Who Here Is Hungry?

My first question to myself and to readers here is, how well do we understand hunger?

So I'll talk about my situation a bit.  I work for the Oakland Public Library as a children's librarian.  I live in Oakland too, and I am completely in love with my city. That doesn't mean I don't acknowledge its problems, though.  Oakland's crime rate gets a lot of national attention, but what about the quieter problem of hunger? 

In 2010, the Alameda County Food Bank released a comprehensive study called Hunger: the Faces and Facts, which they call "a census of hunger and food insecurity in California's seventh largest county."  Food security and insecurity are concepts I'll refer to often in this blog.  The World Health Organization defines food security as "both physical and economic access to food that meets people's dietary needs as well as their food preferences," and states that it is "built on three pillars:

• Food availability: sufficient quantities of food available on a consistent basis.
• Food access: having sufficient resources to obtain appropriate foods for a nutritious diet.
• Food use: appropriate use based on knowledge of basic nutrition and care, as well as adequate water and sanitation."

It comes down to this:  food security means that every time you are hungry, you are able to get nutritious food and eat it.  In their report, the ACFB further defines food insecurity as "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods; the inability to acquire those foods in socially acceptable ways."  I like how they add the concept of social acceptability.

Let's look at some statistics from Alameda County:

• The ACFB currently serves 49,000 unduplicated individuals every week, 250,000 every year.  That's 1 in 6 Alameda County residents.
• 43% of ACFB clients are children 17 and under.
• 88% of client households with a child under 5 face low food security.
• 25% of clients with kids reported an instance of not being able to buy food when their child was hungry within the last year.

So, how does this relate to the library?

That's one thing I will explore in this blog.  As I look out from the reference desk in my library, across the street from the Alameda County Courthouse, how many of the kids and parents I see have skipped a meal today?  Which, if any, of the kids parked on the computers don't know whether an adult will provide them lunch?  A new school year is starting, and according to this USA Today article, we can anticipate two-thirds of Oakland's K-8 teachers giving their students food to help them make it to lunchtime. 

The ACFB report defines hunger as "the uneasy or painful sensation caused by a lack of food; the recurrent and involuntary lack of access to food."  It's not hard to imagine how a child experiencing uneasiness or pain might not be a well-behaved library patron, alert and ready to engage with good books, games, and computer resources. 

Here's how a handful of Oakland libraries are tackling the problem head-on this summer:  by serving as free summer lunch sites.  Have a look at the video in the link.  I love when Chávez Branch manager Pete Villasenor points out that "because the kids have food in their belly, they're able to stay longer, and browse and check out all the great books."

Finally, if you are fortunate enough to live in or near Alameda County, be sure to visit the ACFB's "Faces of Hunger" exhibit in the Oakland City Hall Rotunda Building, on display through Sept. 2, showcasing the photos that accompany the report.

A Nibble of This, a Pinch of That...

Welcome to Eat the Library, a blog where I'll be collecting articles, thoughts, and images on a topic that seems like a big no-no from the start:  food in the library.

Before you guiltily slip that bag of pretzels under your magazine and look over your shoulder for the descending wrathful librarian, let me tell you that where food in the library is concerned, the table is being reset.  Many libraries welcome Patrons Who Nosh (pwns---pronounce it "Pohnz"), even provide the cafe that supplies their treats.  In Oakland's recent budget battle, I think the revenue raising suggestion I heard most often was "hey, how about a library cafe!?"

But Eat the Library isn't just about whether we get to bring our Cheetos into the library.  We'll talk about incorporating healthy food practices into your library---is there a way you can make healthy food more accessible for your patrons?  Do you have young patrons who would bubble over at the thought of bringing treats to share one day from The Cooking Book?  How can you, and why should you, build a community garden at your branch?  And in these difficult economic times, how is hunger impacting your young patrons, or the adult patrons who accompany them?  How do you know?

Let's begin with inspiration:  the Calvert Eats Local program at the Calvert Library in Maryland.  They hold a monthly potluck, all local ingredients, at the Prince Frederick Branch where they share food and exchange ideas for sustainable local agriculture.  And I bet they bring their own plates.

--Amy

PS:  The blog name?  Like all great things, it came from the (collective) mouths of babes.  This was a thank-you received by one of our children's librarians after she let a visiting class eat lunch in the courtyard.

Thank you, indeed.