TESTIMONY BEFORE THE REGIONAL FARM BILL HEALTHIER US NUTRITION FORUM, HELD OCTOBER 6, 2005, OAKLAND CALIFORNIA

To Whom It May Concern:

Aloha! My name is Judy Lenthall, Executive Director of the Kauai Food Bank in the State of Hawaii. My testimony concerns the proposed rules for the Senior Farmer’s Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), published in the Federal Register on May 26, 2005.

We have been participating in this outstanding program since its inception in 2001. Without a doubt, it is one of the BEST programs that the USDA has to offer, and is probably the ONLY source of affordable fresh produce available for our poverty seniors. MAHALO (thank you) for this tremendous program.

However, if the proposed rule becomes final, it will have a devastating effect on the health of Hawaii’s poverty seniors and have a significant impact on their nutritional health and well-being. Specifically, I am referring to the proposed limitation of an across-the-board maximum annual benefit of $50 for each qualified senior. Currently, the annual benefit level per Hawaii poverty senior is $294.

Our participating seniors live on an average of only $9,500 annually. The proposed reduction would mean a loss of over 2.5% of their total average annual income. No one earning this level of income can take a loss of any amount, particularly given Hawaii’s high cost of living.

The proposed rule, if adopted, would mean a loss of over $378,000 in annual federal funding to our State. And unfortunately, neither the State of our Counties can make up this tremendous loss.

Consequently, we have tried to make this point known to Patricia Daniels, Director of the Supplemental Food Programs Division by the mandated deadline for Federal Register comments, which was July 25, 2005. Formal comments to this terrible legislation have also been submitted by the Mayor of Kauai County; the Mayor of Hawaii County; the State Office of Community Services; the Hawaii State Office on Aging; the Kauai Office of Elderly Affairs; the Kauai Farm Bureau; 11 growers; the Kauai Food Bank; the Hawaii Island Food Bank; and the Western Regional Anti-Hunger Coalition.

Over 2,000 signed petitions from poverty seniors in Hawaii have been submitted to Ms. Daniels, in direct response to the proposed regulations. All of them are begging the USDA not to cut their senior farmer’s market nutrition program benefits.

Letters signed by every member of the Hawaii congressional delegation have been submitted to Ms. Daniels requesting that USDA either exempt Hawaii from the proposed $50 cap or provide a grandfather clause in the final rule to permit Hawaii to use the 2004 benefit levels as a monetary cap.

All of these petitions, letters, and requests are attached to my testimony today, and apparently all of them have fallen on deaf ears.

There seems to be a belief in Washington D.C. that a one-size-Senior Produce Program-will-fit-all. And no matter how much evidence we provide to the contrary, we are filled with tremendous fear that no one is really listening.

Evidence includes Hawaii’s (and particularly Kauai’s) extremely high cost of living, estimated at the very least at over 35% higher than on the mainland. Evidence includes the economic and nutritional impact on our participating seniors; Hawaii’s geographic uniqueness and the programmatic implications therein; Hawaii’s year-round growing season; and the rule’s adverse impact on Hawaii’s growers.

Please let me give you an example. My husband and I went to the mainland for 2 weeks in a motor home last month. In Boulder, Colorado we purchased almost 2 weeks of supplies for about $200. When we returned to home, I stopped at the grocery store for just a few items I knew we needed. I bought 5 things: coffee creamer, hair conditioner, a can of Lysol spray, a bottle of Perrier water, and grapes. My total bill was $48.00.

In California, you can get a large zip lock bad full of Roma tomatoes for about $3 or $4. In Hawaii, $3.00 will get you maybe 3 or 4 tomatoes tops. A gallon of milk in Hawaii is about $6.30.

The bottom line is one-size-will-not-fit-all when it comes to Hawaii’s cost of living.

The State of Hawaii Office of Community Services has prepared an 8 page report documenting the evidence and impact the proposed rule will have on Hawaii, and this too is submitted with my written testimony.

It would be greatly appreciated if the Department would recognize the fact that Hawaii is very unique geographically, economically, and has transportation and administrative problems that are endemic only to Hawaii.

Please consider lifting the unreasonable $50 maximum annual cap for Hawaii seniors. The two alternatives we have proposed include exempting Hawaii from the proposed $50 cap, or allowing Hawaii to cap its annual individual monetary benefit level at the 2004 amount by grandfathering this allowance into Hawaii’s Senior Produce Program.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak before you today. I pray that you will consider our request for the benefit of Hawaii’s poverty seniors.

Mahalo nui loa and aloha me ke pumehana.

Judith F. Lenthall

Executive Director