Food banks and the hunger problem

Here's an interesting column by a food bank founder, questioning the wisdom of food banks for addressing hunger and poverty long-term.

When Handouts Keep Coming, the Food Line Never Ends (WP)

I'd submit that even if you buy that handouts help perpetuate the poverty cycle, food banks can play an important role in organizing people around real solutions. The trick, as with environmental causes, is to use tangible, individual actions as a way to start moving people towards political action to address the root of the problem.