ABOUT EILEEN SPRING:
Eileen Spring joined Food Gatherers in 1994 to oversee fundraising and volunteer management. She soon became the CEO and it’s been a whirlwind of a joyful journey to fight hunger where we live. She is constantly inspired by the staff, volunteers, and community partners to share more food and goodwill. She believes that in a land of plenty, no one should be hungry. When not gathering, Eileen loves to travel and play Scrabble.
RESOURCES:
Food Gatherers Press Release: "Food insecurity rate rising in Washtenaw County"
Food Gatherers Summer Food Service Program
Food Gatherers Meet Up and Eat Up
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and we're always hungry to gather and pass along new information to you. Unfortunately, that sometimes means offering up news of great concern. I'm David Fair, and welcome to this week's edition of Washtenaw United. There is new data out that shows food insecurity in Washtenaw County has climbed up to 14%. That's up from 12.5% and means that one in every seven residents in our community does not have reliable access to enough nutritious food for a healthy life. It also means an increased demand on food pantries. And there are challenges to meeting those needs. Our guest today works in the middle of all of this every day. Eileen Spring is President and CEO of Ann Arbor-based Food Gatherers. And thank you for joining us for an update, Eileen! Always nice to talk with you!
Eileen Spring: Thank you for having me, David!
David Fair: Well, what, if anything, surprised you about the latest look at food insecurity?
Eileen Spring: Well, we were not surprised at all, because the data that was just released is actually data that takes a while to pull together nationally. And so, it's data from 2023. So, we have already been seeing on the ground, for the last year and a half, an increase in need in terms of people accessing pantries. And so, it takes a while to get those statistics out, but it really confirms what people throughout the community here and nationwide have been experiencing, which is significant increases in people coming to pantries. Really since the pandemic, it hasn't abated, and that's of concern, right, because of the various things happening at the federal level, just when we know more people need help with getting food at the table.
David Fair: The data came from Map the Meal, and in its report on the food insecurity gap, does the local data back that up, say, from the ALICE report?
Eileen Spring: Yes, that we know, United Way has been a great champion of the data and sharing the data around ALICE, which has consistently indicated that like 40%, I believe, of households throughout Southeast Michigan have a difficult time affording housing, affording food, affording basic essentials to living. And that definitely coincides with why people want to go or need to go to a food pantry because it's the one expense--food is the one expense--families can cut back on because they have to pay rent or else they're going to lose their housing. They have to pay for their car. And so, they're all interconnected very much so.
David Fair: It is one thing for an organization to gather the data. It's another to experience it on a daily basis. You mentioned that the numbers have been climbing since the pandemic, but now with higher food prices and greater uncertainty and federal funding, what are you hearing at Food Gatherers from the members of the community you serve? Where are their greatest concerns?
Eileen Spring: I think they're across the board. So, the proposal that's come out of the House recently that would slash Medicaid and SNAP benefits to an extent that we have never seen before in this country is causing great anxiety.
David Fair: We're talking with Eileen Spring on 89.1 WEMU's Washtenaw United. She is President and CEO of Ann Arbor-based Food Gatherers. So, many of the school-aged children in our community rely on free meals during the school months. Now, we've hit summer break. How is Food Gatherers helping fill that particular gap through the summer months?
Eileen Spring: Well, yes. Thank you! So, people can go to our website and get more details, but we have a program called the Summer Food Service Program, Meet Up and Eat Up. And we'll be doing two different kinds of programming. There will be meals offered at several Ypsilanti sites at the libraries on Michigan Avenue, Superior Township, and Whittaker Road. That's a daily meal throughout the summer that you have to show up, and there's other activities happening. And then, we also have the Grab-and-Go Model that allows peak families or peak individuals to go to different sites that we have listed on our website to grab several meals to go--lunches and breakfasts. And this is available to individuals up to age 26 and enrolled in an education program are eligible. And it's really to help benefit all those children to rely on school meals that go away in the summer.
David Fair: And I'm just curious. That is a tremendous service that is offered and provided and that people can take advantage of. But as you mentioned, there have been federal funding cuts proposed at the USDA. Some have already been enacted. What has been the direct impact on your operations to date?
Eileen Spring: Well, the Summer Food Program is funded right now, so that's good! So, I encourage people to take advantage of it. Earlier, a couple months ago, really in March, we lost a significant source of food from the USDA, and the USDA food represent 30% of all the food that food gatherers distribute. And it was cut in half. So, that's the equivalent of. 1.5 million pounds or 1.2 million meals, which has been really challenging right at this time where people are definitely relying on pantries to help them make ends meet. And so, we're kind of taking it on as a quarter per quarter challenge, David, because it's overwhelming to think beyond that. So, we have worked with both the county government and Ann Arbor city government to get some needed additional resources to help us try to fill that gap. The food value that we lost from the USDA is about two and a half million dollars, so it's quite a challenge. We're reaching out to local donors and just private citizens to help step up, so that we can continue to distribute the kind of food that the USDA was giving us, which was really valuable: nutritious food, fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein, etc. And so, it's really helpful to be able to help us meet our goal of distributing 60% of our food being protein and produce. And so, we're really reaching out to everyone to help us step up to continue to be able to just distribute the same volume of food right now to have the least disruption as possible to our safety net at this difficult time.
David Fair: Our Washtenaw United conversation continues with Food Gatherers President and CEO Eileen Spring on WEMU's Washtenaw United. You said you're going quarter by quarter, and looking further beyond that can be overwhelming. Nonetheless, we kind of have to look ahead, don't we? While you remain committed to maintaining current service levels, if the trend of cutting continues, I mean, we're only in the first of a four-year administration, what would it take to accommodate further shortfalls in food for distribution?
Eileen Spring: So, I will remind people that the bill being considered right now that the House has passed that has record cuts to SNAP and Medicaid has not passed. So, there is still time to affect this. And I really encourage people to do all that they can to reach out to their elected officials to emphasize the importance of the safety net for health care and for food. And don't give up the fight, because if this bill is passed, it will affect pretty much everyone throughout the country. There's so much at stake. It's $300 billion for SNAP alone over the next 10 years. And that's the equivalent of 9.5 billion meals that could disappear.
David Fair: You mentioned taking an active role in affecting policy, and your organization obviously responds to the immediate and short-term need. If a war on poverty ever truly existed, it seems to be failing at the moment. Does Food Gatherers take an official role in pushing that conversation forward when it comes to policy or from a legislative standpoint?
Eileen Spring: We certainly are trying to, and we know that, throughout Michigan, this particular cut to Medicaid and SNAP would affect about 1.5 million people--Michigan residents--on SNAP alone and would add as much as $900 million to the state's coffers that they would have to pay to continue that safety net service. So, it really affects everyone. Even if you are not a recipient of SNAP or a recipient of Medicaid, it's going to have a huge impact on our economy and a huge impact...like, every household probably has a senior somewhere, right, who's relying on care at a nursing home or they're a care provider to someone. So, this is really, really affecting not just low income people, it will affect the entire country. Losing SNAP benefits affects retailers locally. It's a huge boost to the economy for every dollar that SNAP is spent, and it leads to $1.50 at a farmer's market or a grocery store or a corner store. So, these are not discrete impacts. This will affect our entire state and our entire country.
David Fair: Well, thank you so much for taking time to talk with me today and sharing the information. Obviously, it is going to be difficult in moving forward, but we can hold forth with great optimism!
Eileen Spring: Thank you, David!
David Fair: That is Eileen Spring. She is President and CEO of Ann Arbor-based Food Gatherers and our guest on Washtenaw United. For more information on the growing food insecurity in Washtenaw County and the challenges ahead, stop by our website at WEMU.org. Washtennaw United is produced in partnership with the United Way of Southeastern Michigan and you hear it every Monday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting from the campus of Eastern Michigan University!
WEMU has partnered with the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to explore the people, organizations, and institutions creating opportunity and equity in our area. And, as part of this ongoing series, you’ll also hear from the people benefiting and growing from the investments being made in the areas of our community where there are gaps in available services. It is a community voice. It is 'Washtenaw United.'
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