Hunger to increase in US due to short-sighted cuts

Take a moment to watch this video and to read the accompanying report.

Already we are seeing the impact of cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or Food Stamps).  Dig a little deeper:  read up on this very helpful benefit to working, low-income families and individuals.

Consider the impact of the proposed cuts.  Think beyond the affect on those who use the program.  Think also about the impact on the retail grocery industry and on related jobs.  Consider health care costs resulting from people being forced to consume food products that are cheap, high calorie and unhealthy.

Being penny wise and pound foolish never gets us where we want or need to be.

Your thoughts?

Could you make it on food stamps?

45.2 million know what it's like; Could you survive on food stamps?

Washington, October 5, 2011 - The director of the National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative is calling on Americans to feel a greater empathy for persons struggling to survive in the current economy.

"In everything do to others as you would have them do to you," said the Rev. Michael Livingston, quoting from Jesus' sermon on the mount, Matthew 7:12. "This golden rule has been cited or rephrased in nearly every religion known. It is the glue that binds us together as a human family, especially in times of common need."

Livingston noted that a member of Congress has challenged her colleagues to spend a week finding out what it is like to live on food stamps, and he challenged members of churches and religious groups to do the same.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), co-chair of the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus, issued the 2011 Food Stamp Challenge to last from October 27 to November 3.

"The USDA recently reported that 14.5 percent of Americans are food insecure," Lee reported to members of Congress. "In June of this year, a staggering 45.2 million Americans filed to get food stamps because they either are facing or living in poverty. More than half of food stamp recipients are children and 8 percent are individuals over the age of 60."

She challenged her colleagues to spend a week attempting to live on "what a person on food stamps survives on."

Persons on food stamps receive $133.79 per month, Lee said, which amounts to $31.50 a week, $4.50 a day, or $1.50 a meal.

Livingston said millions of Americans would be hard put to live on the food stamp program. "We often hear people express the belief that persons living in poverty are well cared-for in this country," Livingston said. "Anyone who accepts Representative Lee's challenge to step into the shoes of food stamp recipients will quickly realize how difficult their lives must be."

Livingston said he hoped the exercise will convince members of Congress "that there is also an urgent need to protect the budget of all government programs that support persons living in or facing poverty.

"Doing unto others must be a fundamental rule of government," Livingston said. "Experiencing how others live is a first step toward putting that rule into action."

Persons interested in participating in the food stamp challenge as well as other Mobilization related strategies should check out the fighting poverty with faith webpage.

To register to take the Food Stamp Challenge click here.

Private Screening of "Food Stamped"

CitySquare exists to fight the root causes of poverty by partnering with those in need. Working together as a community, we feed the hungry, heal the sick, house the homeless and renew hope in the heart of our city.

From the beginning, addressing the hunger needs of our neighbors has been at the heart of our work. In 1988, CitySquare began as a small store front food pantry. It is from this humble beginning that the work of CitySquare has grown.

Please join CitySquare for private screening of Food Stamped and find out exactly how tough it is to adequately nourish your family on food stamps.

When:  Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.

Where:  Angelika Film Center & Cafe (5321 East Mockingbird Lane, Suite 230, Dallas, TX 75206)

Food Stamped is an informative and humorous documentary film following a couple as they attempt to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet on a food stamp budget.

Nutrition educator Shira Potash teaches nutrition-based cooking classes to elementary school students in low-income neighborhoods, most of whom are eligible for food stamps. In an attempt to walk a mile in their shoes, Shira and her documentary filmmaker husband embark on the “food stamp challenge” where they eat on roughly one dollar per meal.

Along the way, they consult with food justice activists, nutrition experts, politicians, and ordinary people living on food stamps, all in order to take a deep look at the struggles low-income Americans face every day while trying to put three-square meals on the table.

To register for the showing click here. 

Don't miss it! 

[Brought to you by the Public Policy Department of CitySquare.]

Food Stamps and Farmer's Markets

Here's another great post from Good.is.

Tell me what you think? 

Any ideas for a solution?

Help devise a system for using food stamps to buy better produce.

We all can agree that fresh fruits and vegetables are an essential part of good health. Yet access to fresh produce remains an enormous challenge. For people on food stamps, it’s an especially difficult one as there are few supermarkets in low income neighborhoods with sufficient offerings. Even thought more farmers’ markets are springing up across the country—and more than 750 farmers’ markets nationwide accept food stamps—other challenges remain.

Foodstamps, of course, are no longer physical stamps but “electronic benefit transfer” cards (or EBTs). This has helped remove the stigma for recipients of aid—and makes shopping at supermarkets easier—but has left farmers’ markets in a tough spot: without a battery-powered wireless card reader, food-stamp recipients can't use their EBT cards. The lack of this simple machine is keeping people from buying fresh food. Many farmers are unable to afford the cost of the equipment (about $1,100 per reader) required to accept the debit cards; others feel the paperwork and record keeping is onerous.

Some (but not all) states have agreed to fund programs to facilitate the use of food stamps at farmers’ markets. Vendors can use hand-held devices, and in some cases cell phones, to process transactions. Other markets, like San Francisco’s Alemany Market, allow EBT card users to exchange their credit for market-specific tokens that can be used at individual booths, but the extra step required has resulted in a drop off in use of food stamps at farmers’ markets.

All of which begs the question: how can we make food stamps easier to use and to accept at farmers’ markets?

the OBJECTIVE

Make it easy to use and accept food stamps at farmers’ markets.

the ASSIGNMENT

Invent a low cost, easy to implement solution. Is it an app? Centralized check-out? Delivery? Something totally low tech? Barter? Trade? Let us know.

the REQUIREMENTS

Post a comment, tweet @GOOD, or e-mail projects[at]goodinc[dot]com with your solution to the problem of how to accept food stamps at farmers' markets. Your response can take the form of a sentence, a paragraph, a sketch, an annotated photo—whatever you think will best convey your idea. Deadline is Monday, March 29.

To check this site click here.

Hunger: We Must Do More and Better

Editorial: Texas must fight hunger all year

04:00 PM CST on Monday, November 23, 2009

While millions of Texas households prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving with a hearty family meal, millions of their fellow Texans aren't sure when or how they'll get their next meal.

"Texans should be shocked that a state as prosperous as Texas is doing so poorly," says the state's agriculture commissioner, Republican Todd Staples.

According to federal statistics released last week, 16.3 percent of Texas households lack regular access to adequate nutrition or face hunger nightly. The percentage of so-called "food insecure" households in Texas is more than 4 points higher than the national average of 12.2 percent, ranking Texas ahead of only Mississippi. In these households, people regularly skip meals, eat cheaper and less nutritious foods, depend on government aid like food stamps or seek help from food pantries.

The recession can be blamed for only part of Texas' misery; it rated an abysmal 15.2 percent of "food insecure" households a decade ago, when its economy was booming. Now, says Jan Pruitt, executive director of the North Texas Food Bank, member agencies are seeing about 36 percent more new food recipients and distributing 50 percent more food each week.

The food bank readily accepts contributions in food and money all year, but Pruitt says eradicating hunger also requires such comprehensive strategies as making sure the needy, especially those with children, receive food stamps and other assistance.

Texans can confront hunger in small and large ways. A few hopeful signs emerged at a hunger summit in Waco last week. Led by the Texas Hunger Initiative, a coalition of federal, state and local agencies agreed to campaign to make sure Texas schoolchildren don't go hungry during the summer when subsidized breakfasts and lunches are less accessible. Churches, youth organizations and school districts will be asked next month to help get food to the 2.5 million school-age children eligible for summer feeding programs. Likewise, Staples will issue a similar anti-hunger challenge to mayors across Texas.

Hunger has been with us forever and will stay with us until enough people insist that it will not continue. It's good to hear more voices shouting this message.

People don't choose to be hungry, which is why prosperous Texans shouldn't ignore others' suffering when the holiday season ends. It's honorable to volunteer at food banks or to write a check to provide food for the needy, but eventually Texans must come to grips with the reality that this state's dismal record on combating hunger is getting worse.

Fighting Texas hunger

•Donate food and cash to the North Texas Food Bank or its member agencies. For contribution details, go to www.ntfb.org or call (214) 330-1396. Or visit http://www.centraldallasministries.org/ and donate online.

•Urge Texas legislators to support efforts to provide food stamps and other programs to needy families, especially those with children. Only a small portion of eligible recipients in Texas currently participate in food stamp and summer feeding programs. For contact info go to http://www.legis.state.tx.us/

•Contact the Texas Hunger Initiative and ask how you can help. For more information, go to www.baylor.edu/texashunger/ or call 254-710-3704.

What's The Big Story? Find out at dallasnews.com/opinion

Need continues to swell. . .

The numbers are in.

The news is not good.

The number of people seeking assistance in our Haskell Avenue Resource Center continues to climb when compared to the same period last year.

The number of individuals served (that is different people) grew by 16% during the first two months of 2009, as compared to January-February 2008. The number of different family units served rose by 24%.

During the first two months of this year, we saw the number of individuals interviewed increase by 10% and the number of families touched rise by 21%.

More people coming to us more often for assistance.

The unemployment numbers released on last Friday don't help. Well over 600,000 Americans lost their jobs last month.

The needs will only increase.

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Hunger moving closer to us all

Did you see the CNN story on last Monday about the growing number of Americans signing up for the Food Stamp program?

Here's a taste of the report, "Touigh Choices for America's Hungry":

As Walter Thomas knows, it's hard to look for a job when your stomach is rumbling. The 52-year-old from Washington, D.C., started skipping meals in early January when his savings account was running dry and his kitchen cabinets were almost empty.

Thomas at first didn't want to turn to the United States' food safety net, the food stamp program, for help.

But after being laid off in July from what seemed like a steady job in sales at a furniture store, Thomas swallowed his pride and applied for the monthly food aid.

"It lets me think, 'OK, well, tomorrow I'll be able to eat. If nothing else, I'll be able to eat,' " he said.

With the national economy in meltdown, more Americans than ever are relying on the federal aid program to keep from going hungry. In October, more than one in 10 people -- about 31 million -- were using the food stamp program to get by, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

More recent numbers are not available, but advocates for the poor say the number of those in need of aid probably has increased since then.

Read the entire report here.

The report contains the photo above of little Samirah, 2, who asked her mom to take her picture to show that hungry people "are like everyone else."

Mounting an effective national response to the growing numbers of our fellow citizens who falling into poverty will be a challenge.

What do you think?

Are we up for the challenge?

What about your church or other faith community?

Is your group ready to get involved?

What do you intend to do personally?

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Food funds help everyone

President Obama' economic stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, will pass the Congress in the near future.

It appears likely that a portion of these funds will be allocated for increasing the depth and the reach of the Food Stamp program, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), for Americans at the lower end of the nation's economy, and that number is growing.

Before the end of 2008, over 31 million of our fellow citizens received Food Stamps. However, for many the benefits were meagre compared to the need for food products among these families.

For a good analysis of the issue take a look at the most recent edition of "Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity."

Hungry, struggling families aside, we need to remember that every dollar set aside for the Food Stamp program is a dollar that gets spent in a local grocery market. The continuing circulation of these dollars improves the bottom line of grocers, provides jobs for workers, enhances the health and productivity of recipients, and puts dollars into the local economy. Better health and wellness outcomes affect performance at school and at work. Overall, this effort of our national community is a proven producer.

Dollars spent in this manner turn out to be a great, enduring investment in the recovery of the nation's economy.

The requirements for certification and re-certification need to be streamlined to meet the growing demand. Community centers, like the ones we operate here at Central Dallas Ministries, should be enlisted as "points of entry," complete with high-tech, user-friendly kiosks for folks to gain access to this essential and smart benefit. I've been "pitching" this notion for several years without much success. Possibly the new climate, coupled with the national need, will shake things loose!

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Public trust and human suffering

Many who drop in here accuse me of believing that the government is key to solving all of our social problems and overcoming all of the challenges associated with poverty.

Why on earth would I believe that, especially in view of government performance over the past three decades?

What readers here confuse with a belief in government's ability to solve big problems, is my tendency to criticize what our government actually does or does not do in the face of many formidable issues.

I'll cite a few examples from recent news reports and national developments.

Case one: Last week I read a bewildering story about how the state of Mississippi plans to divert $600 million of hurricane housing relief funds to a port expansion project ("Katrina aid to be shifted to port," The Dallas Morning News, 14A, Saturday, January 26, 2008). The harbor at Gulfport sustained approximately $50 million in damages when Katrina swept through. Currently, 30,000 residents still live in FEMA trailers. The state believes that since there is "not enough funds to restore or rebuild all of the 169,000 homes in the state" that are in need of attention, the funds could be best used to undertake the massive port expansion.

Hmmm. Homeowners and residents versus big businesses at the ports. Any surprises here as to who wins?

Case two: The President and Congress are working on an economic stimulus plan to inject $150 billion into the American marketplace. The initial suggestion involved no economic benefit to the working poor who paid payroll taxes, but no income tax. The revised version that passed the U. S. House of Representatives on Tuesday contains benefits for the working poor. If the Senate concurs, it appears that around June 2008 millions of households will receive rebate checks ranging from $600 to $1,600.

The assumption is that these funds will be spent quickly and will provide our slumping economy a boost.

Hmmm. Apart from the basic problems associated with an economic system that depends on unbridled spending for sustainability, I am wondering who we might expect to spend this money more quickly? Will it be the family with annual earnings over $200,000? Or, will it be the family whose gross annual income is around $35,000? Where should the injection be targeted to be most effective?

Case three: A few years ago, I conducted a research project of sorts to determine 1) how many Dallas County residents who were eligible for Food Stamps were not enrolled in the food and nutrition program and 2) what the failure to enroll these qualified families was costing the retail grocery industry in the county. What I discovered was fairly amazing, at least to me.

Bottom line--Dallas County loses over $250 million annually in retail grocery sales because we don't sign up everyone who is eligible for Food Stamps. Talk about an ongoing economic stimulus package with public health, educational performance and family stability benefit added in for good measure. But, then, what do I know?

It is true. I do believe our governments could do more, much more.

But it is also true that much of what they do is not serving those who need it most. But, now we're talking philosophy.

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Harkin's Confession

Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the powerful Senate Agriculture Committee, admitted in an interview with CNN today that America does not have enough fresh fruits and vegetables for everyone to follow the time honored dietary dictum of five servings daily.

He was asked about the connection between the Farm Bill and the rise of obesity in the U. S. He acknowledged that there was a direct connection between farm legislation and the growth of American waistlines.

Consider these facts.

Most fruits and vegetables are considered "specialty foods" by Congress. As a result, they are not subsidized like corn, for example. Subsidies mean production. Their absence leads to underproduction in the face of growing need.

Scarcity drives prices up. Result: the well-to-do in this country eat a more healthy diet than the poor.

Add to this the fact that low-income communities, especially in our inner cities, don't enjoy easy access to good supermarkets and you have the public health reality fairly well in view.

Solutions?

I'd suggest a healthy increase in the Food Stamp program for the working poor. In addition, Congress should find ways to incentivize the production of increasing amounts of fruits and vegetables and the development of good retail markets among the urban poor. These three steps along would begin to take a healthy bite out of obesity and all of the public health issues associated with it. The savings to the American tax payer in health care costs alone would be enormous.

We need to wake up to the fact that most things aren't the way they are today by accident.




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The Myth of Abundant Welfare. . .

Think you could live on a few pennies over $1 per meal every day?

Try this: take the Food Stamp challenge now being offered up in Texas by the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP).

Proposed in Austin, Texas as a part of CPPP's campaign to see the Food Stamp program fully funded and Texas fully enrolled, the exercise is designed to demonstrate how hard is it to afford a healthy diet on Food Stamps.

U. S. Representative Lloyd Doggett and the Capital Area Food Bank are leading the way throughout this week (May 15 - Monday, May 21) by eating and drinking only what $21 will buy.

Why $21?

Because that is the average weekly Food Stamp benefit for Texans who qualify.

One dollar for each meal.

Yep, those "welfare recipients" are flat getting rich on the dole, huh?

Nationally, U.S. Representatives James McGovern and Jo Ann Emerson have posed the same challenge to all U.S. House members and citizens across the country.

The Food Stamp Challenge is part of a push to increase the value of the Food Stamp benefit as part of the 2007 Farm Bill, which Congress will begin debating at the end of this month. The Food Stamp program serves working families who simply don't earn enough to sustain themselves and their children.

To sign up for the challenge, visit http://srv.ezinedirector.net/?n=1704368&s=56544953.

See how you manage on just $1 a meal.

Where will you go to purchase your meals?

What will you buy? What will you eat?

Will you gain or lose weight?

How will you feel?

For millions of Americans food insecurity is a major challenge. As a nation, we should be doing better and we should be doing more to improve the life situation of our neighbors.

For more information about the Farm Bill and Food Stamps, visit http://srv.ezinedirector.net/?n=1704369&s=56544953.