"America's far-flung network of emergency food programs - from Second Harvest to tens of thousands of neighborhood food pantries - constitutes one of the largest charitable institutions in the nation. Its vast base of volunteers and donors and its ever-expanding distribution infrastructure have made it a powerful force in shaping popular perceptions of domestic hunger and other forms of need. But in the end ... there is something in the food-banking culture and its relationship with donors that dampens the desire to empower the poor and take a more muscular, public stand against hunger."

Mr. Winne asserts in his opinion piece that the work of food banks to feed hungry Americans distracts lawmakers from solving the problem of hunger itself

we cannot end hunger unless we end poverty; food banking as well as other antihunger programs do a good job of managing poverty by alleviating its worst symptom, hunger

the need to end poverty