MARTINSBURG — The Junior League of the Eastern Panhandle and Healthy Berkeley have partnered to raise money to provide an extra serving of fresh fruits and vegetables to the children of the Boys and Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle and raise awareness about local food insecurities with its February Eastern Panhandle SNAP Challenge.
Richele Burch, JuLEP president, said she had first heard of the Hunger Free West Virginia Day back in November when she virtually attended the Food For All summit.
From this summit, she said she learned the first Tuesday of the West Virginia legislative session would be declared Hunger Free West Virginia Day, started in 2019 by Gov. Jim Justice, and its goal was to raise awareness about food insecurities faced by men, women and children throughout West Virginia on a daily basis.
According to a release shared by Burch, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides nutrition benefits to supplement the food budget of families in need, so they can purchase healthy food and move towards self-sufficiency. It’s a program in which over 300,000 families in West Virginia receive benefits.
According to the release, West Virginia Food Link, a website that provides data and food access resources for the Mountain State, said about 11.8% of residents and 16.6% of children in Berkeley County live below the poverty line. Also, 13% of residents and 18.8% of children live below the poverty line in Morgan County, and 10.4% of residents and 12.4% of children live below the poverty line in Jefferson County.
Roughly 6,681 households, or about 12.6% of the population, in Berkeley County use SNAP for grocery shopping, West Virginia Food Link data said. In Morgan County, about 12.32% of the population participates in SNAP, and in Jefferson County, about 11.7% participate.
According to the release, the nonprofit hunger relief network of Berkeley County requires $50,000 per month to tackle hunger in the community, which translates to a food budget of roughly $4.35 per person, per day in the area.
“Those numbers are heartbreaking, so we brainstormed ideas with Healthy Berkeley, and one staff member mentioned she had participated in a SNAP challenge in college. So we looked into it and decided this would be a great way to raise awareness and help people right here in the Eastern Panhandle.”
Running from Feb. 16-28, Burch said the organizations not only hope the campaign will help raise awareness about an issue most people may not see but also hope to raise $5,000 to benefit the children of the Boys and Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle, which is working to feed 220 children throughout all three counties.
“If we hit that $5,000 goal, we will be able to give each child in the program an extra serving of fruit and an extra serving of vegetables every day for five months,” Burch said. “Meaning a simple $10 donation would cover the cost of each extra serving for seven kids for five days.”
Burch said Healthy Berkeley and the JuLEPs are encouraging the community to get involved in a number of ways, including the “shop” challenge, where community members are challenged to eat for three to five days on a SNAP grocery budget of $4.35 per person, per day. Burch said people are encouraged to not only try to only eat the foods they can buy on this budget but to document their experiences, as well.
A simpler way to see the struggles of food insecurity locally, Burch said the community can also make note of the foods they normally eat and calculate a rough estimate of their own individual daily food budget to compare with the $4.35 budget many with food insecurities face.
Burch said no matter which form of involvement a person chooses to take, the goal is for those who do take the time to learn more, participate and donate to reflect on how they feel, what they could eat and share their experience on social media using the hashtag #EPSNAPCHALLENGE to share the information and encourage others to donate to the cause.
“When we were starting the JuLEPs, our parent organization asked us to look at our community and figure out what the greatest need was,” Burch said. “And as we surveyed and researched, we found food insecurity was a common issue that came up and we made that one of our target issues. This was the perfect opportunity for us to really jump in and do a community-wide awareness campaign while also benefiting a program that will help feed kids in the eastern panhandle.”
To donate or share the donation link, visit facebook.com/donate/179103954010688/.
