(Editor’s note: The following is the third in a four-part series of op-eds by Olean Food Pantry board members in preparation for the Season of Giving.)

By Jamie Kohn

Olean Food Pantry board member

I’ve seen a lot in my life. I served my country in the military and traveled to parts of the world where people faced hardships I couldn’t have imagined growing up in Western New York. But what really breaks my heart is that, here in our own community, I’m now seeing hunger on a scale I never thought possible.

It’s affecting the place we call home, which should make that fact more devastating.

As with many other community issues, hunger is something we all recognize. We know there are too many kids who get their only meal every day at school. We see with our own eyes people living paycheck to paycheck – or without a paycheck at all. We know that cousin or neighbor down the street who goes hungry each night so her kids can eat instead.

Again, as with many other community issues, recognition goes only so far. How many of us are upset that elected leaders, big organizations and wealthy benefactors always seem to overlook the good people of Western New York? How many of us can say we’ve actually done anything about it?

The Olean Food Pantry has been a community anchor for generations. But lately, the need is greater than anything I’ve ever witnessed. We analyze the numbers at each OFP board meeting. Record numbers of people use our pantry each month.

My generation grew up believing in the American Dream – that if you worked hard, you could build a life where you never had to worry about having the means to feed your family. Hunger wasn’t something I saw too often growing up here in Western New York. Sure, times weren’t always easy, but most families back then could get by easily on one paycheck.

But today, even hardworking people are struggling to make ends meet. Long lines of people – young and old, families, single parents, fellow veterans – wait outside Olean Food Pantry on distribution days for the basics they need to survive. We’re living in a time when so many in our communities are just trying to keep their heads above water.

Volunteers and board members here make an effort to connect with every person who comes through our doors. You should hear their stories. Some even have multiple jobs and still can’t afford enough food. Some are elderly folks who worked their whole lives and now have to choose between medicine and meals. Others are young parents trying to give their children a better future, struggling to provide even the most basic necessities.

The faces of hunger are no longer what we might imagine. It’s not just the homeless or unemployed. It’s our neighbors, our co-workers, even the kids who go to school with our own children. And it’s definitely not people who are simply “lazy” or “stupid.”

For the most part, it’s people who, through no fault of their own, have been hit hard by rising costs, job losses and an economy that isn’t working for everyone.

My military service taught me the importance of looking out for others. Serving my fellow humans has always been at the core of who I am. We were trained to protect, to support and to stand by those who need help.

And right now, in our own backyard, people need our help more than ever before.

By now you’ve seen fellow OFP board members several times citing the following statistic: nearly 1 in 4 people in our region are experiencing food insecurity, according to the NYS Department of Health Report on Food Insecurity Among Adults.

People ask why rural hunger doesn’t seem to get the attention that urban poverty does. The reality is that rural hunger is often invisible. We don’t see the tent cities or the crowded shelters that are more common in urban areas. But make no mistake, hunger is just as real here.

Families are suffering in silence, couch surfing, returning cans and bottles for nickels, going to work for a paycheck that all but disappears after paying rent. All they want is to get back on their feet; a chance for a better life.

This Season of Giving, I’m calling on all of us to step up during this time of crisis. We can’t afford to wait. Hunger in rural New York is not just a statistic — it’s personal. To donate, visit www.oleanfoodpantry.org/donate.