, families, and aid organizations. Therefore, in an effort to alleviate the situation, increased human participation is required. This paper looks into the voluntary services and their importance in alleviating the hunger problem around the world. It also probes on the importance of food banks in solving the hunger problem and the reasons behind their increase. The paper goes a step further to analyze the importance of poverty and its relationship with food insecurity. The article also gives statistical evidence of the current situation. Volunteer services Volunteerism is considered as the selfless act of giving one’s life to a worth course without expecting compensation in return. Volunteering is defined as the altruistic action aimed at improving the quality of life of other people as well their welfare. However, people offer voluntary services for other reasons social purposes i.e. to meet other people, to develop their own skills, as an entry route to employment or just to have fun. Volunteerism brings about a sense of self-worth and self-satisfaction. Xu and Ngai (2011) argued that volunteerism especially at grassroots level can bid different organizations together and thus develop a civil society aimed at achieving a certain goal. This is an essential aspect especially in respect to world hunger problem. According to Meier & Stutzer (2004), volunteerism is self-satisfying. They argue that serving other people increases the happiness of a person. Smith (2000) who observed helping others as a means to increased well-being also echoed this. He said, “Concern for our own happiness recommends to us the virtue of prudence: concern for that of other people”. Meier & Stutzer (2004) argued that an individual’s well-being is positively affected by volunteering because of two reasons i.e. intrinsic motivation and extrinsic reward. Volunteers are internally satisfied by just helping other people since they require no material reward for motivation. Internal satisfaction comes about in three ways; care about the recipient’s utility, intrinsic work enjoyment and helping other people. According to Fehr and Schmidt, (2003), utility of people increases is other people are much better as a result of a volunteer’s work. In this contest, a volunteer becomes more satisfied by participating in feeding the hungry people. Furthermore, volunteers enjoy doing their work i.e. intrinsic work enjoyment. In this case, volunteering increases people’s sense of competence and self-determination (Deci and Ryan, 2000). In addition, people get satisfied by just helping other i.e. by just devoting some time for the welfare of others. In Extrinsic motivation, satisfaction does not come directly from the act of helping others. Instead, it is usually a secondary reason. True satisfaction results from expected benefits as a result of volunteering such as investing in human capital e.g. to generate income for the future, skill development or to gain entry into employment. Volunteering is also aimed at developing social networks e.g. in politics where politicians volunteer to endear themselves to the public. Volunteerism plays a significant role in alleviating hunger. This can be achieved through various means e.g. active participation, advocacy, contributing funds and food to the hungry and hunger walk. For example, Yums! Brands have raised 67 million dollars in a span of three years through its World Hunger Relief efforts to assist hunger relief agencies around the world and World Food Program feed the hungry. The initiative has provided approximately 268 million meals to school going children in developing nations and other 350 million meals to other people in isolated areas of the world (Yum! Brands, 2011). In addition, the company has donated volunteer services to hunger relief amounting to a total of 17 million hours since 2008. It has also donated prepared food to hunger relief agencies in U.S.A. worth 180 million dollars. In addition, it has raised around 150 million dollars through hunger awareness initiative. In fact, Yums! Brands’ World Hunger Relief effort is the biggest hunger relief initiative from a private company throughout the world spanning 10 countries around the globe. Individual voluntary efforts have also contributes immensely in solving hunger problems. It includes participation in hunger walks, distributing food to the hungry free and foregoing meals with the purpose of giving the meals to the hungry. Advocacy has also played a significant role in fighting hunger. Individuals and groups have contributed significantly in lobbying funds to feed hungry people. For example, Food Gatherers have embarked on education, research, and outreach to the food system in the southeastern part of Michigan. These efforts have resulted to sustainable communities, opportunities for agricultural development and health economy within the region. All these efforts highlight the importance of voluntary service in dealing with the hunger problem. Food banks Food banks are charitable organizations that source, receive, keep records of, and distribute donated food to the hungry population through the help of other agencies. These agencies are non-profit charitable organizations and churches. Food banks have played a tremendously vital role in fighting hunger through research, education food collection, storage, and distribution. They provide emergency food system by sourcing food from a wide range of sources majorly food companies and availing technical assistance and other services to food distribution agencies. These establishments are also run after-school programs that feed school going children during vacations, day care facilities and feed elderly members of the society. For example, the Food Bank of the Southern Tier in collaboration with other over 160 Food Banks in United States and the National Food Bank Network conducted an intensive research in 2006 to establish the hunger and food situation in United States. The organization has been sourcing and distributing food to the needy since 1981 distributing over 5 million pounds of food by the year 2006. The organization is also involved in the provision of nutritional education, technical assistance, and training. The organization has succeeded though the support of volunteer i.e. individuals, groups and food donors companies. The 2006 annual report says, “To the Food Bank of the South Tier, volunteers are priceless! Volunteers keep the Food Bank working” (Food Bank of the Southern Tier, 2006). Despite the noble role played by food banks in fighting hunger, there are growing calls to phase them out as they are seen as a “serious obstacle in the fight against poverty” (Power, 2011). She argues that food banks only “provide a comforting illusion that no one is hungry.” She says that research in Canada shows that only one out of four hungry people use food banks. Furthermore, she noted that even those who are fed by food banks go hungry because they can only distribute is donated. Food banks ration their food supply due to this unequal demand and supply thereby causing hunger to the users. She also noted that the presence of food banks encourages governments’ laxity in providing a sustainable food solution and stable income to their citizens. Poverty and hunger These two interrelated declines play a significant influencing food situation in the world. Poverty causes hunger due to inability to buy food while hunger leads to more poverty as hungry people are unable to work. The global economic recession has resulted to increased poverty rates across the globe. In turn, this has increased food insecurity among populations. For example, one out of four African-American are poor according to federal guidelines and hence are food insecure. United Nation categorizes poverty into two; income poverty and human poverty (UNDP, 2000). Income poverty is based on financial income. World Bank considers a person living on less than 1 US dollar as extremely poor. On the other hand, human poverty is multifaceted is it encompasses material and social deprivation. Hunger or persistent lack of food leads to undernourishment (food deprivation) and malnutrition caused by low quality food. Not all hungry people are poor though there is a strong connection between hunger and poverty. Hunger comes about due to inability to buy enough quality food or inability to practice subsistence farming for food. In fact, hunger is considered as the “most severe and critical manifestations of poverty” (UNDP, 2000). Hunger situation in United States of America Turrell et al. (2002) found out that in United States, most people face various challenges when procuring food supply. These challenges include financial constraints, limited access to large food stores and skyrocketing prices of nutritious food. These findings are supported by the 2008 government’s data. The data showed that at least 14.6% of American population was food insecure while 5.7% faced very low food security. This resulted in policy maker setting the public health goal that aimed at reducing food insecurity rate in United States to 6% by the year 2010. However, the rate of food insecurity in United States remains very high. This has resulted to the emergence of food pantries, homeless shelters, and emergency kitchens to address the nutritional problems of low-income Americans. A report by Mablic et al. (2010) showed that the number of American relying on emergency food supply from the Feed America (FA) program and food banks remain high. The report found that an estimated 37 million Americans are fed annually through FA system that includes pantries, shelters, and kitchens. This represents a 46% increase since 2005. The report shows that one out of fifty Americans (57 million people) receives emergency food help every week. This represents a 27% increase from the year 2005. Out of all beneficiaries of FA’s emergency food programs, 75% are food insecure, 39% have low food security while 36% has very low food security. The report also shows that a majority of the people served by FA chose between other necessities and food. This is because they are unable to meet both necessities concurrently e.g. 39% chose between rent and food. In general, the report shows that the food situation in United States is worsening since 2005. This is a worrying trend to America and to the world at large especially the developing world. By far and large, United States is considered as self-sufficient in many ways. This means that if America is suffering from food crisis, the worst must be happening to other world nations especially in developing countries. Therefore, immediate measure must be taken to address the hunger problem around the world. Some of these measures include promotion of food banks and increasing volunteerism among others. In fact, Mablic et al. (2010) reported that “as many as 93% of pantries, 87% of kitchens, and 72% of shelters in the FA National Network use volunteers” while some rely wholly on volunteers. Conclusion This article concludes that urgent measures should be taken to mitigate the problem of hunger around the world. The problem appears to be more severe than expected especially considering the situation in United States. Among other control measures, promotion on food banks and increased volunteerism plays a significant role in alleviating the hunger problem. References Deci, E. L. & Richard M. R. (2000). The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior. Psychological Inquiry 11(4). 227-68. FAO (2009). The State of Food Insecurity in the World Economic crises – impacts and lessons learned. Retrieved from ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i0876e/i0876e.pdf Fehr, E. & Klaus M. S. (2003). Theories of Fairness and Reciprocity - Evidence and Economic Applications. In: Dewatripont, Mathias, Lars P. Hansen and Stephen J. Turnovsky (Eds.). Advances in Economics and Econometrics - 8th World Congress, Econometric Society Monographs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 208-57. Food Bank of the Southern Tier, (2006). Annual Report, Elmira, New York Mabli, J., Cohen, R., Potter, F. & Zhao, Z. (2010). Hunger in America 2010 – National Report Prepared for Feeding America. Mathematica Policy Research, Princeton, NJ. Meier, S. & Stutzer, A. (2004, March) Is Volunteering Rewarding in Itself? IZA Discussion Paper No. 1045; Zurich IEER Working Paper No. 180. Retrieved from http://ssrn.com/abstract=505042 Mucha, T., (2010, October 31). The world's biggest problem: Our hungry planet. Retrieved from http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/commerce/091030/problem-world-hunger-planet-peace-africa?page=full Power E. (2011, Jul. 25). It is time to close Canada's food banks. Globe and Mail. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/opinion/its-time-to-close-canadas-food-banks/article2106989/ Smith, A. (2000). The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. Turrell, G., B. Hewitt, C. Patterson, B. Oldenburg, & Gould T. (2002) Socioeconomic Differences in Food Purchasing Behavior and Suggested Implications for Diet-Related Health Promotion. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 15; pp. 355-64. United Nations Development Program. 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