The Vicious Cycle of Food Insecurity and Poor Health

By Fred Welch

Olean Food Pantry Board Member

(Editor’s note: This is the third in a four-part series by the Olean Food Pantry about solving food insecurity in our communities.)

I spent much of my career as a STEM teacher trying to get kids to see and understand correlation and causation. Whether you’re studying math, science or history as a student, or navigating financial realities as an adult, it’s important to understand the “why” behind our daily experience.

As an Olean Food Pantry board member, it’s eye-opening to see the lines of cars stretching around the parking lot on distribution days. We easily grasp their “why” for being here in record numbers. People are hungry.

But that only scratches the surface.

For many, the “why” behind their hunger results from several related factors – a vicious cycle of food insecurity, poor health and negative life outcomes.

We live at the northernmost tip of Appalachia. That’s an understated fact, and many in our communities don’t realize what that means. We’ve grappled for decades with the highest poverty rates in New York state. The consequences are more severe than people simply lacking money for food.

The impact of poverty on health is undeniable and multifaceted, creating a web of challenges beyond struggling financially. A recent study by the Health Foundation for Western & Central New York (HFWCNY) – titled “Community Health Needs and Opportunities in Western New York’s Southern Tier” – explores these challenges. It reveals how poverty not only limits access to nutritious food, but also to essential resources that make matters worse across the board.

It’s a simple concept: without regular, nutritious meals, our bodies and minds can’t function properly. The effects ripple through every aspect of life, from physical health and mental well-being to the ability to perform at work or school.

The result? A perpetuation of poverty and hunger that’s almost impossible to break. Hungry people get sick. Hungry people miss work. Hungry kids miss valuable lessons in the classroom.  Poor health makes it increasingly difficult to find and maintain employment.

Hunger directly causes a variety of health issues that complicate progress in life:

• Malnutrition: Limited access to a diverse and nutritious diet can lead to malnutrition, affecting both physical and cognitive processes.
• Compromised Immune System: Inadequate nutrition weakens the immune system, leaving people more vulnerable to infections and illnesses.
• Increased Chronic Conditions: Food insecurity is linked to the development and progression of chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.
• Mental Health Challenges: The stress and uncertainty associated with hunger contribute to mental health issues including depression, anxiety disorders and substance use.
• Developmental Delays in Children: Children experiencing hunger may suffer from developmental delays and struggle academically.

So many without adequate access to resources must climb mountains just to make progress. What’s worse, generational poverty affects a majority of the roughly 17 percent of Allegany, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua residents defined as living in severe poverty.

Thousands of people take their first breath already at a disadvantage.

Their success isn’t so idealistic as “pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps.” Some days it’s tough enough just to survive. Anyone would have difficulty mapping out a vibrant future while days of struggle become months and years without any sign of hope.

In the Southern Tier, high food insecurity rates have led to a dramatic increase in Olean Food Pantry clients. Entering this year, we had seen a 95.4 percent spike in pantry visitors since 2020. At our last board meeting, we discussed a further 9.7 percent increase in clients, year-over-year, through April.

Those numbers will continue to rise.

While we’re committed to meeting their immediate food needs, our ultimate goal is to solve the hunger issue by addressing root causes. That means solving the “why,” but unfortunately, there’s more than one “why.” Many more reasons than any one organization could tackle single-handedly.

Achieving this vision requires a deep, collective understanding of poverty, hunger and poor health. It requires a commitment to developing proactive solutions and building community relationships to provide people with the tools to systematically emerge from poverty. Olean Food Pantry’s $1 Million Fundraising Campaign aims to do just that. Your donation today is greatly appreciated. Visit www.oleanfoodpantry.org/donate