Pachter: Harry Chapin fed the hungry

In 1980, at a time when many people were weighing the answer to the burning question of the day -- "Who shot JR?" -- Harry Chapin was performing more than 220 concerts a year, riding the wave of a string of Top 40 hits like "Taxi," "W.O.L.D." and "Cat's In The Cradle." But he was also thinking about ways to help those affected by hunger in his own backyard on Long Island. For Chapin, who lived in Huntington Bay, music enabled him to spread his message of ending hunger, an issue that he was passionate about.

At the time, Long Island was considerably different than it is today when it comes to poverty and hunger. There were only a few organizations that were in the forefront of human services here, focusing on the issue of people in need of emergency food and those living at or below the poverty level. Nonprofits such as the Interfaith Nutrition Network and the Health and Welfare Council were analyzing data about the growing number of Long Islanders requiring emergency food and public assistance such as food stamps. Community organizations were spearheading local efforts to provide housing for people with disabilities, safe havens for victims of domestic violence, and advocating for runaway and homeless youth.

But when it came to distributing food to people in immediate need, there was no organized food bank in the region. In fact, in 1980 there were only two food banks in all of New York, both upstate.

So 31 years ago, armed with just an idea and his gift for persuading people to do the right thing, Chapin secured two local grants from Nassau and Suffolk counties -- totaling $50,000 -- to establish Long Island's very first food bank. It was located on the grounds of the psychiatric center in Brentwood, on land provided by New York State. At a time when local hunger data was not regularly compiled, and about 20 million Americans were counted among the hungry, Chapin became a voice for hunger awareness by establishing Long Island Cares.

It's been three decades since his untimely death in a car accident on July 16, 1981, at age 38. There are now a reported 36 million Americans described by Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger relief organization, as being hungry or "food insecure" -- when household members lack access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. This figure is up 44 percent from 2006 -- a dramatic increase. One in six Americans relies on the services provided by food banks in order to obtain food periodically, especially in times of crisis. In just the past four years, the figures on Long Island have jumped from 250,000 to 320,000, according to a 2010 U.S. Department of Agriculture study on food insecurity in our region.

The root causes of hunger, which were at the heart of Chapin's reason for developing Long Island Cares, have all increased on Long Island since 1980: poverty, unemployment, homelessness, immigration, illness and disability. Chapin was determined to address the causes of hunger as much as he was active in providing food for the hungry.

Now, on the 30th anniversary of his death, Long Islanders have an opportunity to look back and see just how far we've come in achieving Chapin's goal. There are more than 580 community organizations providing emergency food to Long Islanders in need today. Combined, these organizations provide around 25 million pounds of food annually to the hungry on Long Island. But we still haven't ended hunger.

The need on Long Island is greater than ever. There are too many people out of work and even more living one paycheck away from losing their homes. There are 110,000 children who wake up or go to bed hungry each day. Thousands of our neighbors are making difficult choices between feeding themselves or paying their bills.

Harry Chapin's music and his message are still relevant on Long Island and across America. "When I hear somebody crying / I can't just wonder who that it could be," Chapin wrote in one of the songs for "The Last Protest Singer," his final studio album. "Well, I hear somebody crying now /And it sure sounds like America to me."