At a workshop on food insecurity Sept. 17, Bob Agres, top, discussed the causes of the problem and different ways local Catholics can address it in outreach ministries.
More than 12 percent of the Islands’ population — and one in five local keiki — is “food insecure.” Beyond the problem of hunger, food insecurity leaves lower-income families lacking access to enough wholesome fare for a healthy lifestyle.
June Hashimoto of St. Ann Church in Kaneohe works on a visual map of the resources available to help Windward Oahu parish food programs.
Representatives from 11 local parishes and Chaminade University learned at a recent workshop that, in addition to the Christian duty to feed the poor, there is a growing need for outreach ministries to provide sustainable, nutritive resources.
The diocesan Office for Social Ministry hosted the first of four, two-hour workshops on food insecurity at St. Stephen Diocesan Center, Sept. 17. Bob Agres, executive director of the Hawaii Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development, or HACBED, was the workshop facilitator.
Through video presentations and group discussions, Agres and HACBED staffers aimed to get more than 60 Oahu outreach members to understand the severity of food insecurity. They also worked with parish teams on ways to improve their food ministries.
Agres, a Maui-raised Catholic, shared some staggering statistics at the workshop. About 25 percent of families in Waimanalo, he reported, receive low-income governmental aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Windward Oahu families spend more than 40 percent of their food budget eating away from home. Between the years of 1970 and 2005, the number of fast food chains on Oahu has grown from 3 to 87. The Islands’ obesity rate, especially in poorer communities, Agres said, has doubled since 1996.
These economic, social and health factors have contributed to, or result from, food insecurity.
Agres said that while Catholic parishes have been instrumental in fighting hunger through food pantries and hot meal distributions, it is time to take the ministries one step further by addressing fundamental nutritional needs.
“There’s this whole world that’s being shaped around us that’s actually preventing us from eating well,” he said. “How can we move to action that begins to really push on why people are hungry?”
Extending outreach work to involve more than just parish volunteers is key, Agres said. Catholics should also look to pool their communities’ gifts for a more comprehensive food distribution approach. It is possible to team with neighboring congregational ministries and social services to recruit other helping hands or to acquire healthier items.
“We forget that it’s about the cause, and not about just our own program or just about our parish,” Agres said. “We forget that this is about a big thing that we all have to work together on.”
Agres said each outreach ministry is a single “node” in a sprawling web of people fighting food insecurity. The problem is so vast, and so many different talents are needed to combat it, that it is no longer effective for a parish service to be the “center of the wheel.”
Parish representatives at the Sept. 17 workshop created visual maps of their food ministries. The HACBED staff helped each group jot down its “core” relationships, which included daily volunteers, pastors and regular donors. “Peripheral” relationships — others in their area to collaborate with — were also noted. Lastly, the groups planned “potential” relationships for bigger endeavors.
The visual maps gave parishioners a broader perspective on their ministries. The outreach team from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, for example, recognized that farmers in their Waikane countryside might be available for agricultural co-ops. Parishioners from St. Anthony Church in Kailua hope to integrate their school’s garden into the parish food ministry as well.
Sacred Hearts Father Lane Akiona of St. Augustine Church in Waikiki reported relationships with local health services, which provide health check-ups for the homeless.
HACBED will organize the food ministry maps and return them to each parish. Agres said his staff would be available through the Office for Social Ministry to help parishes act on their food ministry plans.
“Now it becomes possible,” Agres said.
Other workshops on food insecurity were held this month at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Pearl City, and on the Big Island at Annunciation Church and Malia Puka O Kalani Parish.
