On April 13, the Food Bank of Northern Nevada (FBNN), brought their mobile harvest program to the Tribal Community Learning Center located at 8955 Mission Road in Fallon. The monthly program is open to all Fallon residents and the variety of foods offered changes month-to-month, so there is always something different. Lois Brady, a Fallon resident said, “I am so thankful for FBNN and the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe for all of their hard work and dedication to the program.” She learned about the program on Facebook and found that the process was fast and easy to go through.
According to the USDA, more than 11 million children in the United States live in "food insecure" homes. That phrase may sound insignificant, but it means that those households don't have enough food for every family member to lead a healthy life. And that number pre-dates the corona-virus pandemic. Today's projections show that 18 million children could face hunger just this year.
As you might imagine, hunger is a problem that most often affects children from low-income families. A common way we measure poverty is the federal poverty level, a number set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The federal poverty level is the minimum amount of money a family needs each year to afford the necessities of life: food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.
Hunger definitely looks different these days. In 2021, the federal poverty level is $26,500 for a family of four. But families making twice that much are still considered low-income by most experts, and often struggle to make ends meet. How many Americans live in poverty? Over 44 million, or 13.7% of all Americans, according to 2020 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and 15 million of those were children.
Mike Escobar, a Programs Specialist for FBNN stated that pre-pandemic the Food Bank was seeing 180-200 families a day. During the pandemic, the numbers skyrocketed to 1,000 families a day, including a pick-up day held at the Grand Sierra Resort. The FBNN has 147 partners they work with; in Fallon, they are New Frontier, Out of Egypt, Epworth United Methodist Church, and the Fallon Food Hub. FBNN serves an average of 106,000 people in Norther Nevada each month.
Fallon is no exception when it comes to food insecurity. Rochanne Downs, Director of the Community Learning Center, knows how important it is to help her community. She delivers food to the home-bound elderly in her community to assist those that cannot get to the sites to pick up for themselves. She also helps pack the food in pick-up bags for the drive-through lines.
Escobar said that they are hoping to continue the program for rural Nevada going forward. The FBNN was able to expand to rural Nevada this year due to federal grant monies received.
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