ECONOMY HITS FOOD BANKS HARD -- AND THEIR CLIENTSSeptember 24, 2010|By Kate Santich, Orlando SentinelBarbara Van Winkle is 68, tethered to an oxygen tank and living in an Orlando trailer park with her 70-year-old husband, who has a heart condition and diabetes.
And though she is more than a half-century too old to be the stereotypical poster child for anti-hunger campaigns, the couple would indeed go hungry without help from Meals on Wheels. As it is, they have to spread the six meals they receive each week across seven days.
"The hospital bills took all our savings," she said. "We can usually just buy some bread so that we can have toast in the mornings." Her husband, Bobby, has gone from a once-strapping pipeline welder of 192 pounds down to a gaunt 125.
Their plight, it turns out, is increasingly common. In Central Florida alone, officials estimate 100,000 people 55 and older lack enough to eat.
For years, the problem has been largely a hidden one — complicated by social isolation; difficulty walking and lifting; lack of transportation; and medications that may affect appetite or digestion. But experts say it has reached critical heights with the worst economy since the Great Depression.
"So often we hear about hunger as a children's issue or a family issue," said Lori Parham, director of AARP Florida. "People don't always think of it as an elder issue, but it is."
In most counties throughout the state, there are waiting lists for the Meals on Wheels programs, which help not only those who lack the mobility to shop and cook for themselves, but those who simply can't afford groceries. In Orange County, 945 seniors are waiting for either home-delivered meals or neighborhood lunch sites where those 60 and older can go for food and socialization.
"A lot of elderly people have lost money out of their retirement [investment] funds," said Marsha Lorenz, president and CEO of Seniors First, which runs the Orange County Meals on Wheels Program. "People who normally wouldn't need assistance are now going to food banks and calling us. They've gotten desperate."
In fact, the current waiting list would be longer if not for the federal stimulus spending, said Cathy Edwards, the nonprofit's chief operating officer. Mostly, it has kept local seniors from feeling the pain of budget cuts from the city of Orlando and Orange County, which each reduced their grants to the program by 7 percent to 10 percent this year. But the stimulus money runs out at the end of the month, meaning Seniors First may have to close some of its meal sites.
"We're trying to keep everything open," Edwards said, "but we don't know yet."
At Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida — the region's largest food bank — nearly a third of the households served belong to seniors. And according to a recent food bank survey, each month about one in every three elderly clients must choose between buying food and paying medical bills. Half must choose between buying food and paying the power bill.
Dave Krepcho, Second Harvest's president and CEO, said the elderly are particularly vulnerable to health problems driven by inadequate nutrition. For one thing, their immune systems are already weakened by age and, often, disease. They're also more likely to be on medication, which may interfere with the absorption of certain nutrients. And their reserves are often insufficient to keep them going for very long if they don't eat.
They also may be missing out on what some consider one of the great joys in life.
"My dad is 87, he's on oxygen, in a wheelchair, and he can't take care of himself anymore," Krepcho said. "But, boy, when it's dinnertime, he's there. It's the high point of his day. It's more than just a basic need."
It's no coincidence, then, that when the AARP convenes its 2010 National Event & Expo next week in Orlando, the powerful seniors group plans to highlight the problem of hunger among the elderly. It's also giving away free one-day tickets to the expo to those who donate nonperishable food items.
Additionally, AARP and others are promoting awareness of SNAP, the federal food-stamp program, and encouraging seniors to sign up. Many, they say, either don't know the program exists or don't know they'll qualify.
"On top of the financial issue, there's a whole dignity issue," Krepcho said. "These people are in their so-called golden years, and they don't want to admit they're having a tough time getting food."
For Barbara and Bobby Van Winkle, there was little choice. Without some help, she said, they wouldn't have made it.
"We're really in a sad situation at this point in our lives — but there's not really anything we can do about it," she said. "And you can't sit around and cry all day."
Kate Santich can be reached at 407-420-5503 or ksantich@orlandosentinel.com.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tent Slums Spring Up in America
By Jeffrey Feldman
From: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25111.htm
March 30, 2010 --- Concentrations of homeless people are nothing new in America, but recent BBC and Los Angeles Times reports depict a rising trend of shanty slums, such as a "city" of newly homeless people living in tents near the Ontario airport in Los Angeles.
If you recall your Steinbeck, the residents of the 20c Hoovervilles were largely tenant farmers thrown off their farms by the owners, who in turn tried mechanized farming to bring down costs and break even. These displaced farmers migrated West where they became agricultural day laborers and settled into shanty camps.
The California tent slum depicted in the BBC report is quite different, because they are not migrant workers, so much as locals who have lost their homes. It is hard to tell if the newly dispossessed are all the victims of the subprime market. More likely, the tent slum population is a mix of new and old homelessness -- perhaps with a few migrant workers in the mix.
(video credit: BBC) at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25111.htm
I do not know if there is a technical point at which a tent city becomes a slum -- a boundary of some sort that gets crossed in terms of population density or length of time in existence or total acreage. But the Los Angeles Times reports that the police are handing out wrist bands to make sure that only locals take up residence in the tent camp by the airport. Non locals have to get out. Passing out armbands to make sure only locals get into the camp has to be crossing a boundary of some kind. And it is not a good one to cross.
Whatever the actual demographics, the images and the stories are heartbreaking. If ever there was a reason to let go of market orthodoxy, and to re-embrace the American spirit of making things better by the most pragmatic means possible -- this is it. Make it work better, period. No ideology; no grand theories about freedom from government; just come together to help people before we lose a generation to this mounting economic tragedy.
By Jeffrey Feldman
From: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25111.htm
March 30, 2010 --- Concentrations of homeless people are nothing new in America, but recent BBC and Los Angeles Times reports depict a rising trend of shanty slums, such as a "city" of newly homeless people living in tents near the Ontario airport in Los Angeles.
If you recall your Steinbeck, the residents of the 20c Hoovervilles were largely tenant farmers thrown off their farms by the owners, who in turn tried mechanized farming to bring down costs and break even. These displaced farmers migrated West where they became agricultural day laborers and settled into shanty camps.
The California tent slum depicted in the BBC report is quite different, because they are not migrant workers, so much as locals who have lost their homes. It is hard to tell if the newly dispossessed are all the victims of the subprime market. More likely, the tent slum population is a mix of new and old homelessness -- perhaps with a few migrant workers in the mix.
(video credit: BBC) at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25111.htm
I do not know if there is a technical point at which a tent city becomes a slum -- a boundary of some sort that gets crossed in terms of population density or length of time in existence or total acreage. But the Los Angeles Times reports that the police are handing out wrist bands to make sure that only locals take up residence in the tent camp by the airport. Non locals have to get out. Passing out armbands to make sure only locals get into the camp has to be crossing a boundary of some kind. And it is not a good one to cross.
Whatever the actual demographics, the images and the stories are heartbreaking. If ever there was a reason to let go of market orthodoxy, and to re-embrace the American spirit of making things better by the most pragmatic means possible -- this is it. Make it work better, period. No ideology; no grand theories about freedom from government; just come together to help people before we lose a generation to this mounting economic tragedy.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Growing Hunger in America
Growing Hunger in America
by Stephen Lendman / February 10th, 2010
In January 2010, Feeding America (FA, formerly America’s Second Harvest) released its disturbing new report on growing hunger titled, “Hunger in America 2010.” The Chicago-based organization is the nation’s “leading domestic hunger-relief charity,” serving the needy “through a nationwide network of member food banks, over 200 in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.”
Its study is based on interviews with over 62,000 clients served by the FA network, as well as information provided by 37,000 FA agencies — emergency food providers, including food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters for short-term residents.
FA’s system serves an estimated 37 million people annually, up 46% since 2005, including 33.9 million pantry users, 1.8 million kitchen ones, and 1.3 million in shelters.
About 5.7 million people (or 1 in 50) get emergency food aid from the system in any given week, an increase of 27% since 2005, and one in eight Americans (37 million people, including 14 million children and three million seniors) are food insecure, meaning they don’t get enough to eat. As a result, they need emergency help from food banks throughout the country. The latest data represent “a staggering 46 percent increase since” FA’s 2006 study.
“Indeed, the existence of so many people without secure access to adequate nutritious food represents a serious national concern…. More than one in three client households are experiencing very low food security — or hunger — a 54 percent increase” compared to 2006.
FA calls food insecurity “a complex, multifaceted phenomenon that varies along a continuum of successive stages as it becomes more severe.” In contrast, food security enables “access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, health life.”
FA agencies serve households across America:
– 38% of their members are children under 18, compared to 36% in 2005;
– 8% of household members are elderly, down from 10% in 2005;
– about 40% are white; 34% black; 20% Hispanic; and the remainder from other racial groups;
– 36% of households include at least one employed adult, the same as in 2005;
– 71% of households have incomes below the federal poverty level during the month preceding the survey, up from 69% in 2005;
– median monthly household income decreased by 7% from $825 to $770 in 2009 dollars; and
– 10% are homeless, compared to 12% in 2005.
Overall, 75% of client households are food insecure (based on the government’s food security scale), an increase from 70% in 2005; 39% of households have low food security; 36% very low.
Client households with children are 78% food insecure, up from 73% in 2005. “Many clients report having to choose between food and other necessities:”
– 46% between food and paying for utilities, including heating oil, up from 42% in 2005;
– 39% between food and paying rent or mortgages, compared to 35% in 2005;
– 34% between food and medical care, including drugs, up from 32% in 2005;
– 35% between food and transportation; and
– 36% between food and gasoline for a car.
Government-Provided Help
– 41% of households get Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) aid, up from 35% in 2005;
– 54% of households with children aged up to three get Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) help, compared to 51% in 2005; and
– 62% of households with school-age children participate in federal school lunch programs, unchanged from 2005; 54% participate in school breakfast programs, up from 51% in 2005; 14% participate in the summer food program.
As in 2005, 29% of households report at least one member in poor health. Most clients are grateful for FA help – 92% very or somewhat satisfied and 93% with food quality. The FA network includes about 33,500 food pantries, 4,500 soup kitchens, and 3,600 emergency shelters, up 13% for pantries from 2005, and down 20% for kitchens and shelters.
Faith-based agencies run 72% of pantries, 62% of kitchens, and 39% of shelters. Some also offer other services.
Sources of Food Provided
– food banks account for 75% of pantry distributions, 50% for kitchens, and 41% for shelters;
– religious organizations, government, and direct wholesale and retail purchases are other important sources;
– the Commodity Supplemental Food Program supplies 33% of pantries, 24% of kitchens, and 22% of shelters;
– The Emergency Food Assistance Program supplies 54% of pantries, 34% of kitchens, and 31% of shelters; and
– the Emergency Program on Indian Reservations supplies 2% of pantries, 1% of kitchens, and 2% of shelters.
FA’s president and CEO, Vicki Escarra said:
Clearly, the economic recession, resulting in dramatically increasing unemployment nationwide, has driven unprecedented, sharp increases in the need for emergency food assistance and enrollment in federal nutrition programs. Hunger in America 2010 exposes the absolutely tragic reality of just how many people in our nation don’t have enough to eat. Millions of our clients are families with children finding themselves in need of food assistance for the very first time. It’s morally reprehensible that we live in the wealthiest nation in the world where one in six people are struggling to make choices between food and other basic services.
In November 2009, the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported that 49 million Americans, including 17 million children, are food insecure; that is, they “had difficulty providing enough food for all their (family) members due to a lack of resources. The prevalence of food insecurity was… the highest observed since nationally representative food security surveys were initiated in 1995.”
In September 2009, the US Census Bureau reported rising poverty, falling incomes, and growing numbers of uninsured US households. Even by the Bureau’s conservative estimates, 39.8 million Americans were impoverished, the highest level since 1960, and 17.1 million lived in extreme poverty at below one-half the official threshold.
A revised October 2009 Census analysis showed 47.4 million (15.8% of the population, including one-fifth of the elderly) below the poverty line, much higher than the above figure and rising.
The official poverty level for a family of four is $21,203, a way outdated threshold developed over 40 years ago. In 2007, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) said a family of four in Peoria, IL needed $42,900 to be above poverty. In Chicago, it was $49,000 and in New York nearly $72,000. The same reality exists in large and smaller cities throughout America.
A recent Brookings Institute report titled, “The Effects of the Recession on Child Poverty” was equally disturbing, showing one in five US children under age 18 in families below the official poverty level, based on September 2009 Census data. According to Brookings’ Julia Isaacs:
Census 2008 information “lag considerably behind current economic conditions. Job losses and wage reductions occurring in 2009 were obviously not captured. In addition, many adverse events in 2008 were only partially captured.”
As a result, current conditions are far worse than reported and will keep deteriorating ahead, for at least several years according to Isaacs. She called the situation “sobering.”
It showed in late November when reported food stamp usage was at record levels, and according to a study by Cornell University’s Thomas Hirschl and Washington University in St. Louis’ Mark Rank, half the children in America will need food stamps at some point in their childhood, 90% for black children.
Despite a growing national crisis, Obama proposed less, not more, saying “our fiscal situation remains unacceptable,” not growing poverty, homelessness, hunger and despair at levels not seen since the 1930s.
On February 1, he sent Congress a budget freezing social spending for three years, a de facto cut in real terms. At the same time, he lets Wall Street keep pillaging, plans more wealth transfers to the rich, and proposed the largest ever defense and homeland security budgets, leaving little for cash-strapped states and growing millions of desperate people out of luck and on their own.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. Contact him at: lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM-1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests. All programs are archived for easy listening. Read other articles by Stephen, or visit Stephen's website.
This article was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 9:00am and is filed under Hunger, Poverty
by Stephen Lendman / February 10th, 2010
In January 2010, Feeding America (FA, formerly America’s Second Harvest) released its disturbing new report on growing hunger titled, “Hunger in America 2010.” The Chicago-based organization is the nation’s “leading domestic hunger-relief charity,” serving the needy “through a nationwide network of member food banks, over 200 in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.”
Its study is based on interviews with over 62,000 clients served by the FA network, as well as information provided by 37,000 FA agencies — emergency food providers, including food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters for short-term residents.
FA’s system serves an estimated 37 million people annually, up 46% since 2005, including 33.9 million pantry users, 1.8 million kitchen ones, and 1.3 million in shelters.
About 5.7 million people (or 1 in 50) get emergency food aid from the system in any given week, an increase of 27% since 2005, and one in eight Americans (37 million people, including 14 million children and three million seniors) are food insecure, meaning they don’t get enough to eat. As a result, they need emergency help from food banks throughout the country. The latest data represent “a staggering 46 percent increase since” FA’s 2006 study.
“Indeed, the existence of so many people without secure access to adequate nutritious food represents a serious national concern…. More than one in three client households are experiencing very low food security — or hunger — a 54 percent increase” compared to 2006.
FA calls food insecurity “a complex, multifaceted phenomenon that varies along a continuum of successive stages as it becomes more severe.” In contrast, food security enables “access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, health life.”
FA agencies serve households across America:
– 38% of their members are children under 18, compared to 36% in 2005;
– 8% of household members are elderly, down from 10% in 2005;
– about 40% are white; 34% black; 20% Hispanic; and the remainder from other racial groups;
– 36% of households include at least one employed adult, the same as in 2005;
– 71% of households have incomes below the federal poverty level during the month preceding the survey, up from 69% in 2005;
– median monthly household income decreased by 7% from $825 to $770 in 2009 dollars; and
– 10% are homeless, compared to 12% in 2005.
Overall, 75% of client households are food insecure (based on the government’s food security scale), an increase from 70% in 2005; 39% of households have low food security; 36% very low.
Client households with children are 78% food insecure, up from 73% in 2005. “Many clients report having to choose between food and other necessities:”
– 46% between food and paying for utilities, including heating oil, up from 42% in 2005;
– 39% between food and paying rent or mortgages, compared to 35% in 2005;
– 34% between food and medical care, including drugs, up from 32% in 2005;
– 35% between food and transportation; and
– 36% between food and gasoline for a car.
Government-Provided Help
– 41% of households get Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) aid, up from 35% in 2005;
– 54% of households with children aged up to three get Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) help, compared to 51% in 2005; and
– 62% of households with school-age children participate in federal school lunch programs, unchanged from 2005; 54% participate in school breakfast programs, up from 51% in 2005; 14% participate in the summer food program.
As in 2005, 29% of households report at least one member in poor health. Most clients are grateful for FA help – 92% very or somewhat satisfied and 93% with food quality. The FA network includes about 33,500 food pantries, 4,500 soup kitchens, and 3,600 emergency shelters, up 13% for pantries from 2005, and down 20% for kitchens and shelters.
Faith-based agencies run 72% of pantries, 62% of kitchens, and 39% of shelters. Some also offer other services.
Sources of Food Provided
– food banks account for 75% of pantry distributions, 50% for kitchens, and 41% for shelters;
– religious organizations, government, and direct wholesale and retail purchases are other important sources;
– the Commodity Supplemental Food Program supplies 33% of pantries, 24% of kitchens, and 22% of shelters;
– The Emergency Food Assistance Program supplies 54% of pantries, 34% of kitchens, and 31% of shelters; and
– the Emergency Program on Indian Reservations supplies 2% of pantries, 1% of kitchens, and 2% of shelters.
FA’s president and CEO, Vicki Escarra said:
Clearly, the economic recession, resulting in dramatically increasing unemployment nationwide, has driven unprecedented, sharp increases in the need for emergency food assistance and enrollment in federal nutrition programs. Hunger in America 2010 exposes the absolutely tragic reality of just how many people in our nation don’t have enough to eat. Millions of our clients are families with children finding themselves in need of food assistance for the very first time. It’s morally reprehensible that we live in the wealthiest nation in the world where one in six people are struggling to make choices between food and other basic services.
In November 2009, the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported that 49 million Americans, including 17 million children, are food insecure; that is, they “had difficulty providing enough food for all their (family) members due to a lack of resources. The prevalence of food insecurity was… the highest observed since nationally representative food security surveys were initiated in 1995.”
In September 2009, the US Census Bureau reported rising poverty, falling incomes, and growing numbers of uninsured US households. Even by the Bureau’s conservative estimates, 39.8 million Americans were impoverished, the highest level since 1960, and 17.1 million lived in extreme poverty at below one-half the official threshold.
A revised October 2009 Census analysis showed 47.4 million (15.8% of the population, including one-fifth of the elderly) below the poverty line, much higher than the above figure and rising.
The official poverty level for a family of four is $21,203, a way outdated threshold developed over 40 years ago. In 2007, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) said a family of four in Peoria, IL needed $42,900 to be above poverty. In Chicago, it was $49,000 and in New York nearly $72,000. The same reality exists in large and smaller cities throughout America.
A recent Brookings Institute report titled, “The Effects of the Recession on Child Poverty” was equally disturbing, showing one in five US children under age 18 in families below the official poverty level, based on September 2009 Census data. According to Brookings’ Julia Isaacs:
Census 2008 information “lag considerably behind current economic conditions. Job losses and wage reductions occurring in 2009 were obviously not captured. In addition, many adverse events in 2008 were only partially captured.”
As a result, current conditions are far worse than reported and will keep deteriorating ahead, for at least several years according to Isaacs. She called the situation “sobering.”
It showed in late November when reported food stamp usage was at record levels, and according to a study by Cornell University’s Thomas Hirschl and Washington University in St. Louis’ Mark Rank, half the children in America will need food stamps at some point in their childhood, 90% for black children.
Despite a growing national crisis, Obama proposed less, not more, saying “our fiscal situation remains unacceptable,” not growing poverty, homelessness, hunger and despair at levels not seen since the 1930s.
On February 1, he sent Congress a budget freezing social spending for three years, a de facto cut in real terms. At the same time, he lets Wall Street keep pillaging, plans more wealth transfers to the rich, and proposed the largest ever defense and homeland security budgets, leaving little for cash-strapped states and growing millions of desperate people out of luck and on their own.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. Contact him at: lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM-1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests. All programs are archived for easy listening. Read other articles by Stephen, or visit Stephen's website.
This article was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 9:00am and is filed under Hunger, Poverty
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