The newly renovated elementary school cafeteria is filled with food. Not with students and their lunch trays, but with grocery essentials neatly covering the tables. A line has formed outside the cafeteria door with people of different ages, jobs and familial status who have all brought a way to carry their groceries. People with reusable bags, tote shopping carts, and strollers without children, all stood behind Eddie (whose name has been changed for privacy), a father standing in the front of the line with his son and an empty suitcase. 

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The food pantry began at 3 p.m. and ended at 3:14 p.m., not because the access was deliberately slim, but because there was no more food left. In 14 minutes, the food pantry served over 40 families with fresh produce, frozen meat, pasta, cooking oil, milk, eggs, canned goods, cereal, rice and microwave soup. 

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Eddie sat his son down at an empty cafeteria table as he swiftly organized food into his suitcase. He joked with his son about the several new volunteers this month while his son continued his fascination and gratification that there were eggs. 

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This is a food pantry set up at the Martin Luther King Jr. School in Cambridge by the non-profit organization, Food For Free. With the food provided by the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), eight schools in Cambridge host a food pantry monthly, according to the school program manager at Food For Free, Ali Addy.

 

According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2018 7.6% of all Americans do not have reliable access to affordable, nutritious food, or in other words, are food insecure. Those numbers change based on the make-up of a family (18.6% of single mothers are food insecure), proximity to the poverty line (35% of households at the poverty line are food insecure), and race (21.4% of black people and 16.1% of Hispanic people are food insecure), based on the same report. 

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As of 2018, Massachusetts has a 9.6% food insecurity rate with Eastern Massachusetts  specifically having a rate of 9.1%. Those percentages are roughly 1 in every 11 people, among 460,000 total people, according to the GBFB, the largest hunger-relief organization in New England. 

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Catherine Drennan, the Director of Communications of the GBFB, spoke about how the demand of emergency food networks has changed. “We know that people are much more reliant on the system. In fact, a few years ago we did a survey and most of the people accessing our programs or our network are actually relying on a program 11 out of 12 months of the year,” Drennan said. “That shows that it’s not just falling on a hard month...it’s consistent access.” 

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The wide range of people that they need to accommodate for is also being taken into consideration by both organizations. According to Addy, it’s a common perception that people that need food are at or below the poverty line, but that is not always the case. “[This] area is a very expensive area to live in housing, childcare, transportation, health care. The list goes on, and usually groceries are the last thing on that list,” Drennan said. “So the reality is, is that people are going to continue to be reliant on the emergency food system unless their economic situation improves.” 

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The general consensus surrounding the issue of food insecurity, is that food pantries and food banks are a temporary solution, while a much more sustainable solution is needed to solve the problem rather than improving emergency allocations. 

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Fiona Crimmins, the program director of Food For Free, addressed the temporary solution referring to it as a “band-aid.” “If you're if you're food insecure, you just don't have enough money to pay for what you need to do to survive, and that's not a problem a better food pantry is going to solve. That's not going to create more economic equity, you know. We need a more just economic system that allows you to support yourself and your family,” Crimmins said. 
 

The GBFB has set a goal for itself of eliminating hunger in Massachusetts by 2028. There are three pillars of this admittedly ambitious initiative, access for the people who need it, capacity of the programs to serve the people, and policy. 

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“Policy solutions, economic situations, that takes time, but that’s something we have to look at. How do we make sure that today and tomorrow people are fed and everything that they need, but we are looking to long term solutions that may increase minimum wage, or look at income tax credits,” Drennan said. 

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Regardless of the sustainability of food pantries, or the viability of an alternative solution, one truth remains critical, and Crimmins states it plainly, “everybody needs to eat, today.”