The Millennium Development Goals Awareness Project held its second conference discussing hunger and poverty issues in the Red Gym Tuesday.
Chris Brockel, manager of the Food and Gardens Division of the Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin, discussed current projects to lessen hunger in the Madison area.
During the event, ""Engaging for Change: Ending Hunger on Time,"" Brockel explained to a small crowd the relationship between food and politics.
""We are not talking necessarily about the lack of food, [what] we are talking about is the distribution of food,"" he said.
Brockel said hunger in Madison may not be as explicit as in places like Niger and Haiti.
""You might say, well, we don't see kids ... with their ribs sticking out,"" he said.
However, according to Brockel, recent CAC statistics report 80 percent of the people they serve from Dane, Jefferson and Waukesha counties are below the federal poverty level.
UW-Madison graduate student Mariko Hasebe said she was unaware of the issue of poverty in Madison before the presentation.
She said that in a college town, what is seen on campus is very different from the realities Brockel spoke about.
Brockel said although it is not always obvious in the downtown area, the food pantries in the three counties currently serve 38 percent more residents than they did in 2007.
CAC coordinates food pantries, food drives and medical assistance. It also educates about food safety and distributes to pantries, according to Brockel.
People in the Madison area are generous and willing to support those in poverty, Brockel said.
Brockel said although monetary contributions can have a bigger impact, direct food donations tend to better involve the community with the issue.
""Going out and buying food and the physical act of donating, it connects folks to the issue more than writing a check,"" he said.
Brockel also discussed the importance of providing a range of choices in the pantry to suit different dietary, cultural and preferential needs. Doing so, he said, instills a sense of dignity within the issue of poverty.
""When you give people dignity back, I think they feel they have a voice,"" said Suraiya Haroon, a UW-Madison graduate student and MDGAP co-founder.
