Cody Kelly
Did you know that 40% of food is thrown out in the US every year, or about $165 billion worth? All of this uneaten food could feed 25 million Americans. As the wealth gap increases in the US, hunger is becoming a greater issue due to the shrinking middle class and increased poverty rates. Rawls’ beliefs suggest that the problem of hunger should be solved only by government regulation and aid. The problem of hunger is a social problem. It is not the government’s duty to solve a social problem. Governmental aid has already proven not to solve the problem of hunger. It is the duty of Americans to help relieve hunger in the US by giving back and volunteering. Both the government and Americans must work together to solve the problem of hunger because without both parties the problem of hunger will not be solved. Many Americans would agree that it is the responsibility of the government to find a solution to the problem of hunger in the US because of our society structure. The US was founded on principles of hard work, dedication, and community. The US’ society structure began to change when President Roosevelt signed the New Deal, which began programs like Social Security, unemployment insurance, and welfare benefits. Later the United States would add more programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Food Stamps. Instead of helping each other in a time of need, the American people rely on the government and its programs to help those in need. These programs have improved many problems in the US but have not found solutions to these problems. For this paper, we were asked to complete 10 hours of community service to help determine the extent social solutions should help resolve the problem of hunger in the
US. My 10 hours of community service were completed at the Community Market and Food Bank of East Alabama. Before this experience I had never directly worked with an organization focused on hunger relief. The operations of these establishments fell short of my expectations and revealed the problems with governmental aid and charitable organizations. Both the Community Market and Food Bank are located in warehouses without air conditioning and heat. The Food Bank operates by assigning volunteers to different stations to complete specific tasks. This approach appears to be well thought out and produces higher efficiency. In contrast the Community Market is in need of organization and structure. Once a volunteer arrives at the Community Market he or she is told to stock shelves but is given very few instructions. Instead of being assigned a station or location, the volunteer is expected to retrieve, stock, and organize the donated food. This leads to confusion and inefficacy among the volunteers. The majority of the problems I observed were during my experiences at the Community Market. There is a lack of useful and nutritional food, inefficiency, and excessive volunteers. First, the majority of the food donated to the community market has little or no nutritional value, is damaged, or has very few uses that would benefit the receipt. For example junk food like goldfish, chocolate, and chips were plentiful while it was very difficult to find healthier options like pasta, dairy products, and chicken. Obesity rates are higher among low-income families due to a lack of access to nutritional foods like fresh vegetables and fruits. Because of the community market’s supply of food, it contributes to increased obesity and malnutrition to its receipts. Also, there are many items that are not beneficial like wasabi sauce. There was approximately 30 to 40 bottles of wasabi
sauce that had not been touched during the few weeks I volunteered. There was more useful food that was being stored because there was a lack of shelf space for it. Now there were more nutritious foods like canned green beans and loaves of bread but the junk food was more common. Because of the lack of nutritional products that the community market can supply it has a limit on how many cans each individual can receive. Second, the amount of volunteers led to overcrowding and inefficiency. The majority of the people were standing around or redoing the work someone had already completed. At one point during my designated time there were approximately 30 volunteers working in the community market. Another problem that led to inefficacy was the lack of structure and organization. Besides the separation of specialty brands, the majority of the food was unorganized and placed where space were available. The government should look to help re-think and regulate hunger relief organizations around the country to benefit those in need. This would allow a standard to be set that would produce higher efficiency and structure. This new standard could produce a universal plan on how to operate effectively, use volunteers, and regulate the amount of junk food available. The government would also be able to begin educating Americans on the problem of hunger. These changes would not only benefit the volunteers and administrative teams; but also could also benefit the recipient in decreasing malnutrition and the burdens associated with food insecurity. The inequalities in America are becoming more evident as the wealth gap continues to grow. Rawls’ difference principle states that inequalities were arbitrary unless they work to the advantage of all especially the less well off (167). In America, the inequalities work to the advantage of the upper class to increase their well being and
lifestyle. Rawls’ would suggest initiating programs that reduce the wealth gap like increased taxes on the wealthy. He would suggest using these taxes to maintain the food banks or creating opportunities to allow the lower class to move out of poverty. He would also suggest reducing entitlement; Rawls is a firm believer that entitlements are unjust and one should only possess what he has earned (172). Inequalities are very common in America and I believe that gives people incentives to work harder to increase their social class. The lower class should be taken care of but should still have to work for their standard of living. Setting up government regulated food banks would benefit the lower class and improve the system as a whole. If the government educated Americans through a series of campaigns the American people would stand behind their government. Redefining charity into a duty of the American people would not only help resolve the problem of hunger but would set an example for the rest of the world to see. The problem of hunger is a society problem but government intervention should not be neglected. Regulation of the food banks and informing the general public could make a large different on resolving this injustice. While some critics might say that the government has too many problems already. I would say that this would be a temporary program that would redefine food banks and reduce hunger. There are many opinions in whether the problem of hunger is a society problem or a problem that the government can resolve. If the American people would contribute the problem of hunger would start to diminish and we would no longer need the government to continue to open food banks. The temporary programs would allow these
establishments to start running but once it was fully operation then it would be up the citizens to maintain it.