What the high tech capital 'advanced' society shows the world about hunger challenges

Did you know that although Silicon Valley is one of the #richest areas of the #world 1/4 people in Silicon Valley are at risk of #hunger?

Approximately 26.8% of the #population qualify as ‘food insecure’ based on risk factors such as missing meals or relying on food banks. Even with a full-time #job, putting #food on the table hasn’t been simple.

A survey of more than 4,000 students found about half have skipped meals due to the cost.

“You’re not thinking when you pick up your shirts from dry cleaning, or getting your landscaping done, or going to a restaurant, or getting your child cared for, ‘is that person hungry?’ It’s very easy to assume they are fine.”

Peralta earns too much to qualify for food stamps, but not enough not to worry. She pays $2,000 a month – or three-quarters of her paycheck – to rent the small apartment she shares with her youngest daughter. “Even just the two of us, it’s still a struggle.” So once a month, she picks up supplies at the food bank to supplement what she buys at the store.

“You feel like you’re this dead weight, you’re trying to advance yourself but you don’t have the money. It’s a shitty feeling.”

“Here in Silicon Valley, we have a big problem. This is a beautiful place to live for people in the tech industry, but we are not working in that industry.”

Even people who have full-time jobs can find themselves with no way to put food on the table. Outside the gym, Martina Rivera, a 52-year-old mental health nurse, explained that her troubles began when her entire building was evicted last year. (Mass evictions have swept the area as landlords seek higher-paying tenants). Issues in her personal life, which she preferred not to detail, left her separated from her two children and their father. She thought about moving in with family, but worried about the burden. “My brother was recovering from a stroke, and my mother is old,” she says. “I couldn’t put more struggle on them. So what I found was my car.”

• Martina Rivera, 52, originally from Peru, lived in her car for six months while working as a nurse.

She told herself it was only temporary. “I work night shifts at a veterans hospital, so I would go to my mom’s house to shower, and wait until it was time to work. I waited and waited for the storm to pass.” Eventually she found a room without a private bathroom or kitchen. She shopped for food at 99 cent stores, ate mainly canned food, and cooked in a microwave. It took a toll on her health, she says; she gained weight.

“I was having panic attacks. My body was like the walking dead. But I thought, I need to keep strong. And I never quit my job.”

• Karla Peralta, who works in the cafeteria at Facebook, demonstrates in her kitchen how she cooks with ingredients she picks up from the food bank. Photography: Charlotte Simmonds

Rivera says that for many working people, pride is a barrier to admitting need. “People don’t have money to buy food, but they are shy to ask. But there is no reason to feel ashamed.”

Even if I only have a piece of chicken, a little bit of this and that, I am a cook. I make it work.”

The solution is quite simple but hard to implement if we think in conventional wisdom. Think of the great voluntary redistribution opportunity in the development of the ecosystem to assure basic needs for food, shelter, caring, supporting environment etc are all taken care of through a transparent site or app where everyone concerned can see the real situation of people in their surroundings and do what's possible to make their vicinity better.

For instance instead of splurging in large corporate dinners and free food for all in high tech companies cafeterias how about making corporate dinners more personalised and smaller so more quality time are spent together thereby increasing productivity and need based food for employees based on the employees weight and healthy nutritional needs. The savings from such changes and productivity gains can be shared with the community by inviting them to enjoy the fruit and surplus of the neighbors, thus making the community cared for and instilling into locals the urge to repay in kindness.