By a congregational vote, the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus has charged its Justice Action Ministry (JAM) with poverty alleviation as an area of special focus.
On March 27, supporters of JAM and the advocacy organization RESULTS met with Congressman Pat Tiberi at the Healthy Worthington Resource Center & Food Pantry for a tour of the facility.
Like all central Ohio communities, Worthington has suffered from job losses and underemployment, leading to an increasing reliance on supplemental food sources, including the food pantry. "In the last ten years, the percentage of children in Worthington enrolled in the free school lunch program has increased from a little less than 10 percent to almost 30 percent," said Executive Director Debra Boyd.
The food pantry's hours include "evenings and weekends, as most of our families work," Boyd said. "We have many households who are holding down two, three, four jobs that aren't paying a living wage and don't have any benefits." The pantry serves 30 to 60 families in each two-hour window.
The pantry receives $1600 per year in public funds from the City of Worthington. The rest of its funding comes from donations — 90% from private citizens and 10% from organizations.
After the tour, the group had a cordial but animated discussion with Rep. Tiberi about U.S. budget policies that affect people who live in poverty, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Tiberi's position on the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee gives him influence over federal programs that affect the poor.
"I was a school lunch program person when it wasn't very widespread," Tiberi said. "So I get the social safety net. But we also have to understand the dynamics of what we're doing.
"I think you all understand the complexity of what we're dealing with," he said. "You could be helpful in trying to spread the word of that complexity with respect to the federal budget. It fits into a much more comprehensive puzzle that needs help."
"But we can't fix the budget on the backs of the poor," said Ginnie Vogts, who is affiliated with both RESULTS and JAM. "The Ryan budget cuts $134 billion from SNAP."
"The Ryan budget is one budget," Tiberi said. "The Senate has another budget. It goes from the House to the Senate and then there's a compromise, which is not a bad word."
Tiberi is a fiscal conservative, and he placed a strong emphasis on personal responsibility in his remarks. But he has also been open to dialogue with RESULTS, and has been supportive of tax policies that benefit the poorest Americans, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.
"Folks accessing the pantry have to earn two times or less the federal poverty level," Debra Boyd said. "That's in part because we work with Mid-Ohio Foodbank. So not only does SNAP money make a difference to us in how much food our families have on their tables, but also being able to access our food through Mid-Ohio. We can get substantially more food for our donors' dollars."
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