As many of you know, I worked with the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry for about 10 years--from the late 90's until we moved to Orange County.  During that time, the Food Pantry grew in many ways.  Computer systems were overhauled to better track and serve clients.  The number of clients we served and the locations at which we served them grew.  The Board of Directors grew (in more ways than one!) and we went from a part-time manager to a full-time Executive Director.

Oh, and we bought our building and expanded our warehouse.

My work with the Pantry is one of the most fulfilling, challenging and meaningful "jobs" that I've done.  We asked ourselves a lot of questions as we grew.  Should we provide assistance to "illegal aliens" (or as I preferred to call them "undocumented workers.")  Our former President, Pat Rose had the answer to that one.  Any time we received a complaint about feeding these folks, Pat would ask the person complaining to come down to the Food Pantry "and pick which child we shouldn't feed."

We asked ourselves if we were in competition with other pantries in the area or if it was possible that since we all had the same concern, we were working together.  We built bridges between organizations and shared excess inventory with other nonprofits.

One question we never asked ourselves, however, turns out to be the one question that's changed the way an entire city manages the issue of food insecurity/hunger.  Is adequate food a basic human right?

The city of Belo Horizonte in Brazil answered that question with a resounding "Yes!" and then changed the way they approached hunger issues.  With a population of 2.5 million people, 11% of whom were poor, and with 20% of their children going hungry, Belo Horizonte established a policy that sufficient food was a basic human right.

Once they'd decided the question, they set about finding solutions based on the idea that we all deserve, rich or poor, to have sufficient food.  They put together a multidisciplinary committee and revamped the way food was produced and accessed, bringing local farmers into the process.

"The City that Ended Hunger," an article by Frances Moore Lappe', is eminently worth reading, imo.  It details the process and the changes that Belo Horizonte went through to meet its commitment that all citizens deserve to eat.  Belo Horizonte started with a problem and asked how to solve it in a new way.

Today, their success is an example to us all.

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