Food Bank Network Served Over 25M in '05

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON -- More than 25 million Americans turned to the nation's largest network of food banks, soup kitchens and shelters for meals last year, up 9 percent from 2001.

Those seeking food included 9 million children and nearly 3 million senior citizens, says a report from America's Second Harvest.

"The face of hunger doesn't have a particular color, and it doesn't come from a particular neighborhood," said Ertharin Cousin, executive vice president of the group. "They are your neighbors, they are working Americans, they are senior citizens who have worked their entire lives, and they are children."
.....
The surveys were done before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. After the hurricanes, demand for emergency food assistance tripled in Gulf Coast states, according to a separate report by the group.

The new report, being released Thursday, found that 36 percent of people seeking food came from households in which at least one person had a job. About 35 percent came from households that received food stamps.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/23/AR2006022300062.html

Some Characteristics of the Hungry
snip>
_ Thirty-nine percent were white, non-Hispanic; 38 percent were black; 17 percent were Hispanic.

_ About 9 million were children.

_ Nearly 3 million were 65 or older.

_ Nearly 70 percent had incomes below the official poverty level, which is $15,067 for a family of three.

_ Twelve percent were homeless.

_ Forty-one percent said they have had to choose between buying food or paying for utilities.

_ About a third said they had to choose between buying food or paying for medicine or medical care.

_ Nearly 30 percent had at least one family member in poor health.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/23/AR2006022300063.html

[area51]

1. economy

More evidence that this economy is anything but "robust".

It's sickening how we have money to throw at bullshit wars like Iraq & Afghanistan, but we have no universal healthcare & very little help for the hungry.

[flamingyouth]

2. Awful and not at all surprising.

Unfortunately, I see it every day around me. :(

[salin]

3. There are times it seems as though folks welcome a sort of

"Banana Republicanization" of our society's economic/class structure. The irony is palpable and tragic - of the politicized far-right evangelical community embracing policies and strong-arming for a party that pushes these policies that lead to more people not having their most very basic (food/shelter) needs met - and doing so in the name of a religion whose namesake preached the opposite.

[tanyev]

4. The Great Ownership Society working exactly as planned.

[rainbow4321]

5. Report: Soup kitchens, food banks seeing more clients

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/022306dnnathunger.16ded7a4.html

When Lisa Koch asked several people at a Chicago soup kitchen to complete a survey of the people who eat there, she got a surprising response: "They asked how long it would take because they had to get back to work after lunch."

A national survey of people eating at soup kitchens, food banks and shelters found that 36 percent came from households in which at least one person had a job. In the Chicago area, it was 39 percent.

"Even though the economy might be changing, it isn't creating the kinds of jobs that allow people to make ends meet," said Ms. Koch, of the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

More than 25 million Americans turned to the nation's largest network of food banks, soup kitchens and shelters for meals last year, up 9 percent from 2001, says the report by America's Second Harvest. Those seeking food included 9 million children and nearly 3 million senior citizens, the report says.

[Mel]

6. does anyone know

what the poverty level for one is or how to find out?

So, for all the yapping I've heard from racist right wingers about those lazy blacks or hispanic look-ie at these numbers Whites are at the highest level for needing food assistance.

Do you think the hateful heads are ever going to wake up and see that Corporate Welfare is the problem and trickle on economics does not work?
When if ever are they going to wake up and realize we need universal health care, a living wage, affordable housing, and universal child care?

[kineneb]

8. here is a link for "poverty levels"

I saved it from someone else's post on this subject:

http://www.ahs.state.vt.us/oeo/povguide.htm

Income(100% of poverty rate)
Size of Family Unit-Annually-Monthly-Weekly
1 - $9,310 - $776 - $179
2 - $12,490 - $1,041 - $240
3 - $15,670 - $1,306 - $301
4 - $18,850 - $1,571 - $363
5 - $22,030 - $1,836 - $424

Hubby & I are living on his disability=$14K/yr (125% of poverty rate). Not easy at all...I feel for those living on even less.

[AnneD]

7. NPR did a series recently on hunger in America....

I had tears in my eyes every day that week. The stories would break your heart. This shouldn't happen in America.
Our church has a small pantry (open every Thursday) that people can use once a month for emergencies. We are always busy.

[Clara T]

9. To Combat Hunger More in US Turn to Soup Kitchens (25Million)

To combat hunger, more in US turn to soup kitchens

America's Second Harvest is helping to more than 25 million people, an 8 percent increase over 2001.
By Alexandra Marks

 NEW YORK  As the economy has steadily grown over the past four years, so too has the number of Americans going hungry. America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest charitable food distribution network, is now providing help to more than 25 million people, an 8 percent increase over 2001, the last time the organization did a major survey of its more than 200 food banks in all 50 states.

That increase in the number of people who are hungry or "food insecure" - Washington bureaucratese for "not sure where their next meal will come from" - is reflected in data collected by the US Department of Agriculture as well. In 2005, it found more than 38 million Americans lived in "hungry or food insecure" households, an increase of 5 million since 2000.

"Even though individuals may have a job, they still are having a hard time making ends meet," says Maura Daly, a spokeswoman for Second Harvest, which is based in Chicago. "We find many people have to make choices between food and other basic necessities like paying for utilities and heat."

More than 35 percent of the people who are served by Second Harvest come from homes with at least one working adult, according to the study, which was conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, a social-policy research firm based in Princeton, N.J. And many of those hungry are children, almost 9 million, or 31 percent. Another 3 million of the hungry are senior citizens, about 11 percent. "Food banks are like the canary in the mine shafts. They see trends in underreported populations long before they show up in other statistics," says Doug O'Brien, vice president for public policy and research at Second Harvest. "People access emergency food systems because something in their household economy has gone wrong.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/CSM/story?id=1651196

[revree]

10. Bush's Christian Nation at work, eh?

I guess poverty is acceptable as long as you are not a Republican.

[MadMaddie]

11. The once greatest nation in the world...

Has been destroyed by a greedy and self serving * cabal.

<snip>
"People access emergency food systems because something in their household economy has gone wrong.
<snip>

Yes, incomes haven't kept up with price hikes in every area of our lives....they also don't have health insurance so they don't go to the dr. when they are sick and causing their illness to progress...

But the latest reports say the economy is rosey and unemployment is way down...:sarcasm:


this is pathetic and a travesty...

[Clara T]

12. kick

[area51]

13. kick. (n/t)