{"id":1183,"date":"2025-09-29T00:45:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T00:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/?p=1183"},"modified":"2025-10-06T17:21:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T17:21:24","slug":"project-share-and-the-scope-of-food-insecurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/2025\/09\/29\/project-share-and-the-scope-of-food-insecurity\/","title":{"rendered":"Project SHARE and the Scope of Food Insecurity"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Fox 43 (2023). [Photo]. Project Share, Carlisle, PA. https:\/\/www.fox43.com\/article\/news\/local\/project-share-is-feeding-around-500-families-in-cumberland-county-for-thanksgiving\/521-375e351d-ccff-4390-8a52-97db1cea2aea<\/p><\/div>Over the years, food insecurity has been redefined to more completely describe its affected populations. Presently, food insecurity is described \u201cas a lack of access to the kinds and amounts of food necessary for each member of a household to lead an active, healthy lifestyle…\u201d (Smith et. al 2023). Over the past decades, the definition has expanded to more completely encapsulate the food needs of a person, household or culture. How do food access needs vary from culture to culture? Are people food insecure if they have access to food, but not food that meets nutrient and cultural requirements? One particular focus of Project SHARE and other nonprofit food pantries is providing food need of individuals and households who do not meet eligibility for the federal government\u2019s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program\u00a0(SNAP) but still struggle to consistently provide nutritious meals for their families. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Barriers to Assistance<\/strong><\/p>\n

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FRAC (2016). USA. https:\/\/frac.org\/programs\/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap<\/p><\/div>\n

SNAP defines eligibility for their program by income: \u201c… a household\u2019s income (before any deductions) must be <130% of the poverty line\u201d (Gunderson 2013). Due to the nature of a federal assistance program, they must outline eligibility even if it means excluding those who still struggle with affording and finding time to acquire groceries. In addition to income restrictions, SNAP, even for those who do meet requirements, can be challenging to apply to and navigate. Primarily, the application process can be confusing, time-consuming, and inaccessible to all populations (<\/span>e.g.<\/span> language barriers, attending in-person appointments, or<\/span> making various phone calls) (<\/span><\/span>Hossfeld 2018<\/span><\/span>).<\/span> Lower income individuals may be struggling with <\/span>poorness<\/span> in more than one aspect of their life, leading to<\/span> both a lack of time and money to engage with otherwise <\/span>beneficial<\/span> assistance<\/span> programs.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Importance of Nonprofits<\/strong><\/p>\n

While SNAP does have widespread benefits to those enrolled (about <\/span>70 billion dollars<\/span> of benefits per year), there are still gaps <\/span>that need to be filled by other aid (Gunderson 2013).<\/span> One of these groups that falls through the cracks of governmental <\/span>assistance<\/span> is the Asset\u00a0Limited,\u00a0Income\u00a0Constrained,\u00a0Employed (ALICE) population.<\/span>\u00a0Originally presented as an \u2018emergency food <\/span>source<\/span>,<\/span>\u2019<\/span> food pantries based out of churches, warehouses, and <\/span>vehicles provided short-term relief for families struggling to make their benefits last.<\/span> Nonprofits such as Project SHARE which have developed permanent residence in the Carlisle area are among the few means of <\/span>assistance<\/span> for <\/span>the ALICE population, as well as others who are eligible for SNAP. <\/span>Project<\/span> SHARE works with the community to boost these families into food security without the use of supplemental assis<\/span>tance.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More than Just Food Insecurity\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

While hunger and food insecurity are both challenges unto themselves, chronic food insecurity can lead to a variety of other complications that can permanently affect the livelihood of people and their families. These complications include but are not limited to higher chance of hospitalization, physical health problems, greater chance of developing diabetes and other chronic illnesses (Gunderson 2013). Recently, \u2018hunger\u2019 has been removed from many documentations referring to the access an individual has to food (Allen 2007). How do the words we use to refer to marginalized groups affect their real-life situations? In addition to the physical challenges a chronically hungry person may face, they are also not referenced to in a way that recognizes the difficulty and significance of their hardships. Ultimately, there is a disparity between the needs of lower-income groups and the provisions of local and federal governmental benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Allen, P. (2007). The disappearance of hunger in America. Gastronomica the Journal of Food and Culture<\/i>, 7<\/i>(3), 19\u201323. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1525\/gfc.2007.7.3.19<\/span><\/p>\n

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Gundersen, C. (2013). Food insecurity is an ongoing national concern. Advances in Nutrition<\/i>, 4<\/i>(1), 36\u201341. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3945\/an.112.003244<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hossfeld, L. H., Kelly, E. B., & Waity, J. F. (2018). Food and poverty: Food Insecurity and Food Sovereignty Among America\u2019s Poor<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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Smith, T. A., & Gregory, C. A. (2023). Food insecurity in the United States: measurement, economic modeling, and food assistance effectiveness. Annual Review of Resource Economics<\/i>, 15<\/i>(1), 279\u2013303. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1146\/annurev-resource-101422-090409<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the years, food insecurity has been redefined to more completely describe its affected populations. Presently, food insecurity is described \u201cas a lack of access to the kinds and amounts of food necessary for each member of a household to lead an active, healthy lifestyle…\u201d (Smith et. al 2023). Over the past decades, the definition […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5671,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136303,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food-studies-fall-2025","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5671"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1183"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1187,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183\/revisions\/1187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/foodstudies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}