Feeding The Community

Newton, Massachusetts is a city with a mean income of about $190,000, according to Data USA, and a 96% graduation rate according to the U.S. News and World Report. Newton, of course, is generally considered a ‘rich’ town. As such, I did not initially think that my town had many problems with poverty. They were never our problems; they were always someone else’s. They were not to be seen in our everyday lives. 

However, a few months ago, when the federal cuts to SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act took effect, I wanted to see what they would mean for my community. To my surprise, I discovered that the situation here was not as good as I had thought. According to the hunger-relief nonprofit Feeding America, about 1 in 9 people and 1 in 8 children in my home state of Massachusetts face hunger. According to the Greater Boston Food Bank, the statistics are even more dire: 1 in 3 adults in their catchment area reported household food insecurity, and over 45% in Berkshire, Bristol, Hampshire, and Hampden Counties in 2023, totaling two million adults in Massachusetts alone. 

The information was deeply sobering, but it also lit a fire in me. This is not supposed to happen here. The United States is a developed country, one of the richest in the world, and Massachusetts is one of the richest and most developed states in America. It was– and is– embarrassing that we continue to face difficulties in feeding our own people. 

Even though hunger issues affect local communities the most, food policy is generally set by the federal government. For its part, the federal government has a few possible options to help reduce hunger nationally. Firstly, they could restore funding for programs like SNAP and the Emergency Food Assistance Program, as well as lower the barriers required to access their benefits. Congress could also make the COVID-era child tax credit and earned income tax credit benefits permanent, which proved to be highly effective in reducing hunger during the pandemic. At schools, the government could allocate funds to improve the quality of school meals. When school is out for summer break, they could expand summer meal and summer EBT programs to help with grocery budgets for low-income families, as their children no longer have access to school meals. 

The federal government could also improve access to good, nutritious food across the country. Many people live in so-called ‘food deserts,’ where access to fresh produce is severely limited. To address this, they could provide support for local food rescue programs and mobile food pantries. Finally, they could extend the benefits of federal food programs across the country, including Native American reservations and territories like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Mariana Islands, which are excluded from SNAP. 

As we advocate for changes in government policy, we can also take steps to address the problem ourselves. For one, people could donate to local food organizations. In my area, for example, several food banks and organizations, including the Newton Food Pantry, the Greater Boston Food Bank, and others, accept donations of both money and food (although from what I hear, money is preferred). People could also volunteer with them. I volunteered to wrap packages for a food drive for the Lexington Food Pantry this past weekend, for example. 

Overall, the problem of food insecurity is solvable. Even as we can advocate for changes in federal and state policy, we do not have to lose sight of what we can do to help in our own right. A can of beans, a box of macaroni, and a slip of paper in an envelope are the tools of our assistance. There is always an open door.

About the Author

Oliver Chi is a leader of the BranchOut! Newton Chapter. As a junior at Newton North High School in Newton, MA, he has a strong interest in history and community involvement. Through AmeriCorps, he assisted with the 2024 election by guiding voters through procedures and supporting the overall process. Oliver is a member of Newton North’s varsity History Team. He wrote an independent research paper on the impact of the War of 1812 on American nationalism, which was later published in the American Journal of Student Research.

Oliver Chi and Victor Lee, a Newton School Committee member, share a moment at a formal gathering at the Newton City Hall.