Help Feed the Hungry
by: Briana Castro
Lupe Cuellar and Manuela Chaves of the Two Rivers YMCA delegation are proposing a new hunger bill called “Feeding Illinois,” designed to feed low-income Americans and reduce the amount of food waste.
As of 2017, about 40 million Americans do not have enough food to feed every member in their family. Cuellar said, “Manuela and I were really surprised to hear that about 1 in 6 children in Illinois struggle with food and hunger, considering that supermarkets in the US are throwing away around 43 billion pounds of food annually.” This inspired Cuellar and Chavez to take action.
Though many hunger bills have been implemented in the past couple of years, hunger still remains a prevalent problem. “The bill would improve the lives of Illinois citizens, specifically low-income, by giving them a reliable food source,” explained Cuellar.
According to Cuellar, there has not been much opposition to their bill thus far. “If there is any opposition, it might be the few grocery stores who find the process of donating foods a nuisance.” People like Cuellar and Chavez are willing to remedy the serious situation, as their bill claims to have a solution to both food insecurity and food waste in the state of Illinois.
