those who attempt to alleviate it. It knows no boundaries of age, gender, religion, race,
ethnicity or class.
Hunger is more than a social concern or a condition of poverty. It is intertwined with nearly
every aspect of a community’s prosperity, including job productivity, health care costs,
housing and childhood development.
Unfortunately, Delaware has a history of failing to capitalize on federal food entitlement
programs such as food stamps, nutrition or children’s breakfast, after-school and
summer-feeding programs.
With increasing numbers of residents seeking assistance, Delaware can no longer afford
to forgo full utilization of federally-funded programs. No additional state funds are required to provide more food to needy Delawareans. Rather, leadership and diligence are essential to hold state agencies responsible for providing additional food to Delawareans.
Delaware’s leaders in the administration and the Legislature must combat hunger. They can begin by mandating that Delaware fully pursue all federal funds available to combat hunger.
Here are some examples of unused federal dollars:
- Delaware is eligible to receive an additional $3 million if it raises its current 60 of each 100 children who are low-income and therefore eligible to received a school breakfast.
- Delaware is eligible to receive an additional $289,361 if it raises its current 25 percent participation rate in the federal Summer Food Service Program to 40 percent.
- Delaware has only a 55 percent participation rate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture food stamp program for individuals considered to be the working poor. And Delaware currently uses only 14 of 23 federal programs available to assist low-income individuals qualifying for food stamps.
- Food stamps accounted for approximately $70.2 million spent for food in the Delaware economy in 2006. By using additional federal programs, such as automatically enrolling applicants for Supplemental Security Income for food stamps, the state could not only receive more federal money, it could feed more low-income people.
- More federal food stamp dollars would help the Food Bank’s Backpack program. Children who are discreetly identified by school personnel as needing food over the weekend are given a backpack of food on Fridays.
- Although private funders have been extremely receptive to the program, it is currently administered in only a few Delaware public schools despite persistent efforts by the Food Bank. Expanding this program would bring more federal food stamp dollars into the state and reduce the number of children who go hungry on weekends.
- There are other federal programs under which Delaware could get more money. For instance, more than 46 states, including Puerto Rico, have a USDA-funded Senior Farmers Market program. Delaware is the only state east of the Mississippi without one.
- The USDA Temporary Emergency Food Assistance program is administered by food banks in 43 states. This is because food banks were found to be the most cost-effective and efficient way to get food to the most people who need it. However, in Delaware, state personnel and equipment are used to administer this program.
