Reader\'s Digest - 04.2020

ever met,” he says. “They’re focused

on skipping meals so that their kids

have something to eat. I take great

pride in the work that we do here,

but I take no pride in the fact that our

country stations families in San Diego

and doesn’t pay them enough money

to live in San Diego.”

But it’s not just San Diego. Records

from the Department of Defense re-

veal that during the 2018–2019 school

year, a third of children at DOD-run

schools on military bases in the United

States—more than 6,500  children—

were eligible for free or reduced

lunches. At Georgia’s Fort Stewart,

over 65 percent were eligible. Mazon, a

group that combats hunger, has found

that there are food pantries on or near

every military base in this country.

“There’s nothing wrong with going

to a food pantry when you need emer-

gency help,” says Josh Protas, Mazon’s

vice president of public policy. “But

there’s no reason that those who are

serving in the armed forces should

have to do that on a routine basis.”

For its part, the DOD sees the prob-

lem of food insecurity in the military

as being minimal. Troops are well

paid, they insist; there’s a subsidized

grocery store on each base; and

families can avail themselves of the

financial-literacy training the military

provides.

Desirée Mieir did seek financial

help from the military. She says

it didn’t help. “My husband and I

have taken advantage of resources

available to us,” she says. “We’ve met

with financial counselors provided

by the military. We have done that

work.” And yet she and her husband

still barely scrape by.

Former Navy fire controlman Crys-

tal Ellison left food insecurity behind

only when she left the service. For

most of the 13 years she spent man-

aging complex weapons systems and

high-powered radars, she had to rely

on loans from her in-laws to feed her

family.

“I found it embarrassing,” she ad-

mits. “I felt like, you should be able to

provide for your family and not lean

on anybody else. That’s what you’re

supposed to do as an adult.” It was

especially difficult when she was a

junior sailor and the pay was lower.

“If you didn’t have enough money

saved up, you were definitely in the

hurt locker.”

Ellison is now in the private sector

and no longer struggling financially,

In 2019, Feeding San Diego provided

2.3 million meals to military families.

Reader’s Digest

82 april 2020