San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted: 08/19/2005 12:00 AM CDT
By Ron Wilson, Express-News Staff Writer

Americans can spend some money now to address hunger in the United States or spend a lot more later paying medical bills for diabetes and other illnesses related to poor nutrition, a national hunger expert said.

Bob Forney, CEO of Second Harvest, an umbrella organization for 212 regional food banks, was in San Antonio this week for the opening of a Kids Café, a program that combines after-school child care with nutrition.

"There are 23 million people in America who are 'food insecure,'" Forney said. "That's disgraceful."

Being "food insecure" means that a person doesn't know where their next nutritionally balanced meal will come from.

Second Harvest is a massive food distribution system that uses volunteers and donations to get groceries, fresh produce and prepared foods to agencies that distribute them to the hungry.

"That system works well," Forney said, "but there's a better way. Thirty-five to 40 percent of the people who are eligible for food stamps are not on the program. Just getting them on the program would be a big step toward ending hunger."

Anita Wheeler, a spokeswoman for food conglomerate Con-Agra, which is funding three Kids Cafés in San Antonio, said hunger hits children especially hard. She said studies show that underfed children get lower grades, have trouble paying attention and tend to be "grouchy."

Wheeler said many such children could be on medication for years for the treatment of childhood obesity and diabetes, both of which are spurred by poor nutrition.

Providing at-risk children with balanced diets and nutrition information now will save money on medications later, Forney said.

In addition to distributing food, Second Harvest is trying to make it easier for people to get on food stamp programs, which are administered by the states.

Forney said some states require food stamp applicants to fill out a 32-page questionnaire before being accepted into the program.

"If they don't have answers to all the questions on that form, they don't make it," he said. "What we're doing at Second Harvest is trying to get the states to put these people into the program temporarily" until all the answers can be verified.

Locally, the San Antonio Food Bank has completed its part of a nationwide effort to identify people who are in need of food programs.

Eric Cooper, the Food Bank's executive director, said his agency has counted the number of people in Bexar County who are food insecure. The study should be ready for release this winter.

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