HUNGER HEROES - Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma

food for
Issue 4 • 2015
HUNGER
AMONG OUR
HEROES
Fighting Hunger, Feeding Hope
Community FOOD BANK of Eastern Oklahoma
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2015 - 2016
Board of Directors
President
Eric Kunkel
Dear Friends–
Vice President
Mike McAndrews
One of those holidays is Veteran’s Day, which falls this year on November 11th.
It is a time we as a nation stop and express gratitude for the commitment
and sacrifice veterans have made on behalf of us all. My father, a Korean
War veteran, was delighted each Veteran’s Day by the opportunity to enjoy a
complimentary meal in recognition of his service. Many restaurants offer this
opportunity to vets and it is a fun and thoughtful expression of gratitude.
CCK Strategies
Mariner Wealth Advisors
Treasurer
Jason Smith
Flight Concepts, LLC
Secretary
Monica Gibbs
Agape Bible Fellowship Church
Immediate Past President
Colleen Almeida Smith
Tulsa World
Members
Dr. Eloy A. Chavez
Northeastern State University
Lori Dryer
People’s Pantry of Tulsa, Inc.
Brent Edstrom
Reasor’s
Rich Ficken
WPX Energy Marketing, LLC
Jason Glass
I hope you are enjoying this change of season as much as I am–I am happy
to feel fall in the air! The months ahead are dotted with holidays, giving us
reasons to reflect, remember and celebrate.
Though my father certainly enjoyed the free meal and sentiment it
represented, he didn’t really need it. However, for too many other veterans
in our country, the need for food assistance is real and persistent. According
to a recent study, more than one in four Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are
classified as food insecure. Additionally, our active duty military are impacted
by hunger and food insecurity as well. According to Feeding America,
approximately 620,000 families with at least one member actively serving in
the U.S. military sought food assistance from a pantry last year.
We have so many brave men and women who have put their lives on the
line in hostile territory. Active duty families often find the struggle with food
insecurity compounds the worry of a loved one’s deployment. Veterans often
return home to find their earning potential has been impacted by injury or the
transition to civilian job market is more challenging than anticipated.
Tom Hutchison
In this issue, you will hear from a graduate student who spent time on base as
a military spouse and saw the issue first hand. Many of our Partner Programs
serve veterans each day, and the Food Bank has just added a staff member
to help coordinate our efforts on behalf of veterans and their families, to
ensure we are reaching them in the most effective ways. We appreciate your
partnership in this effort.
Teresa Johnson
Community Volunteer
Thanks you for all you do–we literally couldn’t do any of our work without you.
Kurt Kazmierski
On behalf of the hungry,
Savage Baum & Glass, PLLC
Vanessa Hall-Harper
Tulsa Health Department
Cynthia Hubbard
Williams Companies, Inc.
GableGotwals
Arvest Bank
Dr. Kathy LaFortune
Tulsa County Juvenile Bureau
Scott Lewis
Optimus Industries, LLC
Anthony Phillips
Bank of Oklahoma
Eileen Ryan Bradshaw
Executive Director
John Silva
Morton Comprehensive
Health Services
Steve Swetoha
Tulsa Shock
Executive Director
Eileen Bradshaw
Join Breadwinners, our recurring giving plan,
and help feed families every day of the year!
Joining is easy and convenient. To get started
or learn more, contact Justin Jones at
918-936-4556 or [email protected].
“We care about families who are hungry and
didn’t know how to help, but then we found the
Food Bank. Now we give what we can every month.” -Susan
2 Food for Thought
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Together, we...
Thanks to your support, the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma
is able to fight hunger and feed hope throughout our communities.
Dined out to fight hunger
During September, more than 50 restaurants participated in the
largest Tulsa Restaurant Week in history. Thanks to your support, 10
percent of every Tulsa Restaurant Week menu item purchased was
donated to the Food Bank’s Food for Kids Program. Donations up
to $25,000 were generously matched by the George Kaiser Family
Foundation, making your donation go twice as far. The Food for
Kids Program now includes the Backpack Program, Free Family
Farmers Markets, Extended School Holiday Feeding Program and
School Pantry Program to help children and their familes fight
hunger year-round.
Celebrated the Backpack
Program’s 10th birthday
This year, our Food for Kids Backpack Program celebrates its tenth
birthday! You helped us kick-off the celebration with the Backpack
Birthday Bash at the Food Bank in September. With your help, the
Backpack Program has grown to serve more than 5,000 children each
week during the school year in Tulsa County. Our Partner Programs
facilitate the program to serve an additional 4,000 students outside of
Tulsa County.
We’re so grateful for the foundations, corporations and programs who choose to support our mission by providing
grant funding. These grants provide critical support to our many programs and we appreciate the partnership of the
following:
Schwan’s Corporate Giving Foundation
The Common Bond Foundation
Food for Kids
General Operating
*Grants listed are $10,000 and above, received between August 1-September 15, 2015.
Join us for Giving Spirits
Friday, November 6
Join honorary ambassadors Lorri & Pat Quinn and Jean & Mike Quinn for
Giving Spirits, a one-of-a-kind whiskey tasting experience, benefiting the
Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma.
The Grand Tasting offers guests samples of a collection of fine spirits
from a variety of distillers, breakout sessions focusing on the nuance and
craft of whiskey-making and local chefs demonstrating the art of cooking
with spirits. For the connoisseur, the event will also offer a limited-access
VIP Tasting, guided by master distillers and showcase rare and exceptional
whiskies from some of the most elite distilleries. The evening also includes
wonderful food, cigars, music and more.
To purchase tickets, please visit okfoodbank.org. To become an event
sponsor or receive more information, contact Heidi at 918-934-4544 or
[email protected].
Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma 3
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HUNGER AMONG OUR HEROES
Contributing Author: Elizabeth Armstrong
Did you know approximately 20 percent of families
served by the Feeding America network are military
families, made up of at least one active duty, Reserve
and National Guard or veteran?
In a 2014 estimate by the Center on Budget Policy
and Priorities, approximately 26,300 Oklahoma veterans
received Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SNAP)
benefits, an increase of 1,700 recipients from 2013.
Despite the stigma often attached to food assistance, the
users are not lazy and jobless. Many of them represent
some of the hardest-working individuals in this nation,
including military service members willing to die for our
country.
Contributing factors
Food assistance programs, such as SNAP and
Women, Infants and Children (WIC), are designed to
be supplemental in nature and are utilized by a large
number of working class individuals. This assistance
provides families with an enhanced ability to pay utility
bills, cover medical costs, go to school, all while keeping
food on the table. Military families are no exception.
Many may look at the benefits received by military
members, such as health insurance and basic housing
allowance and wonder how additional assistance is
needed. However, this doesn’t account for service
members’ low pay, additional living costs, as well as
the lack of long-term planning afforded for by military
education initiatives.
Education
According to a 2013 U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs report, only 32 percent of post 9/11 veterans held
a college degree or higher. This means a majority of those
entering the military lack an advanced education and do
not continue traditional studies during their service.
Although service members receive job training
during military commitments, many service members
face difficulty transferring these skills to the civilian
sector. Some competencies have been accounted for,
yet the gap leaves veterans without a transferable skill
set and further financial burden of paying for additional
certifications to make these jobs possible. Ultimately, the
lack of education by military service members results
in veterans with access to lower paying jobs, greater
unemployment and continued risk of further government
assistance, particularly in the form of food assistance or
cash benefits.
Pay scale
In 2015, WIC Income Guidelines use a monthly
paycheck of $3,098 for a family of three. A new low-mid
ranged Enlisted 4 (E4) makes $2,019.60 and on promotion
to Enlisted 5 (E5) makes $2,202.90—additional allowances
for housing, uniform and occasional separation pay not
included.
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Allowances are offered to compensate for additional
stresses, such as unannounced moving requirements
limiting a spouse’s ability to work, limited and expensive
housing options, high childcare costs, uniform changes
elected by higher officials, etc. The need for assistance is
not just an “enlisted” problem. Officer 1 (O1) and Warrant
Officer 2 (W2) families of three also qualify for food subsidy.
This shows low pay is a universal issue among most
lower ranking military service members. Furthermore, this
problem of low wage is recognized; yet instead of providing
for military pay increases, small-scale supplemental income
programs are available specifically for military families, such
as the Family Subsistence Supplemental Allowance (FSSA)
program. This was designed to provide military families
with an additional source of income without raising pay
for all service members and reduce the number of service
members using stigmatized food assistance.
Chronic Food Assistance Use by Military Personnel
The military community is in many ways one of the
most supportive family environments; however, that
same support remains unmatched in financial, public and
political support.
Instead of increasing military pay, military families
contribute $100 million dollars annually in food assistance
redemptions. Parts of the issues supporting systemic
need for food assistance are fixed pay scales and lack
of education and transferable skills acquired by service
members resulting in further assistance upon exiting
the military. Although more than 50 percent, or $598.5
billion, of the discretionary budget is dedicated to military
spending, the allocation of those funds leave little room
for military pay increases, leaving the task of securing
supplemental income to an already stressed military family.
The numbers mentioned in this article only include a
portion of the eligible population and do not even touch
upon the thousands of homeless veterans in need of longterm assistance. If we continue to pay our military service
members below a living wage, refuse to educate our
community and continue to ignore veteran homelessness,
the number of military families needing food assistance can
only be expected to rise.
Contributing Author: Elizabeth Armstrong
Active Duty Enlisted & Reserve Officer Military Spouse
2011-2015. Currently in her 2nd year of her Master’s in
Geography at OSU, researching political representations
by state legislators surrounding the ACA. She currently
works as a Graduate Research Assistant at OSU and as a
Research Intern at the Oklahoma Policy Institute. Her free
time is spent outside and active with her family.
THE NUMBERS
26,300
OKLAHOMA VETERANS
RECEIVE SNAP ASSISTANCE
According to the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities
Federal WIC Monthly Income Guidelines
For a family of three
$3,098.00
Enlisted 5 (E5) Monthly Salary
$2,202.90
Enlisted 4 (E4) Monthly Salary
$2,019.60
According to WIC Income Guidelines and military pay charts
VETERANS HAVE A
68% EDUCATION
HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA, GED OR
SOME COLLEGE
According to a 2013 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs report
The Community Food Bank of Eastern
Oklahoma recently launched an outreach
program to address the issue of hunger
among veterans in our communities.
“My father served in WWII, my daughter is
currently serving and I served during the Vietnam
conflict, so veterans issues are important and
personal to me,“ said Steve Lehto, rural hunger and
veterans outreach manager at the Food Bank. “I’ve
met humble, yet proud, veterans of every era and
some with a lost look in their eyes. These men and
women served so you and I can be free and they
often seem under-served as veterans. More than 27
percent of veterans are considered food insecure in
our nation. We can do better and I’m excited for the
Food Bank to become more engaged in this area.”
Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma 5
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The holidays are upon us!
Looking for the perfect gift for the people in your life?
Make a contribution in their name to the Community
Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and send one of our
Food Bank holiday cards! It’s a great way to honor your
friends and family, give back to the community and help
ensure hungry Oklahomans will have enough to eat this
holiday season.
For your convenience, we offer three pricing levels and
all contributions are tax-deductible. You can purchase up
to 100 cards for $10 each, 100 to 499 cards for $7 each or
purchase more than 500 cards for $5 each.
For an additional $1 per card, we will mail the cards
to each person on your mailing list.
Visit our website at okfoodbank.org to view
our 2015 holiday cards, which include Christmas,
Chanukah, general holiday and New Year’s cards
and download the order form.
If you have questions or would like to order
over the phone, contact Katy Dorais at
[email protected] or 918-936-4506.
Happy Chanukah
Let us do the cooking this holiday season
Let us do the cooking for your family or business holiday parties! A variety of meats are available from the
Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma’s Culinary Center, smoked in our professional smoker. All items
are fully cooked and then frozen, with reheating instructions included in each order. Your order benefits the
Food Bank and helps us fight hunger in our community.
Price
Weight
Serving Size
(6 oz. servings)
Smoked Brisket
$55
7 pounds
15-17
1/2 Smoked Pork Loin
$30
4 pounds
9-10
Full Smoked Pork Loin
$45
8 pounds
18-20
1/2 Smoked Prime Rib
$100
7 pounds
15-17
Full Smoked Prime Rib
$145
14 pounds
30-35
Smoked Pulled Pork Butt
$30
5 pounds
15
Type
Orders must be placed by Wednesday, December 9 at 4 p.m. and may be picked up from the
Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma beginning Thursday, Dec. 17 through Tuesday, Dec. 22.
To place your order, contact Deb Hughes at [email protected] or 918-936-4507.
Host a food and fund drive
Help feed families this fall and winter by hosting a food and fund drive for the Food Bank! Contact Katie
Lepine at [email protected] or 918-936-4511 for more information or to host your own food drive.
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HUNGER
ISN’T HEALTHY
Food insecurity can impact children, adults and seniors in
many different ways. But there’s one thing medical professionals
agree on—hunger isn’t healthy.
In my medical experience, I have definitely seen food
insecurity impact the health of my patients. Of course, at
the most basic level, we need food and proper nutrition to
survive and patients without adequate food are lacking in
the basic nutrients they need to thrive. Many of my patients
suffer from chronic illnesses, including high blood pressure,
high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and kidney
disease. Appropriate diet is a critical part of managing
these conditions. Mental health is also significantly
impacted by food insecurity. Depression and anxiety are
found to be higher in individuals and families who struggle
with hunger. I have experienced all of these issues firsthand
in my practice.
Hunger presents a tremendous challenge to individuals
and families, as well as the medical providers seeking to
care for those who are food insecure. In my opinion, there
are many cases in which providing adequate nutrition
could have a greater impact on patient health than many of
the other treatment modalities we might utilize to care for
a patient.
Kara M. Beair Butler, DO
Clinical Instructor of Internal Medicine/Pediatrics at the OU School
of Community Medicine
Director of the Heart Improvement Project
Medical Director of the OU Clinic at Youth Services of Tulsa
Meet Benita
While visiting the doctor last year, they told
me my high stress level was impacting my blood
pressure. They said if I didn’t stop stressing, I’d
end up in the hospital.
I didn’t have a job. I needed to eat. I needed to
pay my bills. I was constantly worried every day.
People say I’m a strong woman, I don’t see
that I have a choice. I have days where my hole
feels too deep, but I put on a smile. I’m doing my
best to focus on my health, without good health
I won’t be able to make my situation better.
To say we greatly appreciate a warm meal and
groceries from the food pantry is an under-
statement. Not having the constant worry
of where we’ll get our next meal is one less
thing I have to stress over. We know it’s
the kindness of strangers that helps get us
through. At least we know we have
someone who cares, even if we don’t
know who they are.
EFFECTS OF
HUNGER ON HEALTH
SIXTY-NINE PERCENT
The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma serves 450 Partner
Programs in 24 counties in eastern Oklahoma. In the 2014 Hunger
in America Report, Feeding America conducted a study of clients of
our Partner Programs, including how hunger affected their clients’
health and access to healthcare. You can learn more about hunger
in eastern Oklahoma by visiting map.feedingamerica.org.
6 IN 10
35%
HAVE MEDICAL BILLS TO PAY
HAVE A HOUSE
HOLD MEMBER
WITH DIABETES
CHOSE BETWEEN FOOD & MEDICINE
Rx
IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS
27% EVERY MONTH
FACE THIS CHOICE
MORE THAN HALF
HAVE A MEMBER WITH
HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
HEALTH STATUS AS RATED BY CLIENT
26%
POOR
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28%
FAIR
24%
GOOD
16%
VERY GOOD
6%
EXCELLENT
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Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma
1304 North Kenosha Avenue
Tulsa, OK 74106
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Tulsa OK
Permit No.
2370
Faces around the Food Bank
1304 North Kenosha Avenue
Tulsa, OK
Fighting Hunger, Feeding Hope
2119 North Main Street
McAlester, OK
Community FOOD BANK of Eastern Oklahoma
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