Hungry nation

Here's the latest on "food insecurity" and hunger in the United States today from Daily Kos.  The work we do in our Food Pantry on a daily basis keeps families, working families going in inner city Dallas.  Demand is way up.  Want to help?  Visit http://www.citysq.org/ to lend your hand and engage your heart.

One in four Americans gets government food assistance
by Joan McCarter
Tue Nov 16, 2010 at 08:36:03 AM PST

We really don't need more austerity right now in America.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that in 2009, nearly 50 million Americans -- 15 percent of U.S. families -- were "food insecure," meaning they were "uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food to meet the needs of all their family members" -- either they didn't have enough money or lacked other resources to buy food. One in 10 families with children worried about food at some point in the year. Between 500,000 and 1 million families were so strapped the children had to go without eating at some point....

The United States is increasingly a safety-net nation, with one in four Americans now enrolled in one of the 15 federal feeding programs. Forty-two million people currently receive monthly benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps. That's up by 10 million from a year ago....

Feeding America, an organization that runs a nationwide network of food banks and bills itself as "the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity," said the number of people seeking help from its food banks has increased 46 percent over the past four years, from 25 million to 37 million.

This is just one part of why every reputable poll in the past two years has shown jobs and the economy far and away the most important issue for Americans. Food insecurity has reached deep into the working and middle classes. These people have had their fill of austerity in trying to conduct their daily lives. The last thing they need is their government imposing more on them.

To visit this site click here.

What can you do today to help a neighbor?

1)  Organize a food drive in your neighborhood, church, school or community group and bring what you collect to 409 N. Haskell in Dallas, Texas.

2)  Even better, make a check payable to CitySquare with a note in the Memo line: "food products."  We will go to the North Texas Food Bank and obtain food for a shared maintanence fee of about 20 cents per pound, much more than you can buy in a retail store.

3)  Raise the issue of domestic hunger and food insecurity in your circle of influence. 

4)  Come down for a visit at our Food Pantry and observe and hear the need first hand.