Addressing the Hunger Divide
A police officer’s knee on George Floyd’s neck. Confederate flags waving in the halls of our nation's Capital. I can’t shake the visuals. I shouldn’t try. These images took our collective breath away for very good reason. Both force us to confront a prevalent racism that’s been allowed for far too long. It’s clear to me that returning to “normal” post-COVID is not something to aspire to. This clarity extends to the hunger fight as, even in the best of times, nearly half a million Minnesotans are hungry. Communities of color are far more likely to be among the hungry.
I cannot—and will not—turn away from the reality that Indigenous people and people of color are at least twice as likely to live with hunger. At least twice as likely. New evidence suggests Black families live with hunger at rates four times that of whites.[1]
This divide in who is hungry is a complex problem to be sure, but the hunger-relief network is in the complex-problem-solving-business. Food shelves and food banks have reinvented long-standing approaches to delivering food several times since last March alone. We don’t stop for snow, ice or a raging pandemic. We must direct our logistics, sourcing and food-moving know-how to create a more just Minnesota.
This work is already underway thanks to the strong and committed community partners who are alongside us every step of the way. We source and supply a lot of food and are offering more of our business to farmers of color. We have stepped up targeted food distributions to reach people of color and Indigenous communities. We are distributing far more culturally connected food to ensure everyone feels welcome at our table.
We are proud to do business with farms owned and run by people of color. Farmers have been hit hard by the pandemic, particularly emerging farmers of color. As a large produce customer, we are positioned to strengthen our community by strengthening these farms and joining forces with The Good Acre, an organization dedicated to small farmers, good food and strong communities.
Since March, we’ve delivered millions of pounds of food in targeted ways. We’ve kept people safe, socially distanced and fed by organizing emergency grocery popups outdoors and truck-to-trunk drive-throughs. To-door meal drop-offs and prepared meals are a critical new front in our fight to keep the community well.
Offering a variety of foods that are familiar staples for communities of color means everyone feels welcome at their neighborhood food drop. We are now offering foods like jasmine rice, masa flour, wild rice, and pollock to ensure every family we serve can sit down to a meal they know and love.
This work is just beginning. We will listen and learn from our community partners and the people we serve to chart a path forward. We’ll report back on our progress and ask for more help and conversation along the way. This work won’t be easy. But it’s right and necessary. It sets us up to answer the inevitable question from the coming generation of kids, “What did you do to help when the world fell apart?” and encourages the smart follow up question, “What did you do to make the world more fair and inclusive?”
We hope you’ll pitch in, join the effort and hold us accountable. We won’t make meaningful progress alone, but we must make progress.
[1] U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Household Pulse Survey.