[T]he Statehouse lawn took on an orange hue on Wednesday, thanks to a temporary exhibit put on by the Vermont Foodbank.
Staff and volunteers for the nonprofit group planted 15,300 orange spoons in the lawn in an attempt to help the public understand how many Vermonters need free food to get by.
Each orange spoon represented 10 Vermonters who visit a food bank at some point during the year: A total of 153,000 people.
New statistics from the USDA show that more people than are going hungry in Vermont.
In the three-year period between 2012 and 2014, 12.6 percent of Vermont households had low or very low rates of food security, according to a USDA report released in early September.
Some Vermonters rely on the food bank as a regular source of food, according to Judy Stermer, director of communications and public affairs for the Vermont Foodbank. The organization estimates that the Vermonters who visit the food bank network do so an average of eight times a year, based on 2014 data.
“It’s not just in an emergency anymore,” Stermer said. “Food insecurity is an ongoing problem.”
Food insecurity forces many Vermonters to make difficult decisions, Stermer says. Some people are forced to choose between meals and paying for utilities, or resort to watering down milk in order to make it last longer.
Lack of access to food in Vermont is indicative of deeper socioeconomic issues, Stermer said. Hunger, she said, is a “symptom of poverty.”
“People aren’t going hungry because there isn’t enough food,” she said.
Some people who use food banks are underemployed or hold low-paying jobs. More employment opportunities could help get at the root cause of food insecurity, Stermer said.
In a speech on the Statehouse lawn, Gov. Peter Shumlin lauded the Vermont Foodbank for the group’s work around the state. Hunger, he said, is a national issue.
“We know we’re at a time in our nation where low-income folks are struggling more than they were during the great recession, where income inequality continues to be an extraordinary challenge,” Shumlin said.
Rob Meehan, director of the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, was also on hand for the event. He said that some people in the Burlington area use the pantry multiple times a month.
“We believe that food should be a basic right and everyone in Vermont should have access,” Meehan said. “Unfortunately that’s just not the case.”
