Kate Howe: Finding (and Managing) Direction Through Indy Hunger Network

Kate Howe is the managing director at Indy Hunger Network, an Indianapolis organization focused on ending hunger. “The Indy Hunger Network plays the unique role of serving as a vehicle for collaboration among a wide variety of partners working on hunger relief in the Greater Indianapolis area. Our goal is to ensure that everyone has access to the nutritious food they need. We work together to collectively address hunger in our city.”

Howe’s mission to work for large-scale change stems from her past; “I spent several years volunteering at a local food pantry to help feed my neighbors who are facing food insecurity,” she said. “While it’s rewarding to send a hungry person home with food, I was frustrated that for some people their situation didn’t seem to improve, and they would come back to the pantry every month.” In working for Indy Hunger Network, Howe wants to help people access all the resources that are available to them and provide a voice for struggling neighbors. Her eyes have opened to just how many Indiana residents struggle to put food on the table each week; other expenses (like rent, healthcare, etc.) are prioritized over grocery shopping, which results in many families cutting back on nutritious food or regular meals to save money. This is a crisis that the Indy Hunger Network strives to eradicate.

There are trials and triumphs in working for the Indy Hunger Network. Sadly, Kate Howe mentioned that politics easily affect how much and what food filters through to those experiencing food insecurity. She said: “Charitable hunger relief programs (like food pantries) cannot meet the need for food assistance on their own. Government programs…are critical to ensuring that everyone in our community has enough nutritious food to eat, and these programs are in danger of being significantly cut…” To Howe, nutrition should not be a political issue. “All people deserve to eat, and we need everyone’s help to make it happen.” That same mindset carries over to the greener side of her work; Kate Howe has a love for bringing people together. The most rewarding part of her job is doing just that to address common problems in creative ways. “Difficult problems can be solved when we work together,” she said.

Kate Howe
Indy Hunger Network
Managing Director
kate@indyhunger.org