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Hunger doesn’t take a summer break
When the Community Assistance Center (CAC) opened its doors in 1987 to help neighbors in
need, it had a 2x8-foot food closet serving two to 10 families per day. 1 am sure the need was much
greater, but our ability to help was very limited. Since then, that closet has grown to 2,000-square-feet
and serves 80 to 100 families per day.
Today, we are much closer to understanding the degree of hunger in our community, but our ca
pacity to serve still doesn’t meet the demand.
Hunger is primarily a result of poverty, and poverty is becoming more evident, even in prosperous
American suburbs today. The 2008 economic slump added many households to the roster of the poor.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, one in six Americans struggle with hun
ger, and 16.7 million children younger than 18 in the United States live in households that are unable
to consistently access enough nutritious food to develop properly.
Although food insecurity is harmful to any individual, it is particularly so to children, due to their
for
According to Feed America, “Good nutrition, particularly in the first three years of life, is impor
tant in establishing a good foundation that has implications for a child’s future physical and mental
health, academic achievement, and economic productivity. Unfortunately, food insecurity is an obsta
cle that threatens that critical foundation. Hunger prevents kids from reaching their full potential. It’s an epidemic that’s threat
ening America’s future.”
Households with limited resources utilize a variety of methods to help meet their food needs. Some participate in one or more
of the federal food and nutritional assistance programs or obtain food from emergency food providers in their communities, such
as CAC, to supplement the food they purchase.
Federal programs include: the Women Infant and Children’s (WIC) program; the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP), formerly called the Food Stamp Program; and finally the National School Lunch Program, where free or reduced-price
lunches are made available to low-income students.
In Sandy Springs, 55 percent of public school students qualify for the National School Lunch Program, and in the Dunwoody
middle and high schools, 32 percent of students qualify. Clearly, poverty is more present in the two cities that CAC serves than
one might realize.
How has this community responded to hunger in its midst? It has responded with compassion and generosity. CAC’s food
pantry is stocked daily by donations from congregations, businesses, civic organizations and many generous neighbors, who make
sharing their food a regular exercise.
The pantry is further supplied by Second Helpings, a nonprofit effort started by volunteers at Temple Sinai to collect fresh
and prepared food from markets, restaurants, schools and caterers, and make it available to local food pantries. With the advent
of Second Helpings, CAC was able to increase its food distribution from once a month to once a week, and the nutritious qual
ity of the food is a lot better.
Unfortunately, the current level of giving does not meet the daily needs for food for hungry neighbors. There is a need for
more involvement from all, for additional food drives at the neighborhood level, from business and civic organizations, and a per
sonal commitment to sharing a portion of our food budget with those less fortunate and not able to provide for their families.
Never is the reality of food insecurity more pronounced than in the summer, when children who get free meals at school are
home and parents struggle to provide enough food to feed them.
CAC started its summer lunch program two years ago to help alleviate this problem. Donors pack bags with five, easy-to-pre-
pare lunches and snacks that older children can prepare themselves while parents work. Donations to this program at this time
are most welcome.
And to help raise awareness of hunger in our community, CAC will have its first Hunger Awareness Walk at the Food ‘n Fun
Festival on Sunday, May 19, at the Morgan Falls Athletic Complex in Sandy Springs. Neighbors are invited to donate food, par
ticipate in the walk and the Shopping Cart Parade, and spend an afternoon of fun and games with their children. For more in
formation please visit our website at www.ourcac.org.
Tamara Carrera is CEO/Executive Director of the Community Assistance Center.
increased vulnerability and its potential
long-term consequences.
TAMARA
CARRERA
GUEST COLUMN
Keep City Hall
a rental
To the editor:
Nothing chaps me more than read
ing how our Sandy Springs elected of
ficials are going to “revive” downtown
(Sandy Springs Reporter, May 3-16,
“City Council to Planners: Leave San
dy Springs Circle alone.”)
It would more appropriate to say
they intend to “create” a downtown
where one never existed.
We need a downtown like Wyoming
needs a Naval base. Sandy Springs is a
bedroom community to Atlanta and
we should embrace that fact. Without
LETTER TO
THE EDITOR
E-mail letters to
editor@reporternewspapers.net
Atlanta, Sandy Springs wouldn’t even
be on the map. There is no here, here.
When put in the context of internation
al travelers to world-class cities — New
York, Paris, London, Istanbul — will a
downtown Sandy Springs become a jet
setter’s go-to destination?
I agree with an earlier writer who
stated the purpose of our building a
City Hall and government complex
is to fulfill a Napoleonic desire by our
elected officials to pour their legacy in
concrete. It will be their Arc de Triom-
phe. But, for the taxpayer, it will con
gest traffic, be costly to build, costlier to
maintain, and remove prime real estate
from the tax rolls.
The system we have now of rent
ing commercial space as needed is ide
al. Every 10 years, determine the most
economically depressed area of the city
and move the city offices there. It would
pump tax money back into the com
munity, uplift improvised areas, and
encourage landlords to maintain their
property.
As for the former Target store, sell it
to a developer.
JayPurut
8 | MAY 17—MAY30, 2013 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net