By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews
H. Eric Schockman knows things are bad when the people that used to volunteer or donate to the food banks he works with are now clients.
“We’ve had other recessions, but this is the worst I’ve seen,” Schockman, president of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, told JTNews. “It’s the most amazing period I’ve ever seen… The conspiracy of the times has really worked against the plight of [poor] people.”
Schochman will be in Seattle on Mon., Dec. 22 for an event that has, for the past five years, revolved around food: The annual MAZON dinner. Started by Rabbi Jim Mirel of Temple B’nai Torah to bring awareness, and, more importantly, money to the food relief organization, this year’s dinner will honor several local synagogues and organizations that have been active in supporting MAZON.
JTNews is a longtime sponsor of the event.
The MAZON dinner features a salmon and latke buffet, donated each year by Matzoh Momma Catering, and performances by local bands. Though the times may be depressing, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to have a good time.
“It’s really to celebrate the holiday, to bring the right attitude and spirit of Hanukkah,” Mirel said. “Hanukkah should be a time of giving to your family, but [also] to the community and those in need, and I want to make sure the spiritual and ethical aspects of Hanukkah” are fulfilled.
Schockman agreed. He said that Seattle has been at the forefront of thinking about food security, and other Jewish communities have emulated a similar Hanukkah party model to raise money for his organization.
“This is a celebration about a battle, and it’s about a victory, and I think there’s a lot of messages you can take out of Hanukkah,” he said. “The Seattle Jewish community has done this with just our basic cheerleading and support, but it’s been very heimish…. The one night we celebrate victory over the forces of darkness and evil, this is very applicable in talking about the victory over hunger in America.”
Schockman said he sees President-elect Obama’s election-race goal to end childhood hunger by 2015 as achievable.
“Nobody has ever said that,” Schockman said. “No president has ever challenged to end childhood hunger.”
Obama’s plan would include increases in funding for nutrition assistance, food stamps, school breakfast and lunch programs, and the fresh fruit and vegetable program among others, according to his “Tackling Domestic Hunger” position paper.
From there, Schochman said, the goals can expand to the rest of the population.
“The U.S. government has a responsibility here. The second stimulus package, which is in hiatus, [includes] an increase in food stamps,” Schockman said. “Food stamps are the first line of defense for hunger in America. They actually do work. They actually feed people.”
Schockman referenced a joint Harvard/Brandeis University study released in June 2007 that showed doing nothing in response to hunger conservatively costs taxpayers $90 billion in missed work and school, and child-onset diabetes, for example.
These problems could be alleviated if the federal government allocated $10–$12 billion over existing expenditures, the report stated.
“It’s clear to me that by doing nothing we’re digging ourselves further in the hole,” Schockman said.
Other factors have played into the growing loss of food security for many Americans. Until the fall, the steep increase in oil prices had made a huge dent in the budgets of food banks to transport the food they needed to distribute. One bitter irony of the collapse of the oil market is that food costs are continuing to rise.
“The food stock prices have not fallen commensurate with the disproportion of the energy sector. In fact, they’re projected to go up another 7 or 8 percent in the next year,” Schockman said. “There’s food riots in 33 countries around the globe. There’s literally food shortages that will set off revolutions…. We’d better pay attention.”
As far as his own organization is concerned, this year MAZON gave out nearly $5.5 million to 150 food organizations around the world: Three were in Washington State, including Jewish Family Service. Like most of the food banks across the country that have seen sharp increases in need while donations have seen steep declines, MAZON has not gone unaffected. But this crisis is one the organization’s board has seen as a challenge it should not step away from.
“God bless my board and the Jewish community,” Schockman said. “My board has said to us that this is not the time that we should be doing less grant-making…. This is the greatest time of need, and we as a funder should not be cutting back because the numbers are going up and the supply is going down.”
He said that donors to his organization see what’s going on, including the people who have regularly attended the Seattle dinner over the past years, and he hopes they can step up and continue to give.
“They know that while they’re suffering and their 401(k)s may be in the toilet, there are people literally down the food chain who are even in worse states,” he said.
Rabbi Mirel, who said he sees particular importance in supporting groups such as MAZON during this recession, urged people to open their hearts and their wallets.
“If you have a job, if you have a roof over your head, if you have enough to eat, this is a year you should really be thankful,” said Mirel. “You should really give more than you have [previously].”