Though most people might think that the goal of making Rhode Island "hunger-free" sounds too idealistic, Bernie Beaudreau, director of the 20-year-old Rhode Island Community Food Bank, has a plan. If the numbers they've rounded up are correct, there are approximately 20,000 people experiencing hunger in the state. Coincidentally, in the RICFB's current capital campaign to raise enough money ($6 million) to completely renovate the 63,000-square-foot site of a former supermarket on Niantic Avenue in Cranston, their target for reaching more people through this facility is 20,000.

"In a state the size of Rhode Island, it's a finite problem," Beaudreau pointed out, in a recent discussion at his office. "By doubling our size and our output, it's within our reach."

Beaudreau cautions, however, that the strategy to make the state hunger-free is two-pronged, with a bigger and better food bank on the one hand and a better promoted and expanded federal food stamp program on the other. There are those who believe that the government should subsidize the entire food needs of hungry Americans, but Beaudreau sees two other reasons for the existence of the 240 food pantries in Rhode Island: they can take advantage of excess food, and they can act as community-builders, if the participants take part in the process.

A native Rhode Islander, the 48-year-old Beaudreau commuted to Oxfam America in Boston for 11 years, serving as the national director of resource development, before coming to the food bank in 1995. Oxfam's philosophy emphasizes self-help and self-reliance, while food banks are most often a charity situation.

"So I came here with the thought that that's what we need to impart in this whole environment," he recalled. "That this is a community resource that people can share in and be a part of -- a cooperative approach."

Indeed, Beaudreau and his staff have been able to change the way a lot of food banks work. In many places, shoppers now pick what they want and can best use from the shelves instead of being allotted certain items from pantry workers.

"It's been a lot more efficient, more dignified, more comfortable way of getting food to people," he reflected. "There are two limiting factors to distribution. One is the capacity of our warehouse. But another factor is the whole transaction on a personal level. If it's a strange and humiliating experience for somebody, they're not going to want to go back. We've done a lot of training to make it more socially accessible so that they are welcomed to come back as often as they need."

And the more food that RICFB gets to the pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, etc., the more generous those pick-up points can be. The goal is not to let people get into severe hunger situations where they're given a "ration," but rather to have the food serve as an income supplement for those who need it.

The numbers show that more and more people are needing it. Between 1995 and 2000, food distribution through the RICFB doubled. The community food bank averages 44,000 customers per month, 35,000 of whom are looking for emergency food supplies, a 16 percent increase over one year ago. Because of the recession, Beaudreau explained, food supplies have only risen seven percent, thus cutting back slightly on individual allotments.

Beaudreau cites two major circumstances in our state that have driven families to food banks: a huge escalation in housing costs, and the persistence of a low-wage economy. One in four jobs in Rhode Island pays below $8.20 per hour, which is federal poverty wages for a family of four. On the national level, the extreme maldistribution of wealth has also contributed to increased poverty numbers (30,000 Rhode Island children in poverty in 1990; 40,000 in 2000). In the last 20 years, the bottom quintile of America's economy have lost 11 percent of their real income and the top quintile have gained 89 percent.

"Some of the stories I bump into when I go to food pantries are really hard to believe," Beaudreau said, shaking his head. "I met a mom with three kids. Both parents had lost their jobs and they spent the summer living in a tent in a Hope Valley campground until they could borrow enough money to get an apartment for $700 a month. You try to imagine living like that."

In fact, Beaudreau grew up right around the corner from that campground, in Richmond. He was the fourth of eight children and wore his cousin's hand-me-down clothes, but his mother always made a big deal about having enough food -- and they did. His mother was a secretary, his father a mill worker. From them and the local parish priest, Beaudreau learned very early about doing volunteer work in the community. At URI, he studied community planning, with an emphasis on social program planning.

That campground story spurred Beaudreau to throw out some more numbers. As part of a national survey, the RICFB discovered that 50 percent of food bank customers have to choose between buying food or paying rent, and 33 percent of the elderly have to choose between prescription drugs and food. A Department of Agriculture study found that 27 percent of all food in the US is wasted -- 93 billion pounds worth. The food banks are only able to capture 5 billion of that, but Beaudreau pondered the possibilities, if they were able to even recoup 20 billion pounds.

Indeed, the RICFB's major sources of food are: reclaimed food from Stop & Shop and Shaw's (dented cans, crushed cereal boxes, etc.); 800,000 pounds of produce from Quincy Market in Boston, local farmers, and the Rhode Island Community Farm (actually, two farms in Jamestown and East Greenwich who produced 20,000 pounds of food for RICFB last year); America's Second Harvest, which brokers donations in good condition from large corporations like Kraft, Kellogg's, etc.; and local food drives, such as the Boy Scouts drive at the end of October. In reality, the local drives only account for seven to eight percent of the food bank's donations, but they involve large numbers of volunteers in the hunger issue.

The RICFB also gets $250,000 from the state, which they use to supplement their protein supply and to invest in "more ethnically palatable food," in Beaudreau's words. "A lot of America's favorite foods aren't really the favorite foods of Latinos and Southeast Asians," he commented.

A question about what keeps Beaudreau going through his 70- to 75-hour weeks brought a smile and a quick reply: "The fact that we have so many people who support what we're doing. We have 20,000 going hungry. But we have just as many, 20,000 individuals and corporate supporters, small and large.

"What's daunting is the environment in which we're trying to raise money now," Beaudreau remarked. "A lot of the major philanthropists are nervous about their portfolios. Yes, they've lost money. But they gained a phenomenal amount in the last 10 years. They feel that they've gone backwards, so they can give less. But just the slip of a pen on a check would get it done for us."

Nonetheless, Beaudreau credits his 44-person staff, a supportive board and capital campaign chairs, and the 500 to 600 volunteers (approximately 120 of whom come in every week) with keeping his spirits up. As well as the daily realization that the RICFB is doing everything it can to make sure people aren't going hungry. "If this operation wasn't here, we'd have a lot more misery out in the community."

He ticked off several things that have to change on the national level to make an impact on the hunger problem: retraining of adults for jobs in the market; many more ESL opportunities; cost-of-living adjustments for those on fixed incomes; an increased federal housing subsidy.

"To me, it's a question of justice," Beaudreau concluded. "We say that a person has a fundamental right to food, shelter, health care. Especially because our country, with such tremendous wealth and capability, can afford it."

And we in tiny Rhode Island can show the way, by making this the first state to be "hunger-free." For more information about the RICFB's current capital campaign, call (401) 826-3073.

Issue Date: October 25 - 31, 2002