Federal food program cuts seniors who live in poverty

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/DN-food_06met.ART0.North.Edition2.90f60cd.html

More than 700 Dallas County senior citizens living in poverty have been cut from a federal program that provided them with 25-pound boxes of free groceries each month. The local seniors were among 59,000 people nationwide who lost assistance from the Commodity Supplemental Food Program on Feb. 1.


"The reality of the situation is, people are going to fall through the cracks," said Jan Pruitt, the local food bank's chief executive officer. "They're going to go pick up their box, and it's not going to be there, and they're not going to go anywhere else."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reduced the program because of rising food costs and budget cuts, spokeswoman Jean Daniel said. About 477,000 elderly people and women with children in 32 states and the District of Columbia now receive the food boxes, down from 536,000 in 2005. The only other Texas county to participate is Webb.

The federal government encourages people dropped from the program to apply for other federal nutrition programs, including food stamps.

[0007]

1. Does this have anything to do with the local food pantries?

I know the food stamps programs are being cut or already have.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. This is a surplus food distribution program.

Separate from Food Stamps and generally administered by food banks. There would be canned veggies and fruit, canned meat products, powdered or canned milk, peanut butter and the like -- basic shelf-stable food that means a world of difference to seniors who may not be able to get to the grocery store without a struggle.

[0007]

10. I understand what you're saying. I worked as a volunteer at a food

bank. But I think it was a community thingie not a fereral program. That's what I'm trying to find out.

[Gormy Cuss]

15. To answer that question, Federal program

Local groups must apply to participate. It's not automatic. It's a program within FNS (USDA.)

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. The war on terra ate all the poor people's food. :^(

[oscar111]

3. 12 million in hungr, 36 million on the edge of hunger

USDA was the recent source of that second fact.

Bush's budget proposal from last fall was slated to cut food stamps and up the twelve to thirteen million in hunger.

Meanwhile, the idle rich eat thousand dollar omlets in nyc.. a thou each omlet .

recent study found the homeless die at twice the normal rate.

in the great depression, two hundred twenty five starved to death in nyc. See Demopedia , gr deprsssion page for sources.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. Thousand dollar omelets. Yeesh, makes me wonder why the homeless

aren't searching through alleys to find pieces to construct a guillotine.

[cornermouse]

18. They're probably too weak from hunger.

Literally.

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. True :^( Or coughing too hard from TB or half-blind from diabetes running

unchecked. :(

[oscar111]

4. pls put this in the Poverty Forum so it will not sink out of sight for

months. In GD, it will sink and loose readers in two days at the outside, prob in ten hours more likely.

[booksenkatz]

6. A kick for the hungry and desperate. nt

[cantstandbush]

8. Yet the Fed pay farmers to plow under or store how much food? n/t

[sandnsea]

9. This is the stored food

I don't think they plow under food anymore. They do pay farmers to idle their fields in order to regulate production, and they do buy excess which is the commodity program. Since corporations are now controlling price and production, probably not as much need for the government to do it. Like everything else though, the poor are priced out of the market.

[Ksec]

11. Hey! Bombs are more important damnit !!

The old folks can do without dinner, we want bullets.

KILL, dont feed. Its the Red way.

[LiberalPartisan]

12. They're cheering at the RNC today. n/t

[lpbk2713]

13. As much as I hate to think about it ......

I won't be surprised to see the suicide rate go up among the older population. Congress just voted to cut $39 Billion from Medicaid and other programs.

How many seniors will decide life is no longer worth living because they can no longer survive? Does anyone keep up-to-date statistics on this? Or is this something else they want to hide from us?

[Ksec]

14. the latter

[journalist3072]

16. Our good ol' American values at work here!

How sad.

We can do better than this. It's our obligation to do better than this.

[Avalon Sparks]

17. Kick

Cutting a food program because of rising food costs...

Freaking insane.

[lpbk2713]

20. Here's a related poll in my local newsrag .....

Do you support the spending plans and cuts contained in President Bush's proposed budget?


Link: http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage


Feel free to vote and add your comments. Right now the "No" votes have a slight lead.