Comfort at the Bottom of the Cliff

Someone recently posed the rhetorical question, “Would we rather have an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff or a fence built at the top?” The analogy to food rescue organizations was not lost on me.

At the top of the cliff is overproduction, consumerism and over-merchandising, unclear dates on foods, strict standards for size and shape of foods that go to market, inflated expectations on the value of food, and poor individual planning. Also at the top of the cliff are poverty, mental illness, farmers unable to make living wages, food deserts (particularly in rural areas), and lack of affordable housing in urban areas. 

At the bottom of the cliff is 1.6 billion pounds of food wasted annually (globally, 40% of food  produced is lost or wasted), wasted freshwater equivalent to nearly twice the volume of Lake Tahoe (did you know that 80% of available freshwater goes toward food production?), and the acceleration of climate change through organic waste in landfills generating methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Also at the bottom of the cliff is food insecurity - the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food – which impacts 800 million people globally, nearly 50 million in the United States, over 4 million in Texas, and about 180,000 in Austin (55,000 of whom are children).

Keep Austin Fed is an “ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.” We cannot eliminate the perils at the top, but we strive to provide sufficient aid at the bottom. Our mission - to reduce hunger and help the environment by connecting surplus food with our neighbors in need - is a triage. We believe that food insecurity in developed nations, where food is abundant, is a solvable problem, and one that will take a collective effort to fix. 

When COVID-19 hit the U.S. in March 2020, people lost their jobs, had hours reduced, and sheltered in place. Because of this, many were faced with a new experience--food insecurity. Food pantries reported a doubling in the number of people they served each week. Food assistance inquiries were the highest frequency of all calls to 2-1-1 in the Austin area. Temporary fences (to allude back to our analogy) were built in the form of federal, state, and local benefits, and provided much needed relief: stimulus checks, pandemic unemployment increases, eviction moratoriums, free school meals for anyone under 18, meals provided to caregivers of students, new programs to provide food to our unsheltered neighbors, increases to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). As these pandemic relief measures taper off and expire, the cliff effect becomes heightened once again.

Many of Keep Austin Fed's partner organizations are working hard to build permanent fences at the top of the cliff, addressing the root causes of food insecurity. As those fences are built and mended, we provide a little more comfort to those who need it. By supplying food, we allow for our partners to free up their resources to focus on their primary missions: i.e. homelessness, mental health, addiction, and job training. Grant support, individual philanthropy, and corporate donations allow Keep Austin Fed to increase our number of food contributors, recruit volunteers, add partner recipient organizations, and deliver nutritious food to our hard-working neighbors. By supporting Keep Austin Fed, you also support a myriad of organizations throughout Austin that are striving to make our community a better place.

Everyone deserves to eat good, nutritious food. Our volunteers pick up perishable, wholesome, surplus food every day of the week. The food is taken directly from food service establishments all over Austin and delivered immediately to nonprofits that are suited to distribute this food to their guests. 

To some, the comfort food brings is simply a full belly and the energy to get through their days.  For others, it brings community - a chance to sit down with their families, friends, and sometimes strangers, to share a cooking or dining experience, or even  their own stories to help others who find themselves in a similar situation. 

If you have the luxury to sit down with your friends and family and feast this holiday season, take a minute to reflect on the comfort that brings you. Our ambulance at the bottom of the cliff will be there year-round to provide that comfort and nourishment  to those that need it most.