A Place at the Table

I saw the new documentary film about hunger called "A Place at the Table" again, and I must say I found it to be better the second time. Here are a few of the things it gets right.

• Emergency food, as provided in food pantries and soup kitchens, is necessary, but it can never solve the problem of hunger in America
• The U.S. came very close to ending the problem of hunger in the late 1970s
• Hunger was successfully addressed then and can be again now through legislative action that includes generous provisions for food stamps (SNAP) and other supplemental nutrition programs and increases in the minimum wage
• The best way to persuade legislators that fighting hunger is important is to expose them to the real experts on hunger - the hungry themselves - through programs like "Witnesses to Hunger"
• Programs like WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) that provide nutrition assistance and nutrition education to women and children are vital and should be increased, not cut
• SNAP-Ed, or nutrition education funded by the United States Department of Agriculture, works to help children and families make more nutritious food selections
• Healthy food - fruits and vegetables - must be subsidized to the same degree as wheat, corn, soy, etc. so that poor people can have ready access to food that is good for them