Troubling figures on U.S. hunger

Yes, so many of us really do take it for granted. And even though I am not rich by any means, I surely am grateful for what I have. I used to bring two bags of groceries to the local food shelter every Thanksgiving ... this year I'm bringing a box. Every little bit helps.

Yes indeed, just today, I saw a huge line at the Catholic Community Services center handing out food boxes. Many people were turned away, it was awful to see people crying. I give thanks everyday that we have food in our home and I have been more vigilant on not letting things go to waste. Inviting others who have less to come over and have a meal, and also taking left overs that on one in the house wants to eat and at least making sure it doesn't go to waste.

Jubal, it is sad. In my area people who used to bring in food to food banks for others are now in the food banks looking for food. The idea that we even need a term "working poor" in this country is shameful.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
~Dwight D. Eisenhower

Hey now, I'm not starving I'm just a "bread connoisseur" hahahaha

Jan you are so on it when it comes to this issue. We, in our state, have seen a 30% increase in demand on local food banks. We need major reform in the upcoming food bill for schools and children to be expanded so that more families could qualify for WIC. Perhaps we will need to also increase the income limits for people to obtain food stamps. Too much money goes to rent and utilities. These family expenses need to be considered when calculating how much benefits a family should get.

You just can feed a family of four on $400 per month in food stamp assistance. The reality of food prices is more like a budget of at least $150 per individual and more for the teenagers, who in my house, consume mass quantities of food.

This is a growing problem that needs a lot more people to care about it and take action to raise awareness in DC, make this part of the agenda for change.

*FYI, commenting on general issue of "Hunger in America" *

I know first hand how stressful it can be when you can't afford to buy groceries. But there is a good percentage of the people who use these services (food stamps) who are just mooching off the system.

I use food stamps. I get $200 monthly so that I can buy groceries and still afford basic services (mortgage, electric, water, etc.). But I can't tell you how many times I've met people at DES (they control the food stamp program here) who are just mooching off the system. These people may or may not have a job, but they still spend money wastefully! Before getting food stamps I gave up all my luxuries: movies, cable, high end clothing, CD's, etc. I even got rid of my internet! I am using the FREE wifi here at my library! These people at the DES office still have all of these services and more! I met one lady who had 4 kids, a part time job, all of the luxury services i gave up, and she would go to the salon twice a month to get her nails done for $45 each time!

Now I know there are those, who like me, are just down on their luck and really need programs like these. But from my experiences, they are not the majority! I think if the DES offices started weeding out all of these moochers, you would have a much lower percentage of people who are truly "food insecure" as they put it. If you have money for life's luxuries, you don't need help paying for groceries, you need help budgeting!

(I can't comment on those who use food banks since I have no first hand experience. Though I would guess the majority of those are homeless and therefore can't readily receive benefits from the food stamp program.)

This is so sad and it shows where the government's priorities really are. Also, we all need to do our part to volunteer and donate what we can to help those in need.

Yes, so the trade off is to let people go hungry and die because the Pentagon is more important. How stupid we are as a people to give them so much power under the guise of us having freedom.

this is when we lost JFK, when he privately discussed defying the pentagon.

cont.
And that’s why, for example, if you look at the United States figures, you will see that those most deeply affected by those figures are women. And around the world, hunger is a gendered phenomenon. Of the people going hungry in the world today, 60 percent are women or girls. And this—the sort of structural causes behind hunger, the fact that, for example, the safety nets that once used to be there have been cut away by decades of privatization and of shrinking of the welfare state, those are the deeper underlying issues that haven’t been addressed by any of the summits that we’ve had over the past couple of years.

And unfortunately, Rome seems to be spinning its wheels with the—the governments have been—who are at Rome and the representatives at Rome from our governments seem to be doing very little. They’re—obviously they’re wringing their hands. They’re moaning and lamenting and rending of clothes, and they’re making all the right sounds about hunger around the world, but as some of the activists outside that summit are saying, poor people can’t eat promises. And the consistent problem with these summits is that they’ve been full of these kinds of high-minded commitments, but very little is happening on the ground from government.

However, what government is doing is enabling the private sector to come in and take advantage of this hunger crisis. And so, we’re seeing, as we just heard, the US government is fronting for the pesticide industry and the genetically modified crop industry to make headway in trying to offer its solutions to hunger. We’re also seeing a lot of private sector activity around land grabs. The NGO GRAIN has observed that over 40 million hectares has either been grabbed by private sector—by the private sector or is under negotiation. In other words, companies from outside a country will come in and get the best farmland with the best water underneath it as a way of ensuring that as food prices go up, as everyone believes they will over the next few years, they will stand to make a profit. So while our governments are sitting idly by, the private sector is going in with a lot of money, over $100 billion by some estimates.

And, of course, while governments stand idly by and the private sector gets—you know, gets ready for profit, there are moments of resistance. The international peasant movement La Via Campesina is in Rome right now leading an international protest called the People’s Food Sovereignty Forum, where genuine solutions to hunger around the world are being pushed, solutions that empower women, solutions that are about sustainable technology that make sure that we’re able to feed our children, not only today, but through 2050, when there will be nine billion people.

Excerpt:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported today that 49 million Americans, including nearly 17 million children, are food insecure. The 2009 report on Household Food Insecurity in the United States paints an alarming picture of the pervasiveness of hunger in our nation.

This is an increase of 36 percent over the numbers released one year by the USDA, which found that 36.2 million American were at risk of hunger.“It is tragic that so many people in this nation of plenty don’t have access to adequate amounts of nutritious food,” said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America. “Although these new numbers are staggering, it should be noted that these numbers reflect the state of the nation one year ago, in 2008. Since then, the economy has significantly weakened, and there are likely many more people struggling with hunger than this report states.

The new data reinforces recent findings from a research study conducted by Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger-relief organization, reflecting a dramatic increase in requests for emergency food assistance from food banks across the country.

Conducted in September, the Feeding America study shows that its network food banks experienced an average increase in need of nearly 30 percent this year. While the numbers vary geographically, some food banks are reporting increases of more than 50 percent in requests for emergency food assistance over a year prior.

“National socio-economic indicators, including the escalating unemployment rate and the number of working-poor, lead us to believe that the number of people facing hunger will continue to rise significantly over the coming year,” added Escarra. “Research on previous economic recessions indicates that people who fall into the grips of poverty in a time of recession do not recover financially. Many of those people are likely to be in need of our services now or in the future.
end of excerpt