[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 21]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 29390]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    STATEMENT ON RELEASE OF RESPONSE BY AMERICA'S SECOND HARVEST TO 
                      HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2005

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, the destruction caused by Hurricanes 
Katrina and Rita was devastating. More than one thousand people died 
and thousands of Gulf Coast residents lost their homes in these storms. 
As we now know, the Federal Government's reaction and response was 
woefully inadequate. We've seen how FEMA was ill-equipped to handle the 
catastrophes caused by these massive storms. We know that the then-
Administrator of FEMA, Michael Brown, was the wrong choice to head such 
an important agency and we know that the lives of these Gulf State 
residents will never be the same because, in part, of the botched 
Federal response.
  The responses to these hurricanes weren't all bad. The residents of 
the gulf coast were fortunate that there are non-profit organizations 
that were able to step in and provide the basic services and care to 
the victims of these storms.
  One such group, America's Second Harvest, was a beacon of hope during 
and after the storm, providing food and water to the victims. America's 
Second Harvest is the nation's largest hunger-relief charity, and their 
truckloads of food and water helped support food banks and food-rescue 
organization in the gulf coast and other impacted areas.
  Yesterday, December 15th, America's Second Harvest released a report 
documenting the impact of emergency food distribution in the wake of 
these devastating storms. Specifically, this report details the depth 
and breadth of the impact of the Gulf region hurricane disasters on the 
charitable food distribution system and the clients it serves. This 
report shows that demand for emergency food assistance in the Gulf 
Coast tripled following Hurricane Katrina. Just as startling is the 
finding that the demand for emergency food assistance continues to be 
more than fifty percent higher than it was before Hurricanes Katrina 
and Rita. The study also confirms what we know--that low income 
families and African Americans were disproportionately impacted by the 
hurricane disasters.
  I'm a co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus, a group I helped form to 
focus on and educate Members of Congress about the issue of hunger. Two 
days ago, the Caucus hosted a briefing on the food distribution 
response--Federal Government and private groups--to the hurricanes. 
What we learned is that we need to tighten up the system. We need to 
cut red tape so that food and water is on the ground, ready to go into 
impacted areas right away. We need to educate people in disaster-prone 
areas so they have adequate supplies of food, water and other 
necessities.
  And we need to make sure that the Federal Government and private 
groups have clear lines of communication and that there are real plans 
in place so that the relief and recovery can begin immediately after a 
disaster. There will be disasters. According to experts, the Gulf Coast 
is only a mild tropical storm away from being devastated once again. We 
must take the lessons learned from Katrina and Rita, apply to them now, 
and get ready for the next natural disaster that will strike.
  This report, and the expertise of America's Second Harvest, is a good 
first step and I'd like to commend Bob Forney and his staff at 
America's Second Harvest for their work on it and for their dedication 
to combating and ending hunger in America. As we look into the 
successes and failures in the days leading up to and the days, weeks 
and months following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, this report should 
play a critical role in the education of the American people, as well 
as the U.S. Congress, as to how America's emergency food networks 
responded to these natural disasters. Copies of the report can be found 
on America's Second Harvest website (www.secondharvest.org).

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