Meghan stas, senior director and Grocery Manufacturers Association here in washington, d. C. And diana aviv, kre feeding america in chicago, illinois and emily leib, the director of food law policy clinic, harvard law school, jamaica plains, massachusetts. Ill let everybody get to their seats. All right. Miss gunders, if you will begin when you are ready, maam. Ranking member peterson and members of the committee thank you for inviting me to testify today and be willing to explore this issue. Any name is dana gunders, im a Senior Science at the National Resources Defense Council and the author of a widely cited report on food waste and a book called the wastefree kitchen handbook which is a guide to not wasting food. Imagine walking out of the Grocery Stores with five bags in the parking lot and dropping two and not bothering to pick them up. It seems crazy but that is what were doing when we are wasting 40 of our food. Were leaving entire fields unharvesting and eliminating produce fo
Not to have to file, or pay federal income tax. But one of the things ive not really heard anybody address, we talked about in here the need for the minimum wage to be raised. And when there was an article written recently that indicated for an individual who just accepts the available federal welfare payments, they may be looking at 1,700 a month take home whereas under the current minimum wage its about 1,200 takehome. Well, the incentive there is obviously not to work. But i know my friends at heritage have encouraged as a solution lowering the minimum wage. Obviously, that would even increase the disparity between what you take home if you dont work and what you take home if you do work. If you lowered the minimum wage. So thats obviously not going to fix the problem there. But if the minimum wage is raised in puerto rico, since as my friend from californias indicated they have a higher minimum wage, then people would be tempted to go from puerto rico to california to get those hig
The high housing prices the city i have a close friend thought that was a great idea to live in a tailor by ocean beach this didnt upgrade or workout 6 months cops were moving in this was the wrote this solution im saying the working person a friend of mine and i tried to talk him out of this this was yur years ago. Where is he now i understand the story. He moved to tucson and and teacher teaching math. Living in a house. In a house he was a carpenter i will say it can be were trying to tackle this with various solutions it is defenda difficult i see those San Francisco that are you know completely stuffed to the gills and symptomatic of things going on in some peoples lives i see people involved in Drug Trafficking if so though the a typical situation but incidents of disorder that containment this Like Division and others but can be some of these and other people that are feeling for safe in their cars than a shelter so it is hard to apply the rule and interference for everyone that
Without their integral involvement. I think from the challenges, the article does that, naming them, talking about them, and trying to understand where theres common ground, theres difficulties figuring out, ultimately with a goal of Getting Services to people who need them, from a Public Health evidence based services to people that need them is the end game we want. And then lastly data, we took a cursory look for today. Id like to do more on that, i think thats critical. Mark . Where you live often changes where you think. Where im located, i dont see the negatives as much as the positives. Were flooded with great opportunities, we cant take in all of them. To see the partnerships that are going on are terrific. So im very positive on this. I think in terms of addressing the challenges, it is the faith communities can be the trip wires for the challenge and the solution at the same time. Weve had conversations with the north american chair of somalia, hes very interested in working
We could reach even more kids in need. My food Bank Provides more hot meals a day or case throughout the year. Children who visit partner sites were not partner sites a model to receive a nutritious meal bubble have a safe alternative to being on the streets. They get tutoring mentoring and sports. Far too many children cant read afterschool programs particularly in the summer. My stay of less than 10 of the lowincome kids in and 18 nationally. Why is that . Our programs are concentrated in Jefferson County and urban county were programming and services are available at many children can get the sites. The current number of 3d model which requires real designated site works great in these instances were children have congregated for tutoring and mentoring. We face two challenges enriching kids in a warm rural community. Lack of sites and transportation. Those communities simply lack facilities were kids can congregate and consuming that which makes the onset eating requirement difficul