Posted on 11/18/2009 8:30:21 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Nearly one in four children in the United States lived in a home that suffered from food insecurity in 2008, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In total, 16.7 million children, or 22.5 percent, were from families that had difficulty putting enough food on the table last year. That’s 4.3 million more children than in 2007.
“Child hunger is not just a casualty of the recession,” commented the Rev. David Beckmann, president of the Christian anti-poverty group Bread for the World, in response to the data. “It was a problem before the recession, and unless we take the necessary steps, kids will continue to suffer after the economy recovers.”
In making his point, Beckmann pointed to record high participation in the federally-funded food assistance program called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) as a barometer of food security. More than 36 million people – half of them children – received SNAP benefits in August 2009 – a 24 percent increase compared to August 2008.
The new USDA data also shows more than one in seven, or over 49 million American households, suffered from food insecurity in 2008. The figure – an 11 percent increase from 2007 – represents the largest one-year increase since the USDA first began publishing data on food security in 1995.
President Obama described the report as “unsettling” and said he was particularly troubled by the finding that children in 500,000 U.S. families experienced hunger multiple times last year.
“Our children’s ability to grow, learn, and meet their full potential – and therefore our future competitiveness as a nation – depends on regular access to healthy meals,” Obama said in a statement.
Obama said the first response to reversing the current trend of U.S. hunger is to “restore job growth.” He also said his administration will increase help for low-income families that need food assistance, especially those with children.
In Beckmann’s remarks, the anti-poverty leader noted that the recession has made the problem of hunger worse, but also said it has also made it more visible.
“Increased public awareness and the administration’s commitment gives me hope,” he stated. “ To end hunger, our leaders need to strengthen nutrition programs and provide steady jobs that allow parents to escape the cycle of poverty and feed their families for years to come.”
Beckmann is calling for the renewal of U.S. Child Nutrition programs, scheduled to take place early next year.
If there are kids going hungry in this country, I’d wager that 95% of them have parents that are selling their ‘food stamp cards’ and blowing all other funds on booze, smokes, drugs, and other non food items that a loser parent would want to spend money on instead of feeding their kids.
BTTT.......
We garden, hunt and fish year round and preserve the harvest from each and have of late taken on a hobby of self reliance to see how little we can spend on all of our needs be it housing, transportation, food, medical, clothing, utilities etc ......
We ain’t bunny huggers, we are money huggers per se and to be as self reliant and independent as possible with our cash saved for real rainy days. Bartering with neighbors , locals , family and friends is also fun.
Many depression era folks still around and we listen to their stories as to what they did right and what they did wrong. Depending on government and others was their biggest mistakes they say. We agree with them today and understand history can and will repeat itself if ignored.
I think a lot of the poor in this country are so by choice based on lackadaisical lifestyles and not living within their means .
My opinion only........
Last week there was an article saying 75% of young men are too fat for the military.
I looked at the 3 skinny soldiers in my Civil War pic on my wall (confeds captured at Gettysburg, at that fence), and I thought that marching for 80 miles a day or whatever they did, on a diet of weevil-infested hard tack and salt pork, would slim down our soldiers real quick. . .
I know, they all have cell phones and they have name-brand clothes too.
The only reason a kid is going without food is if his parents don’t give a hang. They can get free breakfast, free lunch at school and they can get food stamps.
Food insecurity? How is it that everyone’s too fat and yet starving?
“They sell their food for pennies on the dollar to get drug and beer money.”
Don’t forget the hair, nails and the vehicles that are driven. Most of the parents haven’t a clue how to manage a dollar.
Well I’m so sorry, but I need all of that corn to make ethanol for my car.
Dumb sh!ts...
Of course, that's expecting the indigent to have the skills and the motivation to prepare their own meals. $200 will buy a lot of raw ingredients but it won't buy nearly as much pre-packaged food which is all that many of our poor choose to eat.
“I looked at the 3 skinny soldiers in my Civil War pic on my wall (confeds captured at Gettysburg, at that fence), and I thought that marching for 80 miles a day or whatever they did, on a diet of weevil-infested hard tack and salt pork, would slim down our soldiers real quick. . .”
The traditional lifestyle would too. Most folks used to work on farms or with their hands. I used to work on a farm. Its damned hard work and it’d be pretty tough to get fat doing that for ten hours a day. Not so if you live one of those lifestyles where you sit in front of a screen all day long, walk 50 feet to your car, do the Burger King drive through, park in front of your house and walk the 50 feet to the TV where you park your fat @#@ all night long. Thats typical for a lot of American adults now. Too many of us eat gigantic portions and don’t do anything physical. Hence we’ve bread a gigantic crop of massive people. Some might use the genetic excuse but for most of them it would just be an excuse for a lack of self control. Our genes were essentially the same a couple generations ago and we didn’t see so many whales waddling down the streets. I remember reading that the average American male is something like 30 pounds heavier than in 1960. No wonder some think this upcoming generation may actually live shorter than those who came before them.
You see it with little kids too. When we were growing up we’d play football in the backyard. We wouldn’t play it on a 50 inch plasma while stuffing our face with 32 ounce cokes and oreos. Don’t get me wrong. We ate the junk food too but we earned those calories. Now you see legions of obese ten year olds toddling down store aisles. Its revolving.
And now the schools send them home on Friday with a backpack of food for the weekend!
If one is careful, $200/month buys one heck of a lot, even online & shipped.
90 Days of Healthy Meals. [snip]
Here we are offering a home food “survival kit” that's less expensive, tastier, and more natural than the cans of powder mix some companies are offering as a source of emergency food. You get 100 lbs of rice, instant noodles, spices, soy sauce, Thai sauce mixes, noodles, even 90 packets of 3-in-1 instant coffee. Three large boxes full of staple food delivered to your door via UPS, total weight nearly 200 lbs. This will provide 2600 calories per day for 90 days. With your own vegetables and meat, a lot longer. All items are fresh stock, with at least 1 year (mostly 2+ year) shelf life. A thoughtful gift for someone you know, or sensible delicious food security for yourself.
An excellent value, nearly our cost price, just $280 plus $35 shipping.
8 x 10 lbs Thai Jasmine Rice 5 x 4 lbs Brown Jasmine Rice
60 Packs Instant Noodles
8 x 13 oz Coconut Cream Powder
12 Satay Mix
3 x 30 ct Instant Coffee Mix
4 7 oz Tamarind Candy
6 Chile Paste w/Sweet Basil
2 Fish Sauce, Tra Chang
6 Somen Noodles
12 Tom Kha Paste
1 Sriracha Sauce, Shark Brand
3 Thin Soy Sauce
6 Palm Sugar
1 Ground Thai Chile Powder
6 Chinese Stew Seasoning
1 Ginger Powder 1 Ground Thai Basil
1 Shallot Powder 1 Garlic Powder
1 Turmeric Powder 1 Thai Curry Powder
6 Red Curry Paste 6 Green Curry Paste
2 Ginger Drink
I like their recipes; and we buy stuff from them that we can't easily get locally, even in the few Asian markets within 100 miles of us. You might be surprised at what one can find in the way of inexpensive (even including shipping) but good, solid food on eBay, or at Amazon.
It isn't ingredients that are the problem, or even necessarily complete laziness, but they were never taught, even in "cooking" classes, let alone at home, how to deal with real food, rather than packages & cans.
We're lucky, in that we raise it in the garden & orchard, shoot it raiding same, catch it in the local lakes & streams, and buy in quantity on sale. OTOH, we aren't living in a studio or 1BR apartment in a city, so have ready resources and plenty of storage space.
We've taught and helped many over the years that were having a hard time. Some learned and prospered; others were just plain hopeless. The worst also taught her kid to be just as helpless, hapless, and hopeless a leech as she was...and he ended up married to another and raising(?) a third generation of the same.
Day old bakery outlets; 'dented' can outlets & overstock outlets; gleaning programs are just a few ways people can cut their food bills without cutting quality.
OTOH, too many are just plain too picky to stick their champaigne tastes onto a realistic beer budget.
I wholeheartedly doubt this is true. Their idea of hunger is probably cutting back on Big Macs, grape soda and large orders of fries.
Good grief. LOL!!!
No bias there!(/s)
Quick! Throw more money at the department of agriculture "for the sake of the children!"
(BTW, Where are these kids parents? Using their welfare debit cards at the bar?)
It'll keep the cost of Oboma Death Care down.
People weren't obese until the politically correct diet dictators started telling us what to and what not to eat.
To prove my point, watch an old program about the Kennedy assassination. Look at the people along the street and those being interviewed. Not one fat person anywhere. They ate butter, cheese, animal fat, bacon, drank whole milk - you name it. No fat people!
Now watch TV today. Look at the people on this street. Look how healthy and slim they are (Not)! They don't drink milk! They avoid Junk food like butter and animal fats, too.
This is what happens when you listen to the politicians. (Follow the money. They'll take you straight to your graves).
I totally agree.
The emphasis on veggies (don’t get me wrong, roots and bark and stems and twigs IS good for you), but I think many people are still starving - starving for protein!
And their sensation of being hungry can’t tell them the difference - so they eat more and more carb loaded up junk food.
No matter what - I make it a point to get at least a couple good ounces of high quality protein a day.
Sardines, eggs, whatever.
Yep. Animal products are politically incorrect, and therefore "bad for you."
(PETA donates a lot of money to the left wing diet dictators.)
No eggs, cheese, milk, meat. Instead, eat margarine, a nickle filtered, rancid, deodorized, bleached, and colored "real" food. It's OK if the bugs refuse to eat it. "Trust us. We know what's best for YOU."
My thoughts exactly. Have them step on the scales while they are at it. Anyone with a Body Mass Index greater than 30, “No food for you!”
Plus the big “fat is evil incarnate” attitude.
Read any of the online resources about nutrition and you will find out that many foods, if not most, will not be digested properly - the micronutrients and vitamins cannot cross the intestinal barrier - unless you eat them WITH some form of fat! Butter, olive oil, something...
You show me a hungry child in the USA and I’ll show you a lazy “mother.”
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