Sonoma County’s low-income families miss 13 million meals, report finds

Sonoma County's low-income families did without 13 million meals last year, a startling figure that - while signaling a major improvement took place over 2016 - also means that hundreds of local children were still going to bed hungry, according to a new report.

The Sonoma County Hunger Index, released last week, said that nearly 58,000 “at risk” families - those making less than $50,000 a year and accounting for nearly one-third of all county households - came up short on nutrition by skipping meals.

But despite the impact of last year's wildfires, which the report said triggered rent increases for many low-income families, the number of missed meals was cut in half, down from 26 million in 2016.

“Sonoma County is making a dent in hunger,” said Felisa Pinson, director of the county Human Services Department's Economic Assistance Division.

Pinson cited an improving local economy that boosted wages as a major reason for the improvement.

The county's household median wage rose for the second year in a row, hitting $80,409 last year, up from $73,929 the year before and $66,674 in 2015.

But the housing crunch, exacerbated by the fires that destroyed more than 5,300 homes, also forced low-wage earners to move out of the county, likely reducing the number of households that came up short on meals, Pinson said.

The index was calculated by taking the 167 million meals needed by members of the 58,000 households, subtracting the 108 million meals they purchased and the 45 million meals provided by food assistance programs, leaving about 13 million missed meals.

Spread among the members of all low-income households, it would amount to each person missing one of the 21 meals a week - the standard set for basic health by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

About 31 percent of the county's 188,829 households - 57,970 households - had incomes below $50,000 in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2016, there were 60,563 households in that income range, about 32 percent of all households.

“Under $50,000, it's kind of hard to make it here,” Pinson said.

Housing costs were at a “crisis levels” before the fires, said Cynthia King, assistant director of community programs for Catholic Charities. Rents went up after the fires, hitting low-income households in particular.

“Families were forced to choose between having a roof over their heads and other basic needs, including food,” she said.

Food assistance programs, including local charities and the federal government's CalFresh program, stepped up their efforts, providing 44.7 million meals last year compared with 44.1 million in 2016.

In the wake of the wildfires, CalFresh distributed $1.4 million in emergency benefits to an additional 4,400 people, enabling them to buy 627,000 more meals, according to the county Human Services Department, which administers CalFresh.

Now, about 16,000 households depend on CalFresh benefits each month.

Redwood Empire Food Bank ramped up its post-fire effort, as well.

“In the first two weeks, we saw an average of 100 households every hour, eight hours a day,” Allison Goodwin, the food bank's director of programs, said in a Hunger Index press release.

People were coming from all over the county, so the food bank added distribution sites in Windsor, several Santa Rosa locations, Sonoma Mountain Village, Sebastopol, Petaluma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood, she said.

The food bank gave out about a million pounds of food in four weeks after the fires.

Pinson urged community members to contribute to the effort to end hunger in Sonoma County.

The coalition behind the Hunger Index includes Catholic Charities, Petaluma People Services Center, Redwood Bounty, Redwood Community Health Coalition and Redwood Empire Food Bank.

For information or to assist the campaign, go to sonomahungerindex.com.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner