With the holidays looming, many of us are looking forward to annual feasts with family and friends. But there are many in the U.P. who don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
Food insecurity — the inability to buy enough nutritious food to feed your family — is on the rise in the U.P. It’s gone up this year to 15.8 percent. That’s almost 16 of every 100 residents.
Several organizations are working to do something about food insecurity in the U.P.
Feeding America West Michigan is leading the charge. The Michigan chapter of a nationwide initiative called Feeding America is opening a new headquarters and distribution center to meet the growing need for food assistance across its service area, which includes the U.P. The new facility will enable the nonprofit to distribute 37.5 million meals annually – a 37 percent increase in capacity at a time when food assistance requests continue to grow.
Feeding America West Michigan provides mobile food distributions to nearly every county in the U.P., says Kenneth Estelle, president and CEO of Feeding America West Michigan. This year, 16 percent more people are seeking food from distribution centers there, a number that has increased more than 25 percent since 2022. The organization also supports local food pantries that can order food from its main warehouse, and it delivers that food to communities across the U.P. monthly.
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Feeding America West Michigan Kenneth EstelleFood insecurity is especially prevalent in the U.P., Estelle says. Four of the five counties with the highest need for food in the organization’s 40-county service area are located there. The Michigan average for food insecurity is 14 percent of the population. In the U.P., it ranges from 16 to 18 percent, topping 20 percent in some areas, Estelle says.
"Food insecurity isn't just about hunger,” he goes on to say. “It's a complex issue involving system gaps, insufficient income and lack of access to nourishing choices. Many of our neighbors are just one job loss or medical crisis away from not having enough to eat.”
Feeding America West Michigan is also working with some tribal communities to provide local food and support food distributions.
“The challenge is unique, given the rural nature of the U.P.,” says Phillip Knight, executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan.
“I think people are struggling with more month than money,” Knight says. “If you are trying to answer the question, ‘What will I eat today?’ or ‘What will I feed my children?’, your mind is consumed and not free to think about how to make life better.”
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Food Bank Council of Michigan Phillip KnightHe’d like to see the Michigan Department of Education, which oversees the state’s commodities program, expand eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps. “More SNAP for U.P. residents might be the best option to decrease food insecurity and ease the burden on the charitable food network,” says Knight. “Additionally, rethinking the tax policy for families making less than a self-sufficiency standard could change the trajectory of many Michigan families.”
Several other organizations are also addressing food insecurity in the U.P.
The U.P. Food Exchange (UPFE) is a food hub
led by the Marquette Food Co-op and Taste the Local Difference that publishes a magazine identifying local food sources throughout the U.P. and the northwest and northeast lower peninsula. Working to create a successful local food model in the central U.P., the organization coordinates and encourages local food activities there. They also support other organizations and communities’ local food projects and a UPFE food policy committee.
Copper Shores Community Health Foundation, based in Hancock, has a food program for seniors in Houghton and Keweenaw counties. It includes Meals on Wheels — a home delivery service bringing home-cooked meals to homebound seniors daily — and Meet & Eat, which provides seniors who have transportation the opportunity to gather together to eat and socialize.
The nutritious meals include a protein, fruits and vegetables, bread or other grains and a side of milk, says Kathleen Harter, food services director at Copper Shores.
The problem is that there are 40 seniors on Copper Shores’ waiting list for Meals on Wheels, and they face a three to five month wait. Unfortunately, that’s not unusual. Nationwide, one in three Meals on Wheels programs has a waiting list. “How do you eat while you’re waiting?” asks Harter.
What is needed is more public awareness of the depth and breadth of food insecurity in the community, she says. More funding is also needed, and every nonprofit needs more volunteers to help provide food, social contact and a way to check in regularly on seniors.
“It’s more economical for the community to keep people well-fed and healthy,” Harter points out.
The Institute for Food and Development Policy, better known as
Food First, works to end the injustices that cause hunger through research, education and action.
According to its website, Food First envisions a world in which all people have access to healthy, ecologically produced and culturally appropriate food. The organization recognizes that food security requires action and political transformation, so it supports activists, social movements, alliances and coalitions working for systemic change.
The Food Security Council (FSC) was created by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as an advisory body to inform the state's response to food insecurity.
“Food insecurity is a pressing and persistent problem in Michigan,” says Phillip Knight, executive director of the Food Bank Council, who also chairs the governor’s Food Security Council.
“Many Michigan residents continue to live without reliable, daily access to an adequate amount of affordable, nutritious food.”
Knight says the FSC created six work groups to examine food supply, the needs of special populations, racial disparities, client perspectives, health care and policy.
They developed 11 recommendations for the governor to address the issue of food insecurity in Michigan, including an effort to change federal regulations that require people on reservations to choose between SNAP or a federal program called FDPIR—Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. People in need who do not live on reservations do not have to make this choice, Knight points out. The FSC also recommended a program called School Meals for All, which has been funded.
The Michigan Alliance to Stop Hunger (MASH) provides information and resources on federal and state policy that impacts under-resourced households and communities, to address food insecurity and poverty in Michigan. MASH issues updates on policy issues and action alerts and tools to use when advocating or educating about food insecurity, according to its website.
The alliance works to increase innovation and effectiveness of food and nutrition programs on both state and federal levels through a combination of administrative, legislative and regulatory advocacy. It also tries to build and maintain strong relationships with members of Congress to influence federal legislation that impacts food banks and addresses food insecurity.
There’s no question that food insecurity affects thousands of U.P. residents. Luckily, there are many local and state organizations working on ways to solve this urgent problem.
Jennifer Donovan is a reporter with more than 40 years of experience on daily newspapers, magazines and university writing and editing. She is retired as director of news and media relations at Michigan Technological University and lives in Houghton.