Long Island Cares Aims To Fight Food Insecurity On National Level

LONG ISLAND, NY — Long Island Cares, a Hauppauge-based organization with the goal of fighting food insecurity, is hoping to be heard on a national level. And with the first White House conference on food insecurity in 50 years planned for September, according to CNN, Long Island Cares has a potential platform for its advocacy.

Long Island Cares is hoping to influence President Joe Biden to focus on stamping out the root causes of hunger as opposed to throwing more money at existing programs, some of which have such strict guidelines that many of the hungry do not qualify to receive support, the organization says.

"There must be a commitment to address these issues every day," Paule Pachter, CEO of Long Island Cares, told Patch. "We can’t go on with a crisis mentality."

Pachter and Long Island Cares laid out propositions they would like to see the White House use in the battle against food insecurity:

• Congress regionalizing the federal poverty rate that currently marks how a person or family is judged on whether they qualify for federal help with their need for food.

"Right now, it’s one size fits all," Pachter said. "In other words, a family on LI with 3 or 4 kids earning $50,000 often needs help from a food pantry. Take that same family and income and put them in Idaho and it is another story. The Feds must recognize economic diversity of the food insecure."

• A "Hunger Czar" who can take a deep dive into the root causes of hunger and find solutions that reduce reliance on food banks.
• Look at increasing federal funding for TEFAP – The Emergency Food Assistance Program, the program that provides the food to those who qualify according to their income.
• Conduct an aggressive media campaign to put a face to food insecurity in the U.S. while getting away from stereotypes.

"Hunger is a neighborhood issue," Pachter said. "It can affect anyone under the right circumstances: seniors, veterans (we deal directly with both groups), the unemployed, under-employed, immigrants, etc."

In 1978, Harry Chapin, who the Long Island Cares food bank is named for, was appointed by former president Jimmy Carter to a commission on hunger.

Pachter has since picked up the mantle when Biden was elected president. Long Island Cares sent an open letter to Biden advocating for a presidential commission on food insecurity. The effort picked up steam last November when Pachter helped bring U.S. Congressman Jim McGovern (D — MA) to New York City for a roundtable on ending hunger in the United States.

McGovern, chairman of the House Rules Committee, is also a top advocate in Washington D.C. for helping the food insecure population, according to Long Island Cares. At the meeting, which included other organizations fighting hunger, McGovern told Long Island Cares to keep up its high-profile advocacy campaign.

McGovern, upon returning to D.C., proposed a conference. At that time, Long Island Cares reached out to the Long Island congressional delegation for support and received an "overwhelming response," especially when the delegation heard that Chapin had sat on a hunger commission convened by Carter 50 years earlier, the organization stated.

That helped build momentum for the upcoming White House conference, according to Long Island Cares. Pachter hopes his organization's guidance will help the food insecure population across the country.