Mayor-elect Lee Brand: Your people are hungry

In The Bee Nov. 26, Rev. Booker T. Lewis described a vision of Fresno for Mayor-elect Lee Brand’s first term that focuses on 11 issues, among them job creation.

Absent was hunger. The 2014 Fresno Hunger Report reveals that nearly 64,400 Fresnans need food. Many of those surveyed said their paychecks and food stamps ran out at the end of the month, forcing them to either skip meals or ration food for three to seven days every month.

Other people, like farm workers, had seasonal employment and had plenty of food when they worked but not enough food the months they didn’t work. These workers borrow money seasonally to buy food after they use up their savings. They also eat only tortillas with a little salt on them for weeks.

Brand can help these Fresno residents by creating jobs, promoting wage increases and bringing grocery stores like Vallarta to underserved neighborhoods. With the help of local non-governmental organizations, Brand can also facilitate getting fresh fruits and vegetables and proteins like beans into corner stores in areas where there aren’t any grocery stores.

These modest but important steps can boost the nutrition of our workers and students and make them more productive.

This story was originally published December 5, 2016 at 2:46 PM with the headline "Mayor-elect Lee Brand: Your people are hungry."