If You’ve ever Fallen off the Wagon, You Should Support the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

Pop quiz:  According to current USDA regulations, what is a junk food?

a) Doughnuts

b) Snack cakes

c) Fruitades/Fruit Drinks (with little fruit – not 100% juice)

d) Seltzer water

Answer:  D

Confused?  You’re not alone.  USDA sets nutrition standards for foods sold at schools, but outside of school meals (such as vending machines, a la carte items and school stores) haven’t changed since the 1970s.  In fact, nutrition criteria for non-meal foods only apply to “foods of minimal nutritional value” and don’t address calories, saturated and trans-fats or sodium. So while little Suzie can’t get a breath mint with her onion-laden chili dog, she can get a side of fries and a candy bar.

Photo credit: shapingyouth.org

The Child Nutrition Promotion and School Lunch Protection Act (H.R. 1324), one of the many bills up for review in the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act, would update national school nutrition standards for foods and beverages sold outside of school meals to conform to current nutrition science.

So, how can this legislation help hungry Central Texas children?

By not using the same nutrition standards for junk food/non-food items as we do for the school lunch system, we undermine our investment in these nutrition programs.  Ultimately, the health of our children is undermined – especially low-income children.

States do have the option of exceeding USDA guidelines such as limiting access to competitive foods, or through stricter nutrition standards. Unfortunately, Texas has chosen to simply comply with USDA competitive food guidelines, leaving Texas children subject to these antiquated laws.

Why can’t we just focus on improving participation?

When school revenue is directly linked to the number of meals they serve, schools are forced to focus not on nutrition, but on pleasing the customer for maximum participation. In this School Lunch Talk interview, Leslie Phillips, business development director for Meriwhether Godsey, which runs the lunch program at Sidwell where President Obama’s girls attend school, explains how the retail model used by public schools makes it difficult for children to choose healthy, balanced meals.

If we are to address the problems food-insecure and hungry Texas children face during the school day and the life-long problems from poor nutrition, the answer isn’t to simply increase participation. We must also change incentives and nutrition standards so that profit doesn’t take precedence over nutrition.

If you’ve ever struggled with weight, or quitting cigarettes, or any other vice, you know how important a positive environment is for your success. Let’s make the lunchroom a place for positive experiential learning, where the most vulnerable children can make informed choices based on modern, scientific nutrition standards.

Take action: 
Support the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act by asking your representative to co-sponsor H.R. 1324. Click here to find your congressperson.

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Nutrition and School Related Bills Passed in the 81st Legislative Session

SB 282          Sen. Jane Nelson                                     
Provides for grants for nutrition education and nutrition programs in early childhood programs.

 SB 1027       Sen. Kirk Watson                                  
Establishes a farm-to-school task force so public schools have more locally grown fresh food.

SB 395         Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr.                        
Creates a council to improve nutrition, health and physical activity in early childhood programs.

Bonus advocacy points: 

Tell your Texas legislative representatives that nutrition and health initiatives for low-income children remain a priority for you. Click here to find your representative.

If Your Parents Wax Poetic about their Childhood in the Country, You Should Care About the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act.

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Marketing Online Director

Growing up in New York City, I wasn’t exposed enough to the day-to-day joys of country life – at least that’s what my father told me.  When my preteen world meant trips to the mall and MTV, his stories of playing hide-and-seek in the woods, picking fresh mangoes from the neighbor’s tree and spending an afternoon at the local fishing hole, didn’t make an impression on me.  

When I moved to Texas and met more rural-turned-urban friends, I began to understand why these memories are cherished by my father.  From what I understand, there’s a type of freedom and creativity children experience that is unique to rural life.  I’m proud to say, I’m no longer the ignorant city dweller who thinks Texans spend their days tipping cows for fun.

If Central Texans value these country memories, and wish to preserve these opportunities for future generations, we must also ensure that federal feeding programs don’t forget our rural families.

Kids Cafe, Boys & Girls Club - East Austin

As you know, hunger is not just an urban issue.  However, the majority of sponsors and sites participating in the Summer Food Service program in Central Texas are in urban areas. Summer meals are available in areas where at least 50 percent of the children are eligible for free or reduced-priced meals.  A successful pilot program in Pennsylvania showed that by simply reducing the threshold to 40 percent, significantly increased the number of sites and provided tens of thousands more meals.

H.R. 540, the Summer Food Service Rural Expansion Act, makes the successful pilot program a permanent program and would be effective for every state.  This bill amends the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act up for review this fall.

Let’s give children more than good memories.  Let’s give them good food during the summer.

 

Take Action

Ask your congressman to co-sponsor H.R. 540.

 Click here to find your legislative representative.

Letter to the Editor: Hungry Texas Children Should Be a Top Priority

The following is a letter to the editor of the Austin American-Statesman by David Davenport, President & CEO of the Capital Area Food Bank.  Similar letters were sent to newspapers in our 21-county service area. It is re-printed here in its entirety:

Over the past year, social service providers in Travis County supplied by the Capital Area Food Bank have noticed an unsettling trend – the rates of both child hunger and child obesity are rising.

Last week, a national report confirmed the worst: Texas has the highest rate of child hunger in the nation.

Thankfully, the Texas Legislature just approved a measure that could help.

HB 1622, the “food bank bill” passed unanimously in the Senate this week, promising to distribute $20 million in nutritious food to at-risk children across the state. HB 1622 is an opportunity for food banks and the state to work together, but the bill is only a promise – in order to work it must be funded by the budget conference committee, including local Senator Steve Ogden.

HB 1622 can supply the nutritious food needed by hungry children in Travis County, and provide a crucial link in the fight against child obesity. Our state budget offers tough decisions this year, but in this economy it is more important than ever that hungry children receive top priority. After all, if the health of our children isn’t “basic,” what is?

TAKE ACTION: Support the Food Bank Bill (HB 1622)

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

Good news!  Thanks to the support of so many across Texas, the Food Bank Bill (also known as HB 1622) passed in both the House and Senate.  However, this bill will be unfunded unless money is found in the state budget.  Your legislators are making that decision this month. We need your help in the next few days to help ensure this bill is funded. 

Our ask is simple.  Please call your Senator and Representative and tell him or her, “Please support the funding request of $20 million for the Food Bank Bill, HB 1622.”  Or you can take action online by visiting our website or clicking the Take Action button below.

How this bill helps hungry Central Texans

One in five children is overweight or obese, and Texas leads the nation with the highest rate of children at risk of hunger. These children are at increased risk of cognitive, motor, emotional and behavioral problems, and multiple health deficiencies.

While it may seem paradoxical for these two situations to exist in the same body, they are in fact, two sides of the same coin. Without the means to purchase enough nutritious food, families often choose to reduce the quality of food purchased.

The Food Bank Bill (HB 1622) would provide $20 million to help food banks distribute healthy foods to children at risk of hunger and obesity. This bill will direct free, nutritious food to needy families through Texas food banks, and their programs serving children. One hundred percent of the money provided by the bill will be used to purchase healthy, nutritious food for children with no administrative costs. With bills in the legislature addressing obesity through nutrition education and fitness programs, the Food Bank Bill provides that “third leg” support through ensuring families have access to the right foods.  Click here to read the bill.

Feeding America Study Reveals Texas Leads in Child Hunger

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director 

Feeding America recently released a report using USDA data to determine state-by-state child hunger (those under age 18). For the second year in a row, the study revealed Texas having the #1 rate of child hunger at 22.1 percent. Texas is also in the top five states with children under five at risk of hunger (23.3 percent). Read the study here.

Instead of focusing on the shock of these numbers, we challenge you to act upon your desire to make a change.

We think it’s prudent to look to our community and elected leaders for more than their thoughts.  We also need their support.  The hunger conversation in Texas needs to be directed to our leaders, to whom we entrust to create a stronger Texas.  

In response to the issue of child hunger, HB 1622 was introduced in the Texas Senate, last week. As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, the bill would provide $20 million to help food banks provide healthy foods to children at risk of hunger.

Roughly $1.5 million of the money from HB 1622 would go to Capital Area Food Bank to be distributed to the 350 Partner Agencies serving hungry Central Texans.

HB 1622 received passage in the Texas House last month.  We, again, thank all the Representatives in our 21 County Service Area who supported the bill:

Charles Doc Anderson, Jimmie Don Aycock, Valinda Bolton, Byron Cook, Dawnna Dukes, Jim Dunnam, Dan Gattis, Harvey Hilderbran,  Donna Howard, Tim Kleinschmidt, Diana Maldonado, Doug Miller, Sid Miller, Elliot Naishtat, Eddie Rodriguez, Patrick Rose, Ralph Sheffield and Mark Strama. 

We encourage you to send letters of thanks to them, as well.

Texas legislators are meeting this month to decide the fate of the bill and funding. Please contact your local state legislators and ask them to support funding for “the food bank bill.”

One-in-five Texas children is depending on you to be their voice.

So what does Swine Flu (H1N1) have to do with Food Insecurity?

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

When a Texas school district shut its doors for a couple of weeks as a precaution for the H1N1 (Swine) Flu this past week, parents whose children rely on the free and reduced price school lunches faced an additional challenge. 

How will these parents financially support unplanned child care and keep their children well nourished for two weeks?

Disasters, from hurricanes to pandemics, interrupt employment and sever access to human service programs. Pandemic flu preparation and response methods, such as stockpiling food and water, pose a significant hardship for those struggling to have the basic necessities each day.  While pandemic flu does not discriminate, low-income people are particularly vulnerable in the event of an outbreak.

In addition to creating their own disaster response plan (read ours here), Food Banks work closely with federal, state, and local officials in distributing food, communicating information about food stamp access during a disaster and helping to expedite disaster food assistance through D-SNAP. 

What is D-SNAP?
The Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) provides replacement benefits for SNAP recipients during disaster. Eligibility criteria are broadened, and a streamlined application and issuance process extends benefits to households that would not ordinarily be eligible for SNAP. D-SNAP, like SNAP, is fully federally-funded and administered by states. Because federal nutrition programs are entitlements, they can respond quickly and effectively without waiting for further legislative action.   

While D-SNAP has a proven track record of effective relief after hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters, the program needs improved flexibility so it can respond appropriately during a pandemic. Government and nonprofits will also need to work collaboratively and creatively to ensure we can meet the need.  The Capital Area Food Bank has been in contact with legislative representatives to address those concerns and offer suggestions to ensure food security in the case of a pandemic flu outbreak.

 A short personal story
 I was an AmeriCorps VISTA at the Food Bank when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast.  Since then, I have also been part of the Hurricane Ike response efforts at the Food Bank, where my role included increasing access to SNAP. As humbling of an experience it is to participate in disaster response here in Austin, I could not help but think of the many poor who were forgotten and disregarded.  Our shared responsibility to nourish the hungry is even greater in moments of crisis.

Earth Day Action Plan Includes Supporting Access to Healthy Foods for Children

 
Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

We’re pleased to see the call to action on the Earth Day website for increased access to healthy foods for children.  Advocacy tips include supporting nutrition education for both children and parents, connecting with local schools to improve school lunches, and supporting the Child Nutrition and WIC Act Reauthorization of 2009.   CAFB is doing our part - we planted a square-foot garden, encouraging  the community to grow food for hungry Central Texans and continue to advocate for increased access to healthy foods. 

Take Action:  81st Texas Legislature is also doing its part to support  Earth Day’s call to action to support healthy Texas children  – especially those in need.  Help us make every day Earth Day for hungry Central Texans by contacting your Senator or Representative about the following legislation.

HB 1622 creates a grant program distributing funds to food banks which will provide children at risk of hunger or obesity by increasing access to nutritious food.
Author: Giddings (Companion bill SB 944)
Status:  Passed in the House

HB 482 increases access to fresh fruits and vegetables for low-income people. The bill instructs the Texas Department of Agriculture to establish a time-limited competitive grant program to assist small grocers in low-income communities where access to larger food retailers is limited. The program will assist grocers that receive grants to be able to effectively and efficiently stock fresh produce.
Author:  Rodriguez
Status: Passed in the House

HB 4629 creates an Early Childhood Health and Nutrition Interagency Council which helps identify and implement best practices in nutrition and physical activity for children under age six.
Author: Lucio (Companion bill SB 395)
Status:  In Committee

SB 282  provides for nutrition education in early childhood and after-school environments and to reward achievements in school nutrition and establishes three new grant programs to address this:  the Fresh Start Program, which provides grants to pre-kindergarten and Head Start programs to support nutrition education among three-year-olds and four-year-olds; the Community Nutrition Program, which provides grants to community and faith-based programs for children and youth to support nutrition education; and the Healthy Rewards Program, which provides grants to individual schools based on best practices in school nutrition.
Author: Nelson
Status:  Out of Committee

SB 867 requires a school district in which 50 percent or more of the students are eligible to participate in the national free or reduced-price lunch program, unless the school district obtains a certain waiver, to provide or arrange for the provision of a summer nutrition program for at least 30 consecutive weekdays during the period in which school districts are recessed for the summer.
Author:  Lucio
Status:  Out of committee, placed on intent calendar

SB 868 provides free breakfast to all elementary school students during school hours if 60 percent or more of the students attending the school qualify for the free or reduced-price breakfast provided by the Child Nutrition Act of 1966. The bill also requires a school district or open-enrollment charter school to participate in and provide all students access to the National School Breakfast Program if at least 10 percent of the students enrolled in one or more schools in the district are eligible for free or reduced price breakfasts.
Author: Lucio
Status: In Senate Education Committee

SB 343 requires that an advisory committee be established to identify the extent of the lack of access to fresh, healthy foods in underserved areas of the state and provide recommendations to the legislature regarding options for increasing access to healthy foods for Texans living in these areas.
Author: Nelson
Status: In Public Health Committee

SB 344 establishes an advisory committee to study and make recommendations to the legislature regarding the costs, benefits, feasibility, acceptance, incorporation, and use of food stamps and WIC program benefits at Texas farmers markets.
Author: Nelson
Status:  In Public Health Committee

SB 1027 establishes an interagency farm-to-school coordination task force chaired by representatives of the Texas Department of Agriculture, the Texas Education Agency, the Department of State Health Services, farm organizations, and other relevant public and nonprofit partners.  The bill expands and coordinates current systems and creates mechanisms to facilitate local food purchases by school districts, expand food-focused experiential education, and assist farms and schools in overcoming barriers to increase the use of fresh fruits, vegetables, and health practices in school diets. 
Author: Watson (Companion bill, HB 1840)
Status:  Passed Senate, In House Agriculture Committee

Learn more about these bills.

Eating Healthy Without Breaking the Bank – a (non-scientific) CAFB experiment.

We’re excited to see so much blogging about food stamp challenges around the country. From our friend Ed Nicholson from Tyson Foods to CNN news anchor Sean Callebs, to our own President & CEO, David Davenport who did the challenge for almost a month, bloggers are changing people’s perceptions about living on a food stamp budget and exposing the emotional toll of living on the cusp of food insecurity.

Photo courtesy of USDA

One theme emerging from food stamp challenge participants is how difficult it is to eat healthy on a limited budget.  Low-income families often must balance the need for nutritious foods and the need to feel satiated at the end of a meal. That in part, is the inspiration for our legislative agenda to provide healthy foods to low income children.   It also inspired us to do our own (non-scientific) experiment.   Is it possible to choose healthier foods without breaking the bank?  Is it true that choosing healthier options is prohibitively expensive for low-income families? Our AmeriCorps VISTA, Carrie Gibson, volunteered to gather data.  To make this as true-to-life as possible, we followed a few simple rules:

1. The shopping must be done at a grocery store in a low-income neighborhood, easily accessible to public transportation. 

2. We chose foods that had both a low-nutrition/quality version and a high-nutrition quality version.

3. For the high-nutrition/quality foods, we did not choose organic options, even if they were available, since most low-income neighborhoods do not offer organic products.
 

Here’s our list:

16 oz bag of white rice: $0.64	16 oz bag of brown rice: $0.86
16 oz bag of ground beef: $2.79	16 oz bag of ground turkey: $1.49
14.5 oz can of tomatoes: $0.69 ($0.04/oz)	Fresh roma tomatoes: $0.98/lb; ($0.06/oz)
15 oz Can of peaches in syrup: $0.92 ($.06/oz)	3 fresh peaches= 15 oz @ $1.49/lb = $1.39
Can of spinach: $0.59	Bag of fresh spinach: $3.49
12 oz Imitation maple syrup: $1.09 ($.09/oz)	8.5 oz real maple syrup: $5.45 ($0.64/oz)
64 oz. 10% fruit juice: $1.89	64 oz. 100% apple juice: $2.19
Box of generic sugar cereal loops: $1.89	Box of whole grain Cheerios: $2.52
Packets of oatmeal with artificial fruit flavors: $1.99 ($0.15/oz)	Box of plain oatmeal with no additional packaging: $1.49 (bigger size; $0.08/oz)
Bag of shredded iceberg lettuce: $1.69	Bag of shredded romaine lettuce: $2.89
Boxed frozen fish with breading: $3.39/lb of fish sticks	Fresh cut tilapia filets: $6.99/lb
32 oz sweetened Yoplait yogurt: $2.15	32 oz unsweetened yogurt with acidophilous: $4.09
12 oz white spaghetti: $1.04 ($0.08/oz)	13.25 oz whole wheat spaghetti: $1.29 ($0.09/oz)
7 oz canned jalapenos: $0.62 ($0.09/oz)	Fresh jalapenos $0.84/pound = $.05/oz
Loaf of white bread: $0.69	Loaf of 100% whole wheat bread with no high frutcose corn syrup $1.93
17 oz vegetable oil: $1.00	17 oz olive oil: $4.19
.5 gallon of orange juice from concentrate: $1.79	.5 gallon of orange juice not from concentrate: $2.99

 

The total for low-nutrition foods: $26.75

The total for high-nutrition foods $45.97

The difference: $19.22, or a little less than three hours extra work for Texans earning the minimum wage($6.55 per hour).

What do you think? 

Have you compromised on making healthier choices in your shopping list? Please comment, and pass it on.

Part 1: 81st Texas Legislative Priority

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

Address the obesity epidemic by improving children’s access to healthy foods.

Define the Problem:
There is a staggering number of obese and food insecure children in Texas. One in five children is overweight or obese, and one in four children live in households where there is not enough to eat.   Half of those on food stamps in Texas are children. While it may seem paradoxical for these two situations to exist in the same body, they are in fact, quite complimentary. The highest rates of obesity occur among individuals with the highest poverty rates and the least education. The obesity rates for “poor” and “near-poor” people stand at 36 percent and 35.4 percent, respectively. In comparison, the overall average obesity rate for “non-poor” is 29.2 percent (Source: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports).

Access to quality, nutritious food is a challenge for low-income families:
Low-income neighborhoods are often characterized by a lack of full-service grocery stores, but have easy access to small convenience stores, fast food chains, and other sources of low-nutritional value foods.  But even with access, price is still a factor in making those healthy choices.

Tough choices – feel satisfied or eat healthy:
Low-income families will often compromise with their food budget because, unlike rent, utilities or health care costs, it is the most flexible.  And food with low nutritional value is cheaper. A University of Washington study showed that higher-calorie, energy-dense foods cost on average $1.76 per 1,000 calories, compared with $18.16 per 1,000 calories for low-energy but nutritious foods. That’s almost ten times more expensive!  These low-quality calories, however, provide that full, satisfied feeling necessary to keep hunger pains at bay.  

The problem with the Thrifty Food Plan:
The Thrifty Food Plan, the USDA’s national standard for a nutritious diet at a minimal cost, is the used as the basis for determining maximum food stamp allotments. Most recently, the cost of foods in the Thrifty Food Plan are rising faster than the average cost of food. This rapid inflation in food prices has created a gap between what the government deems necessary for a healthy diet, and the money allotted to purchase those foods.

Source: CBPP.org

While the Food Stamp program was intended to supplement diets, low-income families relying on this program for their entire food budget are put at a significant disadvantage in achieving a nutritionally sufficient diet, much less one that is optimal for health.

The effects of food insecurity and obesity:
In food-insecure households with children, it is often the parent who will go without food, or reduce their intake of food so that their children can eat.  The effects of these coping strategies affect children not only in how they learn to eat, but also in the quality of the food they eat. Food insecurity can trigger stress responses leading to eating disorders, reduced physical activity, and depression, all of which may be related to weight gain.

 The cost of not taking care of Texans:
Addressing poverty, food insecurity and obesity should be viewed as a social investment. It could mean billions of dollars in returns to society in the form of increased economic productivity, reduced expenditures on health care and the criminal justice system, and improvements to children’s well-being. 

• Annie E Casey estimates that the 24 percent child poverty rate in Texas cost $57.5 billion in revenue in 2006 through lost earnings, increasing the criminal justice system, and emergency healthcare.
• The estimated cost of obesity to Texas businesses in 2005 was $3.3 billion, and if nothing is done to curb the problem, this could reach $15.8 billion by 2025. (Source: “Counting Costs and Calories” published by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts in 2005)
• In 2005, Texas Medicaid paid more than $200 million in claims for cardiovascular disease. (Source: Texas Medicaid Program, HHSC)

Define the Issue:
Being healthy takes much more than knowing what to eat and having an active lifestyle.  When families don’t have access to the right foods, they cannot put into practice healthy eating knowledge, nor have the fuel to support exercise and fitness routines. To have healthy adults, able to be productive members of society, we must start with healthy children, and ensure they have a good foundation to support lifelong learning and a healthy quality of life. Ensuring children live in food secure households is not enough. It must be good food so that children can actively learn and practice healthy behaviors.

Growing up Food Secure with a Legacy of Hunger

Lisa Goddard
Advocacy and Online Marketing Director

My earliest memories with my father always centered on food. It wasn’t so much about what I ate, but how I ate it. Dinner was more than a moment of consumption – it was a performance. He would beam when I would clear my plate and ask for seconds, or use my knife and fork to ensure every last morsel of meat was cleaned from a bone. I was scolded as being “scornful” if I chose not to consume the un-pretty parts of meat, such gristle, slightly burnt or fatty pieces.

He, on the other hand, relished eating. Fat was for flavor. Bones, as long as they were soft enough, were consumed. And he always ate fast, starting on seconds before the rest of the family was finished with their first plate. Wanting to please my father, like most children do, I emulated his eating habits.

Scarborough, Tobago

Meat was not a treat for him but a requirement for a well-rounded dinner. It was my mom’s charge to ensure we had one yellow and green vegetable on our plates. On the occasional weekends when my mom was at her second or third job, he would purchase a fatty steak and broil it for breakfast, serving it with fresh Italian bread from the local bakery to sop up the juices. I think it was his way of compensating for the lack of family time so my brother and I could enjoy a good education and the occasional vacation trip.

In my adulthood, my conversations with my dad often center on food. Trips down memory lane are not of a destination, but a special meal. He loves to share his cooking achievements with a play-by-play of the seasonings used and detailed descriptions of preparation methods. He would ask what’s for dinner right after eating breakfast. When he visits me in Austin, his face lights up when we take a trip to Whole Foods or Central Market because, according to him, “The meat sections are so pretty.”

As I got older, I began to understand the connection between his eating habits and what seemed to be an obsession with meat. You see, my father grew up poor in rural Tobago in the early 1940’s. Even with the chicken farm he was charged to tend to, he often went without food, or was limited to a diet of eggs. He recalls the embarrassment of passing out in school because he only had eggs or nothing to eat. On the very few occasions that meat was available for him to eat, he would keep the bone in his pocket to suck on from time to time, ensuring every last morsel of nutrition was consumed.

It’s sometimes difficult for me to listen to his stories of poverty and food insecurity as a sadness and shame consumes his face. In his mind, he has transcended poverty and lack of education, and enjoys a comfortable retirement in Miami with his wife of 37 years. But I know from my own childhood and the conversations we have to this day, that there is a lasting affect from experiencing poverty and childhood hunger. He still cannot eat slowly and exhibits disordered eating from time to time. He still watches how his family eats. He still exhibits an anxiety about having enough food for those unexpected guests dropping by. I now understand how his childhood hunger influenced personal relationships with food as I try to remind myself to eat slowly.

This year’s legislative focus on childhood nutrition is not just part of my “job” but a personal mission to do what’s right for the innocent and vulnerable members of society. I can’t help but think of my own father, and the physical and emotional toll food insecurity has taken on his life. This is not rural, post-colonial Tobago in the 1940s. There is no legitimate reason for children in Texas to be hungry and malnourished.