Groups fighting hunger in California say untold suffering could be avoided if the policies championed at the latest White House conference are put into place.

The event was the first of its kind in 50 years, bringing together government agencies, nonprofits and private companies, with the goal of wiping out hunger in the U.S. by 2030.

Itzúl Gutierrez with the California Association of Food Banks said she was glad to hear President Joe Biden voice support for strategies to reduce poverty and thus, fight hunger.

"We were very excited to see raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, and also expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, in addition to the Child Tax Credit," Gutierrez outlined. "And also investments in housing and rental assistance."

The conference also promoted ideas long championed by the California Hunger Action Coalition, including expanding free school meals to all kids, and allowing college students, recent immigrants, and formerly incarcerated people to participate in CalFresh.

Gutierrez pointed out she was disappointed the conference made little mention of food insecurity in undocumented families. Many of the proposals face significant Republican opposition in Congress, based on cost concerns.

Tracy Weatherby, vice president of strategy and advocacy for Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, said 60% of its clients have less than $250 in savings, and the financial squeeze will get worse once the feds declare the public health emergency is over.

When it happens, she stressed, CalFresh benefits are slated to drop an average of 82-dollars a month per person.

"The White House strategy comes at a crucial time, as nearly all pandemic-era social safety net programs are ending, while food, gas, rent, and other prices are rising," Weatherby noted. "And that's really leaving families across the country struggling to cover their basic costs."

Todd Cunningham, organizer for food and wellness for the Los Angeles Community Action Network, said the pandemic proved when there's a will, there's a way.

"Not only did they do the school meals for all during the regular school year, but also when summer came around," Cunningham recounted. "They also came up with solutions for people who couldn't make it to school to pick them up. We've seen that we can actually come up with creative solutions, if we just put our minds to it and then, we have the will to do it."

Statistics show one in five households experiences food insecurity, with deeper disparities for Black and Latino communities.

A recent survey offers insight into the challenges with hunger many Nevada families are facing on a daily basis.

The "Feeding Our Community" survey from the Food Bank of Northern Nevada found about half of its clients sometimes have to choose between food and transportation. One in three chooses between paying for food or medical bills.

Nicole Lamboley, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, said the yearlong study is done in partnership with the University of Nevada, Reno, and underscores the many "impossible choices" leading Nevada households to become food-insecure.

"Sixty-five percent of the people surveyed had a household income of less than $20,000 annually," Lamboley reported. "That is significant. So that means, you know, they are making those tough choices."

The data showed 72% of those surveyed rent or own their own place with 26% paying a mortgage. It was collected from March 2021 through March 2022.

Because of the time frame, survey administrators realized it would be important to address whether and how the pandemic played a role. According to Lamboley, almost 30% of those surveyed said they started using a food pantry as a direct result of the pandemic.

She noted not only has demand for emergency food gone up, but half of the participants reported buying fewer healthy food options due to lower costs.

"When people have to make tough choices, they choose unhealthy food options," Lamboley observed. "Oftentimes they go with what is not best. Fresh fruit and vegetables are sometimes out of reach for people."

Lamboley added they are currently serving more than 130,000 people per month, which is a record for the organization. Their service area encompasses 90,000 square miles of Northern Nevada and into California's Eastern Sierra region.

Under a new project, locally sourced food is part of a food assistance program for members of the Lummi Tribe in northwest Washington.

The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations is a federal program providing meals in the form of commodity boxes for low income residents. But food boxes have neglected to include culturally relevant food for the diversity of reservations across the country, instead providing options like catfish and buffalo.

Lummi Nation is part of a pilot providing a locally caught option: sockeye salmon.

Billy Metteba, food sovereignty project manager for the Lummi Nation, said salmon is food his ancestors ate and members of the tribe know how to prepare, unlike buffalo.

"Shifting the mind frame, the mindset to food sovereignty, we should be in charge of saying what is appropriate for our people," Metteba asserted.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded eight tribes, including the Lummi Nation, $3.5 million for a demonstration project to provide local food options to the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. This fall, sockeye salmon became available for the northwest Washington tribe.

The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations is meant to supplement meals for participating households. However, a 2016 study found the program was the sole or primary source of food for 40% of those households.

Jake Garcia, public policy manager for Northwest Harvest, said many folks from the Lummi Nation have spoken to his organization about the program's inadequacies.

"The economic insecurity that they experience, the food insecurity certainly; all these different pieces are indicators for economic success," Garcia explained. "They're directly tied to your food and so when that program is insufficient and not meeting the needs of the folks on the reservation, that's a real problem."

But Metteba acknowledged the allowance for more locally sourced foods in the program is a good sign.

"When they funded this program it's like giving us access to go out and harvest our own food that we've always harvested for as long as I can remember, for as long as my grandparents can remember," Metteba emphasized. "It's important that we pass this down to our kids because without this, without fighting for something, it eventually will be lost."

The original demonstration project was funded through the 2018 Farm Bill. Tribal leaders across the country hope lawmakers in Congress will broaden the project in the 2023 Farm Bill.

San Diego may seem like a wealthy area, but the mountain communities in the eastern part of the county still struggle with hunger and poverty.

Now, a new $100,000 grant from Save the Children's Innovation Lab will fund the development of a program to mailboxes of shelf-stable food to low-income rural families, starting next year.

Anahid Brakke, president and CEO of the San Diego Hunger Coalition, said the program has been a big hit in other communities.

"The parents said, 'It's like Christmas.' The kids feel like it's Christmas, you know, they get this food box; you know, it's for them," Brakke explained. "It really helps supplement the whole household."

A team from the San Diego Hunger Coalition is at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, this week to learn best practices from other communities. The funds will also be used to train community health navigators who can help people sign up for programs like CalFresh and WIC.

Esther Liew with Save the Children says food boxes that arrive by mail provide rural communities greater access to nutritious food.

"There's little public transportation in rural communities, meaning that they then have limited access to grocery stores and places where they can get fresh and nutritious foods," Liew pointed out. "That makes it really difficult to provide the food that they need for their children and their family members."

Hunger Coalition data showed about 35% of children in the Mountain Empire region live in poverty, which is nearly triple the rate for the rest of San Diego County.

In a recent community food survey of local residents, almost three-quarters said they would run out of food at some point in the last 30 days and did not have the resources to buy more.