Tackling Food Insecurity in Maine, Starting with Dialogue

The panel included Mark Swann ’84, executive director of Preble Street, a Maine-based nonprofit focused on helping people experiencing homelessness and food insecurity, as well as Kim Lengert, Maine's Ending Hunger Corps Program manager, Emily Mancini-Fitch, Portland Housing Authority's resident services manager, and Shannon Coffin, vice president of Good Shepherd Food Bank's Community Partnerships. They shared their personal stories about witnessing food insecurity in Maine and how it remains a persistent problem for the state.

Morcos, herself, is passionate about alleviating hunger and poverty, and she demonstrates that drive through her work. She has volunteered with the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program (MCHPP) throughout her years at Bowdoin, and has also led the Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program Volunteers—the McKeen Center student group contributing to their effort.

Though she is involved in addressing food insecurity almost daily and is familiar with the extent of the problem, she's been troubled by a lack of conversation on campus about it. 

"My hope was that the panel would encourage students to get involved, and that the new leader of the MCHPP student volunteer group will continue these types of talks and panels on campus to discuss the problem and potential solutions," Morcos said. 

Below is a lightly edited transcript of an interview with Morcos.

Mocombe: Why did you invite these particular panelists?

Morcos: I knew that I wanted to recruit a diverse group with a good understanding of what hunger looked like throughout the state of Maine. I also wanted panelists who tackled the issue from a variety of angles and looked at the intersection of food insecurity with other social issues like homelessness, poverty, socioeconomic status, health care, etc.

Mocombe: What were your objectives for the event?

Morcos: I noticed that conversation about hunger and food insecurity was lacking. In a way, Bowdoin is sheltered from hunger and, by extension, there is little dialogue on campus surrounding the issue. So my goal was to use my leadership role with the McKeen Center group to organize an event that would shed light—to students, community, faculty, and staff—on the reality of food insecurity in the state of Maine and highlight organizations that are working to fight it. My goal is to continue thinking beyond volunteerism. To start bringing advocacy work and dialogue to campus, and to understand hunger in our own community and communities abroad.

Mocombe: What did you personally learn from the panel? And what do you wish others knew?

Morcos: I learned the distinction between low food security, which is when you have food but not nourishing or desired food, and very low food security, which is where you hit hunger, where there are too many disturbances in eating patterns, and individuals are not able to obtain a reliable supply of food.

I also learned some shocking statistics about hunger here in Maine. For example, Maine is currently the state with the highest food insecurity in the Northeast, a region that has notably low levels of food insecurity.

The panel also made clear that recent initiatives—including expansion of the child tax credit and SNAP benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic—proved that this issue is NOT about lack of food, it's about lack of government support. When the government expanded these programs during the pandemic, food insecurity rates significantly dropped. But when the country was deemed 'pandemic-free' and the government started cutting funding, these rates increased again.

All the panelists contributed meaningfully by assessing and explaining the situation in Maine, even citing issues of housing. But I would say other takeaways are the importance of adaptability and the entrepreneurial role that nonprofits play, which is not often a way that we look at nonprofits.

Nonprofits need to be able to adapt to many issues (like the pandemic on a national level but also local issues like the ice storms this past year and other natural disasters, etc.) in order to sustain themselves. Unlike other businesses and corporations, unfortunately, these organizations are some of the first to get funding cut. That is why a dedicated and strategic leadership board truly matters—one that builds in flexibility and is comfortable with adapting to change.

Mocombe: Why do you think some people end up in situations without food? How can we make people more aware of food insecurity? 

Morcos: The facts are there: This is not a matter of lack of supply versus demand. We have enough food and resources to allocate to everyone, and yet, as with other social issues, the distribution is not equitable, accessible, or organized.

I think that some people, unfortunately, grow up in cycles of poverty and, by extension, food insecurity. It becomes a consistent negative feedback loop that is quite difficult to escape because the systems in place are designed to keep certain individuals on top at the expense of the 'failure' of others.

There is also income, which plays a huge role in what and how people can access food. Since all individuals have other bills and things to take care of, depending on their wages they may not be able to get food at all or don't have enough to fulfill nutritional goals. And what if you cannot get a job at all? Some individuals physically cannot work or have tried and cannot get a job for a myriad of reasons. What do they do then?

Mocombe: Why are you so passionate about food insecurity?

Morcos: In high school I was always involved with community engagement work, working with food pantries and my church’s soup kitchen. It was there that my already-installed passion drove me to explore ideas of homelessness, hunger, and poverty.

I find that it is incredibly unjust for people not to have access to food, whether that's due to socioeconomic status, geography, race, gender, disability, or inequitable resources. On a personal level, I am familiar with the consequences of not being able to access fresh and healthy foods and how that can have a substantial impact on physical as well as mental and social health. We are seeing this now in Gaza where one of the worst humanitarian crises is unfolding with mass starvation in many different age groups. We see this in Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and many other areas.

And hunger is here! In Maine and in many other states. It's unjustifiable and inexcusable. Food is something that should be accessible to everyone. It is needed to sustain and maintain health, wellbeing, and survival—and because of that it should be afforded to all.

Sara Morcos is this year's recipient of the Maine Campus Compact Heart and Soul Award, one of six students selected from across the state. The award recognizes college undergraduates "who have been actively involved in turning their campuses and communities into places of democracy."