Last week, the Hunger Action Network hosted a soup benefit to end hunger at the All Souls Church in Manhattan. The statewide membership organization combines grassroots organizing at the local level with state-level research, education and advocacy to address the root causes of hunger, including poverty. The money raised from the event will go to help combat the growing problem of hunger in our community and nation.
This year, the Hunger Action Network partnered with the Coalition for a Real Minimum Wage to address the need to increase the minimum wage. They also helped coordinate a New York City-based coalition opposing federal budget cuts to SNAP, Social Security, Medicare and other safety programs, calling for progressive taxes and cuts in wasteful government spending.
“Our mission is to end hunger and its root causes, which include poverty,” said Mark Dunlea, executive director of the Hunger Action Network of New York. “We have a dual approach. We are trying to feed people today so that people who are hungry have their needs met. But how do we eliminate hunger as an overall problem? It is not charity. It is economic justice.”
Dunlea added that 40 percent of the 2 million people who they serve have jobs but don’t make enough to escape poverty. He said his group is eager to see Cuomo follow through on a promise to create a statewide anti-hunger task force that would work with private sector partners to multiply state efforts for food programs for the poor.
The event featured a discussion on food as a human right with international human rights campaigner Smita Narula. Narula is the faculty director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at the NYU School of Law and associate professor of clinical law of the International Human Rights Clinic.
“At the very existence of these oceans of hunger and deprivation amidst islands of plenty is a clear violation of human rights,” she said. “Around the world, governments from different societies recognize that freedom from hunger and access to sufficient and nutritious food is a fundamental right. It is as fundamental as the right to vote, freedom of speech and freedom of religion.”
During her powerful presentation, Narula said that there needs to be a paradigm shift in this country, where people would have adequate accessibility to food without having to forgo or compromise other needs such as health care, education or housing.
“To eat is to live,” she added. “The ability to provide for oneself and one’s family is essential to living a life of dignity.”
This coming year, the Hunger Action Network will continue to campaign to assist emergency food programs and low-income individuals through programs such as community gardens, food buying clubs and community supported agriculture.