Urban Farming Agriculture

Food Chain Radio Host Michael Olson

#9378•  September 28, 2013  •  Sat 9AM Pacific

Guests:  Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis, Co-Authors, The Stop

FEEDING THE POOR

Can Food Banks nourish the poor out of poverty?

This Poll is closed

Can the poor be nourished out of poverty?

Never

Rarely

Often

Always

*

16%

50%

33%

Food banks are based on the principal that surplus food should be deposited in a facility where it may be withdrawn by those who hunger.

Today there are nearly a thousand food banks in North America distributing billions of pounds of surplus food through thousands of non-governmental agencies to millions of people in poverty.

Food Chain Radio Michael Olson hosts Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis FEEDING THE POOR Can Food Banks nourish the poor out of poverty?

Given the number of food banks, the amount of food they distribute, and the numbers of people being fed, it might seem that food banks have always been part of the social landscape.  In fact, they are a relatively recent phenomenon, beginning with the great recession of the 1980s at the St. Vincent de Paul community dining hall in Phoenix, Arizona.

Today food banks are becoming a very big part of many communities, as evidenced by Toronto’s The Stop, which grew from a $250,000 a-year agency in a rat-infested warehouse to a $4,500,000 a-year agency offering farmers markets, catering, gourmet food, and community food events. 

These non-governmental food banks, and the people who run them, lead us to ask…

Can the poor be nourished out of poverty?

(Food Chain Radio & Forums #938)