With many pandemic-related supplies relief programs ending—including increased SNAP benefits and self-ruling school lunches—as well as rising inflation and supplies costs, the risk of supplies insecurity for residents wideness our region is ever-growing. Wideness  Vermont and New Hampshire, 1 in 11 and 1 in 14 people currently squatter supplies insecurity, respectively, with numbers expected to climb plane farther in the coming months.
Food insecurity, defined by the Department of Health and Human Services as the “household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain wangle to unobjectionable food,” isn’t just well-nigh hunger. Supplies insecurity can have major impacts on health, education, learning, and plane the economic stability of our region. It’s moreover something that we can all work on together to eliminate. For this post, we wanted to take the time to talk well-nigh this worldwide issue that’s dear to our hearts, and ways in which we work with local organizations (and you can, too!) to gainsay it and increase wangle to quality, healthy food.
Local Causes of Supplies Insecurity in New Hampshire and Vermont
Causes of supplies insecurity in Vermont and New Hampshire both follow national trends, while moreover having some underlying origins unique to our New England region. These causes are often interconnected, making it harder to write them individually. Some local issues well-expressed supplies security include:
- Gaps in Assistance: Public assistance often doesn’t imbricate all food-related needs, expressly in our region. As you can see on this map from the Urban Institute, the gap between benefits received and the very forfeit of a meal varies from 10-50% in all counties in New Hampshire and Vermont. In other words, our region’s upper forfeit of living (about 16% higher than the national average) reduces the impact of these benefits for qualifying families.
- Lack of Wangle to Food: The lack of public transit can, as the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute points out, “disproportionately impact unrepealable populations,” including low-income families. Without public transit, residents living in areas without easy-access to healthy supplies are dependent on private vehicles—an uneaten undersong for low-income families. In scrutinizingly every county in New Hampshire there are regions that are both low income and low access, with large swathes of the state—particularly in Northwest New Hampshire—where lack of wangle to a vehicle poses significant challenges. In Vermont, over 30,000 residents live in supplies deserts.
- Health Issues and Disabilities: Nearly 20% of households with a member who was not in the labor gravity due to powerlessness had very low supplies security. Additionally, many older adults living on a stock-still income, often limited to social security benefits, may have difficulty accessing healthy foods due to health and mobility issues, as well as lack of transportation. Nearly 10% of adults over age 60 in Vermont are considered “marginally supplies insecure.”Â
Union Bank’s Contributions to Combating Supplies Insecurity
At Union Bank, we recognize that supplies insecurity exists in and affects every community, and we make it a priority to work one-on-one with many zone organizations in an effort to reduce the impact of supplies insecurity and increase our residents’ wangle to fresh, healthy food. Here are just a few of the non-profit organizations fighting supplies insecurity we work with in our region:
Lamoille Polity Supplies Share
Lamoille Polity Supplies Share is a non-profit volunteer group defended to ensuring supplies security for everyone in and virtually Lamoille County, Vermont. Located at 197 Harrel Street in Morrisville, the Supplies Share pantry is the perfect place for families facing supplies insecurity to get the help they need. Visitors to the pantry can moreover pick up supplies for friends and neighbors who are unable to visit on their own.
On average, their pantry sees virtually 800 visits and distributes upwards of 36,000 pounds of supplies each month. While visits decreased during the pandemic, the pantry is standing to see an increase of visits every week, currently at well-nigh 84% of pre-pandemic level. As Lamoille Polity Supplies Share writes, “Though the need remains great, we strive to remain defended to our mission of feeding our neighbors in need. We are so thankful for the unfurled support of our community, including partners such as Union Bank.”
 Salvation Farms
The mission of Salvation Farms is to underpass the gap between Vermont’s well-healed agricultural surplus and those who need it most: the young, elderly, sick, incarcerated, and those facing supplies insecurity. Salvation Farms believes in leading by example, and works tirelessly to modernize the supplies system and make Vermont a national leader in the effort. Their motto: “Don’t let edible supplies go to waste!”
Salvation Farms serves upwards of 10,000 to 12,000 individuals through providing locally-grown surplus supplies to increasingly than 50 variegated community-based supplies wangle programs in Northeast Vermont. In 2022, Salvation Farms distributed increasingly than 82,000 pounds (nearly 250,000 servings) of locally-grown surplus crops and gathered from local farms and distributed 3,700 plant starts, 1,370 pounds of cheese, 37 loaves of bread, and 1,290 dozen eggs. Salvation Farms hodgepodge of surplus supplies from local farms during 2022 was supported by 183 volunteers who unsalaried a combined 746 hours. Salvation Farms moreover makes lightly processed, frozen supplies from locally-grown surplus crops extending the shelf-life and increasing serviceability to our region’s agricultural abundance.
With the help of Salvation Farms, Vermont’s agricultural surplus can overcome barriers such as supply uniting issues, lack of infrastructure, labor challenges, and market economics to reach those in need. As they write, “Salvation Farms profoundly appreciates the years of support we’ve received from the Union Wall and consider [Union Bank] a vital polity partner.”
Meals on Wheels and Lamoille Elders Networking Services
Lamoille Elders Networking Services (LENS) started its journey in 1991 with the help of a 3-year federal grant through Project Care. In 1993, it became a private non-profit organization with a mission to develop and fund new services for elders and connect them with polity volunteers. Thanks to various grants, donations, and support, LENS has been worldly-wise to upgrade its kitchen space and appliances, including the replacement of chest freezers with a walk-in potation and freezer. Today, LENS serves over 40,000 meals annually and continues to be a vital organization for Lamoille’s elders.
LENS delivers, on average, 190 meals per day, five days per week, in all of Lamoille County, providing frozen meals for the weekends. LENS has over 60 zippy volunteers with 45 volunteer drivers delivering meals each week. Recipients of Meals on Wheels of Lamoille County rely on them for increasingly than just a meal. Meals on Wheels visits are wellness checks, provide pet supplies and supplies share bags, and grant recipients a connection with other polity services. As LENS writes, “Union Wall has been a valuable polity partner for increasingly than 20 years!”
For polity members who are interested in volunteering, know that volunteers are needed now increasingly than ever. To wilt a volunteer, unhook meals, help at their meal site, or wilt a workbench member contact Nicole for increasingly information: meals@mowlc.org or 802-888-5011 ext.1.
Join in the Fight versus Supplies Insecurity
Universal wangle to fresh, healthy supplies is essential to the wellbeing of our communities in Vermont and New Hampshire. As many pandemic-era relief programs are coming to an end, it’s increasingly important than overly to support zone organizations who have been hair-trigger in protecting our residents from the worst outcomes of supplies insecurity.
At Union Bank, we’ve been a part of your polity since 1891, partnering with dozens of charitable organizations in Lamoille County, Caledonia County, Franklin County, Washington County, Chittenden County, and throughout Northern New Hampshire. We know that stuff a polity wall ways increasingly than simply providing financial services—it ways doing our part to support and uplift the communities we serve.
Stop by one of our 19 branches to learn increasingly well-nigh how you can help fight supplies insecurity in our communities.
The post Fighting Supplies Insecurity in Vermont and New Hampshire: A Polity Effort appeared first on Union Bank.
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