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Jack Ecker: More than one and a half million Michiganders are currently unsure where their next meal will come from. Although food insecurity is growing throughout the state, efforts are expanding to help those in need.
WCMU's Tina Sawyer recently sat down with multi-media producer Jamie Mankiewicz to discuss her reporting on food insecurity for an upcoming episode of WCMU's television show Pressing Matters. Jamie began by explaining why Michigan is facing a food crisis.
Jamie Mankiewicz: It's a pretty multifaceted issue, right? So something that we learned through this is that we had the pandemic era assistance ending. There were huge issues with SNAP at the end of 2025 with the government shutdown. And then there have been changes to SNAP rules that just went into effect. I believe it was December 1st. Along with that, we've got other things like, you know, obviously high food prices, high gas prices, like everything comes into play, yeah.
Tina Sawyer: Is there any particular age group?
JM: It really does not discriminate the Feeding America West Michigan Ken Estelle CEO and president, he said that he's like, "Hunger does not have a particular face or a person. It can be in every neighborhood."
TS: Yeah.
JM: And everybody can just be one or two life events away from facing food insecurity.
TS: With all those numbers in place, the crisis affects one in six adults, one in five children across Michigan. At CMU, Central Michigan University, many as one in three students. A lot of people forget that student population.
JM: Yeah, you know, there's always been that stereotype of, "Oh, a starving college student." But I mean, with everything costs, it's a reality now. The size of the food bank is incredible. I mean, they have an amazing organization over there. No, they need nutritious food.
TS: And the food banks are the ones who are doing that and filling that void. And how have the food bank workers tackled this issue from who you interviewed.
JM: It was overwhelming to see the amount of food that was in just the Feeding America Food Bank. It was enormous. And something that was really striking was how he said that, he said, "This entire building, it turns over in one month." It's just this massive building. And he's like, "Yeah, we do that 12 times a year."
TS: Wow.
JM: Yeah
TS: So what is the general attitude? I know you had talked to volunteers and some people who are doing grassroots efforts. Is there a story that stands out to you talking with those volunteers that affected you?
JM: Just kind of across the ward when talking with, you know, like the why, like why are you doing this? And for a lot of people, it was they faced food insecurity as a child or as a young mother. The need to want to give back because they had been helped at one time in their life. Yeah, it's just very overwhelming to think that how big of a problem it is. But it was amazing to see the amount of people that want to help.
TS: So on the show, we're going to see the actual West Michigan Food Bank?
JM: Yeah, we went to Grand Rapids to Feeding America West Michigan. We also visited Food Hugs in Grand Rapids...
TS: What is that?
JM: It's this really cool nonprofit effort and it started up, I believe, during the pandemic. So they will provide like a meal or groceries or bring you flowers....
TS: Oh, nice.
JM: ...for people who are experiencing, either food insecurity, maybe an illness, grief, grief groceries, if you've ever heard that term before.
TS: Absolutely, yeah.
JM: Also, we were in Traverse City at Project Feed the Kids, and they started out, they packed 81 meals their first week and now they do 4,000 every week.
TS: Wow.
JM: 4,000 meals. And the volunteers that come in, we came in and it was just like a flurry. It's amazing how quickly they get all these meals packed and distributed and it's all volunteer. We were also at the barn door in Isabella County. And they have done some incredible things like community meals, Thanksgiving dinners in a bag. Just incredible to see the amount of people that are stepping up to fill those gaps and make sure that people aren't hungry, you know?
JE: That was WCMU multi-media producer Jamie Mankiewicz speaking with Tina Sawyer. You can tune in to watch her story on food insecurity in Michigan tonight at 7 p.m. on WCMU Public Television.
