By Rep. Kinkead

Over 1.5 million people, including more than 436,000 children, experience food insecurity in Pennsylvania every year. With September being Hunger Action Month, now is the time to have a conversation about how we can work together to combat hunger here in Allegheny County and across the Commonwealth. One of the best things you can do as an individual to combat hunger in our region is to support the work being done by your local food bank.

Southwestern Pennsylvania is fortunate to have a robust charitable food network. Since its inception in 1980, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank has distributed nearly 42 million meals to individuals and families in the 11 counties it serves. And in northern Allegheny County, we have additional food pantries like North Hills Community Outreach, North Hills Food Bank, Northside Food Pantry, and the West View Hub to help close the hunger gap even further on the local level. While the work these organizations do is critical to the survival of many of our friends and neighbors, the success of their operations depends heavily on volunteers and monetary donations.

As the House co-chair of Pennsylvania’s Legislative Hunger Caucus, I have visited many food banks across the state and discussed with leaders and stakeholders the hurdles they’re facing. For many food pantries, there is not a shortage of donated food, but rather a shortage of resources to manage and distribute the food that is donated. They are almost always in greater need of volunteers than for actual food. So, if you want to play a role in fighting hunger during this Hunger Action Month, call your local food bank and ask how you can help aside from donating non-perishable food. They’ll be thrilled to hear from a community member who wants to get involved and support their work.

It’s pretty incredible to see the impact food banks are having on hunger, but it’s important that we ask ourselves why food insecurity is so widespread in the richest nation on Earth and how we can address the root causes of hunger in our society. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a significant drop in child hunger rates after we expanded public food programs, like providing free school lunch to every K-12 student. Ever since those pandemic- era support programs expired, we have seen an uptick in hunger levels across the board. It sounds so backwards, but it’s true; there are more hungry Pennsylvanians now than there were during the pandemic.

That fact is one of the main reasons I’ve been advocating fiercely to expand our public food programs in Pennsylvania. After seeing how expanding programs like SNAP were helping families facing hunger, why would we reverse course? If we truly wish to end hunger, we should follow the data and fund the programs that are most effective at combating it. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, households with children reporting food insecurity fell by over two percentage points in the first year after the universal free school meal program was introduced during the pandemic. Additional studies showed that learning outcomes also increased with the introduction of free school meals.

Free breakfast and lunch are provided to all K-12 students in states like Minnesota, Maine, and New Mexico, and polls show that a strong majority of voters in those states support universal free school meals. Using tax dollars to feed school kids is popular public policy and effective at reducing child hunger. This is why state Sen. Lindsey Williams and I have been fighting to pass our bills (H.B. 180 and S.B. 180) to provide free school meals to all K-12 students in our public schools.

Since the 2023-24 school year, free breakfast has been provided at Pennsylvania schools through the state budget, which is a great start. But many kids don’t arrive at school until after breakfast is served and one meal isn’t nearly enough to sustain a learning mind for an entire school day. Children are required to attend school; the state should provide them the nutrition necessary to thrive while they’re at school. I’ll continue working with Sen. Williams on this issue until free school breakfast and lunch are available to every public school student in the state.

From volunteering to pack meals at a food bank or advocating to expand public food programs, there are so many ways to participate in Hunger Action Month. If you know someone who is struggling with food insecurity, have them reach out to my office and we will be happy to help them identify and sign up for any state services for which they may qualify. They can call (412) 321-5523 or email RepKinkead@pahouse.net. They may also stop by my district office in person, located at 658 Lincoln Ave. in Bellevue.