Food Insecurity within the County of Los Angeles

An issue that has taken a great toll on many Los Angeles Citizens is food insecurity. Food
insecurity is the inability of having consistent meals and the uncertainty of when ones next meal
will be this is generally caused by the individuals economic state. According to Feeding
Americas 2012 Map the Meal Gap 1,603,910 millions of Angelenos including but not limiting
to homeless, families and children are negatively affected from this issue and continue to live in
these conditions because of not knowing who to turn to for help. For this reason, the city should
make this issue and the programs dedicated to resolving it more noted and announce within the
County for easy access for everyone. Also as citizens of this city we should feel compelled to
help those in need by either participating in organizations and programs which purpose is to
decrease food insecurity, donations or simply being more conscious of the food we throw out. In
doing this, this will raise awareness of the issue in our city and reach our goal of diminishing this
issue.
Food insecurity can negatively affect a persons psychological and physical state. Not having
consistent meals even a temporary lack of food and water can affect the health of the human
body and can lead to life threatening complications. Water is essential to our body for carrying
oxygen and nutrients, eliminating toxins, regulating body temperature and lubricating joints. The
human body can only survive 3 days without water or else it will dehydrate and lead to death.
Food provides nutrition and energy for the body; humans can last 30 days without food. Without
food the body will adjust to the little food intake and cause a reduce metabolism rate, noticeable
drop in blood sugar, brain function suffers, break down of fat and muscle tissues, the inability to
produce hormones and enzymes, heart muscles shrinkage which elevates chances of cardiac
arrest and lastly the shrinkage and deterioration of brain. In a study conducted by Early
Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort called Food Insecurity Affects School
Childrens Academic Performance, Weight Gain, and Social Skills. It explains in great detail
how food insecurity is linked to specific developmental consequences for children using cross
sectional studies, longitudinal studies, and information collected by parents and teachers, the
observers were able to see great amount of evidence that supports the idea that food insecurity
indeed affects a childs physical health and in other areas such as academic performance and
social skills with peers. Food insecurity can create great damages to a human body, this gives
more reason to why we must take actions and help those in need in order to prevents deaths or
the deterioration of innocent citizens health.
Raising awareness and circulating information about the dedicated organizations and
programs of the cause needs to be greatly announced within the city because it will help those in
need of assistance and resources thus decreasing the amount of citizens going hungry each day
and increasing the knowledge of the subject within the community. Citizens should have easy
access of this information. To avoid inconvinces or confusion, reliable and easy to get
information showed be found in all parts of the city such as government locations like city hall,
parks and recreation, schools.
Dedicated organizations in the Los Angeles County such as (SNAP), Feeding America,
Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), Soup Kitchens and lastly Parks and
Recreation meal programs are committed to assist those in need of help and put an end to food
insecurity. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) offers assistance to eligible low-
income families or individuals. Depending on size of household, monthly alloments-money are
given as well as SNAP benefits - used to buy essential products, breads, fruits, vegetable, meat
and dairy products in specific food markets, liquor stores and bakeries. The Los Angeles
Homeless Services Authority helps those who are living in inhabitable conditions. The service
offers free meals and additional support such as shelter, medical and psychological help. They
also do a census count every two year of all homeless inhabiting the LA County, this is part of
their mission to support and create solutions to homelessness. Feeding America is a nationwide
know hunger-relief organization, there goal is to provide meals to all the hungry, including but
not limiting to families, children and senior citizens. The organization provides meal programs to
the hungry through their food pantries that are located in almost all communities nationwide.
Volunteer Soup Kitchen also provides meals to the hungry in a smaller scale in the community.
The Los Angeles Parks and Recreation also offers the Food Service Programs, the program gives
free hot meals for children, teens and senior citizens.
As citizens of the same community, we should feel compelled to help those in need, by doing so
we can decrease the amount of food insecure people and create a strong, powerful bond within
the community. Workers and volunteer are essential to the goal of ending food insecurity; the
organizations and programs need compassionate and dedicated people in order to make a
difference. Programs like Feeding America, LAHSA, and soup kitchens welcome volunteers and
advocates of the cause. Another effective way of helping can simply being more conscious of the
food we throw out. A study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council explains that
Americans toss out as much as 40% of their food, adding up to $165 billion dollars. This is a
large amount of money and food that was unwisely thrown away. Discarding of the food
additionally affects the environment. Uneaten food consumes a quarter of freshwater and uses up
to 4% of oils that produce methane emissions. If, for whatever reason you no longer desire the
food you have, a more efficient, Eco-friendly choice is donating the food to hunger relief
programs. Natural Resources Defense Council as also writes that citizens nationwide have taken
initiative and have donated a total of $228 billion dollars in 2012 to not-for- profit organization
and philanthropic organizations for the sake of seeing improvement in their community. As
stated by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 63 million people volunteered their time
between September 2012 and September 2013, averaging to 50 hours on volunteer activities.
This is tremendous progress for our nation; it shows the number of people who have compassion
and dedication to help people in need. This should make us strive for even bigger numbers to
achieve for the future and compel more people to help the cause.
Now some citizens might think, How does this affect me? Why should I help the hungry? Their
actions and choices are what lead them to their economic situation. Saying these questions or
having this notion about the misfortunate is not fair for that group. To believe someone
intentionally chose this way of life and economic status is unlikely, mistakes can be made and
life is unpredictable including our countrys economy. In most cases, for example, families are
torn between choosing food and paying a bill. We do not know the reason to why or how their
situation came to be, but regardless, as Angelenos, as humans beings, we should be compelled to
help those who cannot help themselves, at the very least not assume someone choices without
speaking with the person.
In conclusion, food insecurity is indeed a huge problem here in our county of Los Angeles.
Anyone can become victims of being food insecure. Food insecurity not only affects an
individual economic status but can affect the mental and physical state of the person which can
lead to dangerous health conditions. As Angelenos, we must put aside false notions about the
people who deal with this dilemma, take initiative and help organizations whose purpose is to
decrease food insecurity in Los Angeles or help the cause in a much smaller scale by being more
conscious of the food we throw away. This will, with hope raise awareness of the problem to all
citizens and decrease the amount of food insecure in the future.





















Work Cited
Map the Meal Gap. Feeding America. WEB. 2012.October 22,2014
Renee, Janet Impact of lack of food & water on the Human Body. LIVE STRONG.COM.
May 13,2012. WEB
Frongillo, Edward A. Sonya J. Jones. Joyti, Diana F Food Insecurity Affects School Childrens
Academic Performance, Weight Gain, and Social Skills. JN The Journal of Food Nutrition.
December 1, 2005. WEB. October 22, 2014

United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition ServiceSupplemental Nutritional
Assistance Program August 20,2014. WEB. October 22, 2014

Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Homeless Count 2013. WEB. October 22, 2014

Yelp. Volunteer Soup Kitchens. WEB. October 22, 2014

Food Services Programs. Los Angeles Parks and Recreation
Hsu Tiffany,Americans toss out as much as 40% of their food, study says. Los
AngelesTimes. August 21, 2012. WEB. October 22, 2014