The Grocery Gap is Growing Bigger

My internship has definitely picked up pace since two weeks ago. My official supervisor, Ms. Mitchell, has finally come back from being with her mother. She is a super energetic lady who is enthusiastic about everything she does. While talking to her about my projects, she just thought up several more projects that I could work on. I definitely do not have the problem of having nothing to do.

One of the projects that have captured my interest and enthusiasm is the project on the grocery gap. When I first talked to Mrs. Butler on the topic, she was very vague about what this project involved. She just gave me the instructions to go out and find food prices to see if someone in Chesterfield County could eat healthily on food stamps. But she mentioned that this project was performed in Marlboro County, and her co-worker was able to fit the Thrifty Food Plan on the maximum food stamp allotment. However, she says that she seriously doubted that a family could survive on that budget. Don’t even mention eating healthy. Personally, I do too.

Last Friday, I was able to sit down with her and talk about the specifics of this project. Mrs. Butler is the head of the PlaceMatters project in Marlboro County. PlaceMatters is a program sponsored by the Joint Centers to investigate how the environment and the community situations affect the health of the residents.

I remember sitting in the lounge, facing Mrs. Butler as she asked me the question, “So if the circumstances around a family are preventing them from getting a job, an education, and a healthy life, what should we do? Where do we start? How can we change the situations?”

I stared her, expecting some kind of an answer, but it didn’t come. Then, I realized that it was the question that I am helping to answer. She did tell me that they have identified two major factors that they are receiving grants to change; one is health, and the other is youth development. For my small part of the big picture, I am in charge of seeing if people receiving food stamps in Chesterfield could eat healthy.

For me, that was too vague of a topic. I wanted to know why we needed to know this information. So I geared up all of my skills from writing various research papers at Duke and began my search. As weird as it is, I am excited about using my academic skills (learned at Duke) in a real-life situation. First, I went on Academic Premiere and downloaded several articles on the current food stamp program. Minda, the director of my scholarship, sent me an article from “News and Observer” that talked about how a family on food stamps was going hungry. With the high food prices, these mothers can only buy enough food until mid-month.

From my research, the main issue is that people are not healthy. This is a prevalent problem especially in the South. Diet is a major part of a healthy lifestyle, and the government is trying to promote how to eat healthy. The questions that many critics ask is, how do you expect people on food stamps to eat healthy when they don’t even have enough to eat? Is the food stamp supplement enough for a family to eat healthy?

The government seems to say yes. From their Thrifty Food Plan 2006, they gave a market basket that a family should be able to purchase on a budget (the Thrifty Food Plan is the basis for the maximum food stamps allotment). However, we have to keep in mind that the majority of people do not receive the maximum allotment because they have a small income. The government requires that they use 30% of their net budget on food. However, that 30% usually goes to buy toilet paper and other essentials not covered by the food stamps, so the food stamps is usually their entire budget for food. Also not to mention, the accessibility will also affect whether these people can eat healthy. If the nearest grocery store were 17 miles away (like in the case in Jefferson, SC), the gas fees would overwhelm a family with a gross income of $800 a month. Since they are limited to the nearby convenient stores, which do not carry groceries, they will be forced to buy unhealthy food.

An even worse situation would be that the family could not afford food in general, like the situation in the article. However, obesity still occurs in situations when people cannot afford food. An article by Denour et al. suggests that the phenomenon is called “Food Insecurity-Obesity Paradox.” Food insecurity is not the same as food insufficiency. They don’t even have to be hungry, but they have the psychological stress of worrying about not having enough to eat. Thus, in order to not go hungry, they chose to buy high-energy low-cost foods that contribute to obesity. The government even agrees that being on food stamps is associated with obesity in women between the age of 20 and 50. Denour et al. explains that obesity may not be found with children because mothers would starve, or eat unhealthily so that their children can eat well. Thus, we see obesity in women who are on food stamps.

After all of that, I have decided that in my time at the coordinating council, I cannot possible solve all of these situations. But what I can do is do a preliminary study with a small sample area too see if people can eat healthy with the factors mentioned above (like accessibility, and transportation costs). I can calculate an average food stamp allotment that would be the base of my budget. Maybe in the future, universities or policy makers could expand this study to the entire area so that there’s credibility to make real changes.

What I really hope for this project is that universities like Duke that has a focus on the rural Carolinas would be able to send funding and people power to help improve the communities in need. Right now, Mrs. Butler is understaffed and probably under-funded. What they are doing is great, but they need help from Ph.D.s and people who has the power to change policy to make any tangible changes.

How likely is this going to happen? I don’t know. Sometimes I feel like I am just blowing air on these issues. Now I understand the frustration of non-profits who try so hard to change something. It requires dogged determination and enthusiasm.