There are lots of different ways we measure hunger. It looks like we have gone from one in seven kids being at risk to one in four. As many as 17 million American Kids at risk of hunger. Not just during the Holiday Season but especially poignant during the season but since the pandemic began. Bureausure is the census does a pulse survey. They take a regular survey of americans. They found that 15 of adults say their families are struggling to feed their kids. That is up from 1 just a year ago. Really remarkable change. Host struggling to feed their kids. Define what we mean by Food Insecurity. What does that mean in practice . Guest Food Security is kind of a socioeconomic measure that helps us understand families are struggling with their economics, with their finances to have enough food to feed their kids. They are typically taking shortcuts or skipping meals where the parents are protecting the kids by making sure the kids eat even if the parents skip meals. It means we dont have enough resources, but enough funding and finances to be able to feed their families. Tragic andsolutely longlasting consequences, particularly for kids that are developmentally sensitive. Host your group is focused on childhood hunger. School closures happening in this country. What has that meant for not just Food Insecurity but the ability to monitor Food Insecurity . To know which kids need help and how to reach them . Guest it had a profound impact. Our strategy and a lot of the nations strategy is using the Public School system to feed kids. 22 million kids get a free or reduced priced school lunch when schools are open. When they are closed, logistically it is so challenging to make sure kids get lunch and breakfast and an afterschool snack. It is really almost catastrophic. The schools have done a herculean job in finding alternative ways to feed kids. A lot of the work of share our strength and our Campaign Includes 60 million in grants that started in the spring and will go into december, making sure School Districts have what they need to feed kids in an alternative way. Instead of feeding them in the cafeteria, there are grab and go meals outside the schools. There are bus drivers taking instead of bringing the kids to school, they are taking the meals to where they used to pick kids up. They need personal protective gear, storage, transformation transportation, refrigeration. That was donated by americans across the country. Those of the things our dollars are paying forward to make sure kids get fed. One thing to remember is childhood hunger is a solvable problem. We dont have shortages of food and food programs. We have great programs. We have to connect kids with them. If we do that, this can be the most solvable aspect of this pandemic. Host billy shore, our guest for this 45 minutes. A special phone line for those who have experienced or are experiencing Food Insecurity. 202 7488002 is that number. Phone lines are split up regionally. 202 7488000 for the eastern and central time zones. Mountain or pacific, 202 7488001. Start calling and now. Billy shore, we asked about what congress has done and what they might do when it comes to this issue. Talk about the money that has already gone to this issue since covid19. Guest congress acted in a very important way the beginning of the pandemic. Soy created flexibilities schools and communities could feed kids in different ways. A lot of the regulations that existed before were constraining. A child had to come to school to get the meal. They could not be the parent. The child could only get one meal. Waivers and changes of regulations made all that more accessible for families and kids. There was a lot of funding as well. Electronict, and benefit transfer. What we think of as the snap program. Now is the supplemental nutrition assistance program. It was expanded through this pandemic to make sure families who depended on schools to provide meals to their kids. The value of those meals was added to their ebt card. That was pandemic ebt. Congress acted in important ways. One thing so tragic about this Holiday Season at this moment is many of these benefits are expiring. There has been a lot of controversy about whether congress would pass another stimulus bill. It needs to. If not in the lameduck session, immediately when congress reconvenes. Unemployment benefits are expiring. Eviction moratoriums are expiring. We need to increase snap benefits by at least 15 so families will have the resources they need. Congress acted well in the beginning. It needs to act again. Host what is increasing benefits by 50 mean in actual inlars . 15 means an actual dollars . Guest it provides a vital lifeline to so Many American families and children. An increase without about 25 a month for families. It will certainly help at a time like this. Host billy shore from share our strength. You have been on the program several times. Besides the no kid Hungry Program, what else do you do . Guest no kid hungry has been our primary focus. We are involved in a number of other important efforts to alleviate hunger and poverty. Not only through the no kid Hungry Program are we providing resources to schools to provide school meals but we are providing grants to boys and girls clubs, ymcas, Community Organizations across this country so they can do the emergency feeding system for families who are falling between the cracks during this pandemic. We have an important attrition Education Program called cooking matters that works with families across the country and teaches cooking skills, Grocery Shopping solls, food budgeting families can take their resources and stretch them and make the best choices for their children. One of the things that is so important to remember is, as much as we focus on kids, one of the most important things we can do for kids is make sure their families and parents and caregivers have the resources they need. Everybody wants to feed a hungry child. We all understand why. Sometimes the most important thing we can do is strengthen their families. That is done through policy. That is done through the snap benefit program. That is through the earned income tax credit. That is done through childcare tax credits. Families then can get by and have the resources they need. Host barbara out of oklahoma. You are on with billy shore. Caller i was given some of those food boxes. I did not need them but they gave them to me. If what was in those food boxes it was ridiculous. The only good thing they had was butter and cheese and a gallon of milk and some potatoes. Why dont they put, Green Vegetables beans, green peopleles, macaroni, have to cook it, sure. My goodness. I was raised on that so i know what im talking about. I was raised in a labor camp. In california. Its ridiculous what they have in there its ridiculous what they have in their. I realize a lot of people dont want to cook but my mom cooked three meals a day and except for breakfast it was beans, potatoes, macaroni, and Green Vegetables. Host this is the farmers the Family Food Box Program . Caller yes. Host how hard was it for you to become a part of the program . Caller it was just given to me. I dont need it. It was just given to me. Them they give them to my sister. Sheister had so many apples gave them to me. She said we dont need those. Host thank you for bringing up the program. Billy shore, can you explain about how the program came into being and how effective it is . Guest this was a Trump Administration response to the pandemic. What they thought would be an alternative to snap. I think it was probably well intended and some orders but barbara made the case better than i could for the snap program. But we need to be doing is giving families what we need to be doing is giving families the resources to go to the grocery store, buy the healthier products barbara talked about, not products that are left over organ surplus. Items that are healthy and nutritious. Cook for yourselves. Make your own choices. That is why snap is important. That is why it does that. Instead of the federal government dictating what they think we should eat, we should just give americans the flexibility and resources to make those choices themselves. Host when we talk about the snap program and nutrition at asian, we get nutrition education, we get, is like this. Maybe snap should not prevent things like potato chips and ice cream purchases. Guest that has been the controversy for a long time. Most of us would say we dont want restrictions on what our families can do or eat when it comes to our groceries. At the same time there are Public Health considerations. Snacksas been talk about and sugary beverages and so forth. That is something for future congresses to decide. I think the most important thing is we let families have the resources and have the education and nutritional assistance, the awareness of what the best choices are so they can make those. Host atlanta, georgia. Good morning. You are on with billy shore. Go ahead, terri. Caller thank you for taking my call and happy thanksgiving to you and everyone listening in. I think covid19 is probably the worst pandemic that i have experienced. It has certainly caused problems for people i know. I am retired. I have a comfortable retirement. I worked most of my life. Orm not in need of food anything like that. I do support and contribute to local food banks. I live in dekalb county, georgia. The county has been good about having box giveaway for families. Each time they do the lines are very long. People wait in line for hours and they receive food. That tells me there is a need. But if you check with your local food bank, you will find they are having severe depletion of things they usually have. If you are able to contribute to the food bank for your little church, synagogue, mosque, whatever, people are in dire need of food. People are hungry. Covid19 has not made it any better for us. I just hope and pray we are soon able to get past this terrible, terrible virus and we are able to get our country back on the right path of Economic Development and health and health care. Thank you so much for taking my call. Happy thanksgiving to everyone. You listen to what i say but contribute to food banks or helping local worship organizations. Thank you again, cspan. Billy shore . Guest the caller made such an important point. There is a role for everyone to play in this fight against hunger. You can donate to a local food bank or soup kitchen or a pantry. You can donate food. You can donate funds. In some cases there are covidsafe ways to help distribute food or pack food or store it. In the fight against hunger there is a role for everybody. The food banks are doing and absolutely extraordinary job. They have risen to the occasion during this pandemic. 150 eed is up well over from what it was before. The food banks that managed. We have all seen on the news and in newspapers the photographs of long lines. Sometimes more than 1000 cars lined up at a food bank. The need is real. Storeod banks tend to food and then redistribute it to hundreds of smaller soup kitchens and religious organizations and pantries. They are providing a lifeline for people. If there is anyway those can folksbute cash folk can contribute. Ihave done a really cannot say enough about the job they have done. Host for the folks who have never visited or volunteered for one of these places, can you talk about the difference between a food bank, soup kitchen, pantry, and how they actually work . Guest think of a food bank as an upstream of where this all starts. It tends to be a massive warehouse that has access product that has been donated. Milk, cereals, bread. It is a massive warehouse with forklifts and shelving. Bankin turn each food probably supplies food to about 250 to 300 smaller Community Organizations which is where people actually get the food. You dont go to a food bank to get food. The Food Bank Supplies your local organization. It might be a suit kitchen over church basement. They take that food and kind of package it up in familysized portions. It starts with the food banks. A lot of the Large Food Companies in this country, whether it is kelloggs or General Mills or others, they are very generous in donating product. Host who runs food banks themselves, the larger warehouses . Guest they tend to be independent organizations, but they are affiliated with feeding america to help direct resources to them. In each community and washington, there is a capital area food bank. Boston has the Greater Boston food bank. Chicago has the chicago food depository. They were closely and share best practices and they need certain standards of safety and efficiency and effectiveness. Host tina out of roseville, michigan. Caller how are you doing today . Host you are on with billy shore. Whoeveri thank god for initiated this. I know a lot of people who have benefited from the boxes. Boxesa did not get the she thought were good for her. We are getting things in those boxes that help people like frozen food items. They get frozen meatballs, chicken, sausage. Get get milk and they cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt. We use. E items i appreciate those boxes. Guest i think that underscores there is not necessarily any one right way to feed people. The box of Food Supplies has been helpful to our caller. I think for other families, having the flex ability to make their own choices will be better. We have to use every resource at our disposal in this crisis. Host abilene, kansas. This is roger. Seeler i was wanting to i agree with the snap program. I am a farmer. To revealwanted him to the people how much of this program is really financed by the farm programs. The farm programs furnished the money for all of these. When they see these large farm bills they realize part of that is going to staff programs at other programs similar to this. Thank you. Guest thats a great point, roger. The farmers have played a huge role in this. Every five years that is a farm bill that includes resources for farmers but also a very significant part of it is Financial Support for the snap program. Farmers have been the backbone of that. They feed our communities. Thank you for making that point and the work that you do. Host do you find farm bills are becoming more polarized . Is it harder to get past the Congress Passed through congress . Guest it is more difficult because it nears everything going on in our political dynamic. One thing that is worth pointing out is there has been a long bipartisan a long history of bipartisan support for food and nutrition grams in particular programs in particular. It is one place for republicans and democrats have worked together at the federal, state. Governors have been deeply engaged in supporting the work of the no kid hungry campaign. You at the federal level have the chairs and ranking members of the senate and house echo also committees. I think people see feeding kids and families as a place where partisanship can be set aside. Have pollyanna i view of it, but there is a great track record of bipartisanship. That is something we have tried w to perpetuate. If youre about feeding people rather than scoring political points, you have to do it on a bipartisan basis. Why ican anyone explain am suddenly receiving more snap because of this pandemic . It seems ironic i was not worth it before. Guest a new program has been stood up. It is getting resources to people like timothy, the pandemic ebt program is my guess as to what he is referring to. It became available in ways that had not been before. Without knowing the particular circumstances timothy is in, my guess is that is why. Host brittany out of maryland on the line for those who have experienced Food Insecurity. Caller hi there. I am a nurse working to the pandemic. Dashed through the pandemic. I am a nurse working through this pandemic. The community has been stepping up to help those in need. I guess my frustration and question is why the senate has taken a recess so early with the break with all this going on. I find that very frustrating. Pandemic a lot of us feel burned out and working. I guess that is my question. Host you are a nurse who is currently experiencing Food Insecurity . No, personally i am not. I am still working. My family is ok. I guess seeing what is going on around me in my community is just frustrating. Host billy shore . Guest first, thank you for the work you are doing is a nurse. I cant imagine anything more heroic at this particular time. We see nurses and doctors and First Responders on the news every day. You have got to be having a hard time of it so thank you for that. Boy, iour frustration, sure share it. The fact the senate has not acted on this and is in fact blocking efforts to get another stimulus package through at a time when, as we talked about, the pandemic is raging and unemployment is high, benefits are running out, schools are closed, you would be hardpressed to name a combination of circumstances more demanding of congressional action at this moment. It is frustrating. Hopefully there will be a new tone in washington, new leadership. I am optimistic there will be more bipartisanship than we have seen. There certainly cant be less. We have witnessed the low watermark. Hopefully these problems will get dealt with. Host any thoughts on who you would expect to run the department of agriculture and hhs . The names you are hearing about in your universe of Public Policy . Guest i dont really know. I dont have inside track. I have seen names others have seen having to do with the women who runs agriculture in the whoe of california woman runs agriculture in the state of california. Jon kyl sack was a great was a greatvilsack champion for hundred kids. The economic appointment is a coming first. I am sure we will know in a few weeks by the do