INDIANAPOLIS – Roughly 25 percent of Hoosiers face food insecurity daily.
“I’m a single guy struggling – working a full-time job – paying high bills – you can’t afford nothing else,” Indianapolis Resident Larry Williams said.
Williams was one of hundreds of people who received from Gleaners Food Bank on Tuesday.
New research from the Economic Policy Institute states that 30% of Indiana’s workforce work at jobs that pay less than the state’s living wage benchmark of $18/hour.
“It’s a situation that occurs across all social issues – whether it would be food insecurity or economic insecurity,” Eric Roemer Pastor, Greentown Wesleyan Church said.
That’s why an event tonight titled “Hope for the Working Hungry, Whats next” -- will focus on solutions to combating food insecurity and some of its root causes.
“Solutions have to do with the systems that are in place, to give people a fair shot too make enough money to be able to afford the food they have, to have the access to healthy food,” Roemer added.
The event is hosted by the non-profit Bread for the Worldand Gleaners, the event brought together local leaders and national experts to discuss issues surrounding food insecurity in the state.
"It’s a situation that occurs across all social issues – whether it would be food insecurity or economic insecurity," Dr. Shellye Suttles, Agricultural Economist at IU-Bloomington said.
Hope for the Working Hungry: What's Next? was hosted Tuesday evening at at St. Luke’s North Indy Church in Indianapolis.
