Feeding San Diego CEO Testifies Before Congress On Hunger Among Veterans
Speaker 1: 00:00 We've often talked about the challenges facing veterans transitioning from military service back to civilian life, jobs, housing, and sometimes mental health are among the issues most often mentioned. But today on Capitol Hill, a hearing focuses on another issue, veterans face, food insecurity, hunger, not knowing where their next meal is coming from. The CEO of feeding San Diego is among those testifying at the hearing today. And Vince hall joins us now from Washington D C Vince, welcome to the program. Speaker 2: 00:33 Thank you for having me. Speaker 1: 00:35 Now we know that San Diego County is home to one of the biggest concentrations of veterans in the nation. How big a problem is food insecurity for veterans here? Speaker 2: 00:45 Well, one of the standing facts that came out of today's hearing is that we really don't know the scope of the problem because a lot of the agencies of the federal government that should be keeping track of our veterans are in fact not doing so. And so at feeding San Diego, we know that we serve thousands and thousands of veterans each week across the County through our feeding heroes initiative. But, uh, one of the message to Congress today was you need to take responsibility for making sure those who've served our country have enough to eat. Speaker 1: 01:12 Is there a particular time that's most challenging for veterans, perhaps when they're transitioning from the military? Speaker 2: 01:19 You're right, Maureen. There are in fact, two very vulnerable times and the average veteran's life, uh, one is as they are transitioning from the military to civilian life and they're going through a very significant transition from a highly structured environment with consistent cashflow to having to find their footing in the civilian world and find appropriate work and find a place to live. And, uh, when they have dependence, uh, as part of their family unit, those comp challenges become more complex. And then seniors who find themselves as all seniors do facing any number of challenges. Um, but many veterans haven't accessed any services until they are seniors and then suddenly find themselves in need of help. Speaker 1: 02:01 Did you tell the committee's some examples from the experiences of vets here in San Diego? Speaker 2: 02:08 Indeed, yes. Um, and we, uh, have, uh, stories from across San Diego County, from veterans of every age group and every walk of life who, uh, are struggling with San Diego's extraordinarily high cost of living 40% higher than the national average. But veterans are in effect, uh, trying to make very difficult decisions between paying for essential services like food, rent, uh, healthcare, uh, investing in their children's education, um, paying they're paying their rent is a, is a major obstacle. And when folks start to cut their budgets to make compromises, food is unfortunately, often one of the first things that gets cut. So we brought those stories to Congress today. Speaker 1: 02:48 Could you share one of those stories with us? Speaker 2: 02:51 Well, feeding San Diego, um, is working with both the veterans community and active duty military populations. And so I, uh, had the of telling the story of a woman named desert Ray whose husband makes about $34,000 a year in the U S Navy. And she, uh, is dealing with the fact that he's been on deployment for over eight months. And she came to us because frankly she was having trouble feeding her own children. The military provides folks who are not living on base with a basic allowance for housing. This is supplemental pay that's meant to help them find off-base housing. But the reality is it's not enough for San Diego's housing market and Congress counts that money as income for purposes of making these families in eligible for food stamps. So it begins a spiral of food insecurity that causes many of these families to need our immediate help and assistance. Speaker 1: 03:41 So the issue of food insecurity that you spoke to in Congress today went beyond veterans to the larger military community. Speaker 2: 03:50 It did. And a lot of the problems go hand in hand when you start talking about reservists who come in and out of active service, or you're talking about guards, members who get mobilized and their families, uh, have to struggle with the resulting financial insecurity as those reservists and guardsmen are taken out of their, uh, normal occupations and put into their military service. So when you add San Diego's high cost of living, uh, those equations become very complicated. Feeding. San Diego sees veterans every week who are referred to us by the VA hospital in the Hoya. It's not far to feeding San Diego and oftentimes these veterans come into our lobby and say, I just don't know how I'm going to feed my family tonight. Fortunately, feeding San Diego has emergency food boxes and access to local food resources to help those veterans. Speaker 1: 04:34 What kind of impact has recent cuts to on to food assistance made by the Trump administration? What kind of impact has that had on your work with veterans here in San Diego? Speaker 2: 04:45 There's palpable fear in the community because Congress is uh, watching the administration proposed new restrictions on the snap program, which in California we call CalFresh. It's also formerly known as food stamps and there's a great deal of apprehension because Congress is looking to, or sorry, the administration is looking to impose new rules without even considering the impact those rules are going to have on veterans. And Congressman Mike Levin of San Diego asked some very pointed questions today about the fact that the us department of agriculture is going to impose these cuts to the snap program. Forcing billions of Americans off the program, but they haven't even asked the veterans affairs department how many veterans are going to be removed from food assistance as a result of those cuts. That was really a very disturbing revelation in today's hearing. Speaker 1: 05:32 And so what are you and the others who testified this morning actually asking Congress to do? Speaker 2: 05:38 We're asking Congress to take care of those who have served in the uniform of our country. There is no reason in the wealthiest country in the history of this planet that anyone who serves in our armed forces or has served in our armed forces should be facing food insecurity. And we want Congress to pause on taking aggressive measures to cut food assistance to without really understanding the depth and complexity of the problems that those Americans face on a daily basis, particularly when it comes to veterans, because we all agree that veterans deserve our respect and our appreciation and a quality of life. They've risked their lives for our protection, but we don't have a Congress and an administration that has a unified vision for how to make those promises tangible in the real world. And as a result, organizations like feeding San Diego are left plugging the gap between what the government provides those veterans and what they need to nourish their families. Speaker 1: 06:30 I've been speaking with feeding San Diego CEO Vince hall. He's in Washington D C just come from testifying before Congress today. Thanks for your time, Vince. I appreciate it. Speaker 2: 06:41 Thank you for having me.
