A recent screening of “Food, Insecure: A Documentary That Hits Home” at Kan-Kan Cinema in Indianapolis illuminated the stark reality of food insecurity in Indiana, highlighting its disproportionate impact on marginalized communities.
Following the film, a panel discussion featuring Jamie Valentine, community leadership officer at The Indianapolis Foundation; Fred Glass, president and CEO of Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana; Jen Stanley, physician at Ascension St. Vincent in North Vernon; Marie Mackintosh, CEO of EmployIndy; and moderated by Dave Miner, a longtime hunger advocate and creator of “Food, Insecure” and “The Working Hungry,” delved into the systemic causes of food insecurity. The conversation emphasized the urgent need for targeted solutions to support vulnerable populations, including working families, people of color and rural residents.
“Food, Insecure” follows several Hoosier families who are food insecure. As explained in the documentary, to be food insecure doesn’t mean to go hungry. Food insecurity is worrying about having access to sufficient and nutritious foods for yourself and your family. There is a small percentage of Hoosiers experiencing hunger in comparison to the proportion living with food insecurity.
The documentary examines the “benefits cliff,” the gap between receiving government assistance for food and essential items and losing those benefits once you make above the threshold for income. For several families in the documentary, as soon as they were able to get back on their feet and get a job, they lost Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, making food shopping an additional expense and facing more hardships.
Food banks can supplement this pitfall, but for many families, this means little to no access to fresh food or healthy food. These families often have children, live in marginalized communities or lack stable income.
The panel began by discussing thoughts from the screening and how each panelist has seen food insecurity through their roles.
“I was surprised when I came to Gleaners two years ago to find out, just routinely, how much the food industry throws away. Millions and millions of pounds on a routine basis,” Glass said. “Food insecurity is not about the food, it’s about poverty.”
To address food insecurity, Glass and other food banks work to feed those in line and shorten the line itself through wrap-around services like health care and job training.
At EmployIndy, this starts with a living wage.
“What we focus on is ensuring that people have access to whatever they need to be able to get a living wage,” Mackintosh said. “The way we do that is by investing in various efforts within our community. We also focus on relationships with the businesses.”
EmployIndy’s Good Wages Initiative has over 100 certified businesses offering good wages in the community, a key to addressing economic positivity and access to healthy food.
The Indianapolis Foundation is addressing food insecurity through social change.
“We’re talking about systemic racism and how these systems perpetuate inequity,” Valentine said. “How do we get at that? That is deep social change that is shifting paradigms, that’s building communities and that’s centering community voice.”
In the doctor’s office, Stanley sees what impact lack of healthy food access has on her own community and hopes that organizations and advocacy can change it.
“Maybe 10% of (the patients’) health comes from the conversation I have with them,” Stanley said. “The rest of it comes from the relationships they have in their home. It comes from the food they’re able to get to eat.”
While the organizations and individuals participating in the making of the film and the panel are out doing work in their community, Miner explains that the real work can be done by spreading the word.
“The big thing that people can do is show the film,” Miner said. “That’s a good chance to get a broad swath of Hoosiers thinking and talking about the issues.”
The goal for the filmmakers is 100 showings across the state to advocate for change and to start the conversation about food insecurity.
To watch the documentary for free and to learn more about arranging a showing, visit workinghungry.org.
This reporting is made possible by a grant from the Indianapolis African-American Quality of Life Initiative, empowering our community with essential health insights. https://iaaqli.org/
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Contact Health & Environmental Reporter Hanna Rauworth at 317-762-7854 or follow her on Instagram at @hanna.rauworth.
Hanna Rauworth is the Health & Environmental Reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper, where she covers topics at the intersection of public health, environmental issues, and community impact. With a commitment to storytelling that informs and empowers, she strives to highlight the challenges and solutions shaping the well-being of Indianapolis residents.
