National poll: 25 percent of Springfield (MA) households with children report food hardship

The Republican ^ | Peter Goonan

[matt04]

A national poll has found that approximately 25 percent of Springfield households with children report a hardship in affording food.

The report by the Food Research and Action Center, based in Washington, D.C., ranks the Springfield metropolitan area as having the 37th highest “food hardship” rate among the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country.

The rankings are based on data gathered in 2009 and 2010 as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index project, the center reported.

“The food hardship rates in Springfield for households with or without children are unconscionable,” said Andrew Morehouse, executive director of The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, in a statement. “These new data reaffirm what we’ve been seeing in our communities – that more than 108,000 people in Western Mass. continue to struggle with hunger in these economic times, and that approximately one in three of all people served by the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts are children.”

The poll showed that 25.4 percent of households with children in the Springfield metropolitan area report food hardships, and 19.1 percent of the households without children report hardships, according to the center.

The specific question asked was: “Have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?”

Morehouse said the data gathered “reinforce the fact that this is not the time to make our safety net weaker.”

Morehouse said Congress and its recently established deficit reduction congressional committee, should protect programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), free and reduced price school meals, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Nutrition Program, and federal emergency food assistance.

[matt04]

Anyone who asked yes would have been asked questions like, what kind of car do you drive, what kind and how many cell phones do you have, smoke, etc.

I am sick of seeing people at the local supermarket near Springfield purchasing expensive and non-essential items like birthday cakes, steaks, etc with food stamps.

[Marty62]

I don’t make judgements on what people eat. Are they suppose to eat Spam? Other peoples diets are none of my business.

But the bigger point is that food prices are thru the roof.
Anyone that has been to a supermarket lately knows that.

[Baynative]

How can there be poverty problems in Massachusetts - isn’t the state controlled by liberals?

[eyedigress]

No kidding. Go to Georgia and eat a peach. Morons.

[bobk333]

From a study by the Heritage foundation:

Poor In America: Cable TV, Cell Phones, Video Games and More

The majority of poor Americans are not as bad off as we may have been led to believe – at least in terms of everyday amenities. With a government social network that includes benefits like unemployment, food stamps, welfare, rental and mortgage assistance, and health care, the poor in America are still doing fairly well compared to their counterparts in most other countries around the world.

The following chart from The Heritage Foundation shows that even poor Americans – those who fall below the official income poverty line – usually have a DVD player, video gaming system, multiple televisions, a computer, washer and dryer, cable TV, dedicated internet, a cell phone, and in a very limited amount of cases, even a jacuzzi.

The figures were taken in a government consumption survey near the height of the financial and economic bubble in 2005.

With “poor” people enjoying the benefits of what would traditionally be considered middle class is it any wonder, then, that the entire debt based system of this country is in collapse?

America, it seems, has the richest poor people in the world.

We have created a culture of entitlement in this country, where the “poor” and even the “middle class” have been led to believe that they can spend above their means, and any income discrepancies will be offset by government assistance (incidentally, it seems that our premier corporations are operating under the same narrative). It is, after all, the right of every American to have a cell phone, or internet, several TV’s, and a washer & dryer. If that means we have to take income from one group of people at the barrel of a gun to make sure Joe Poor-Pack has these critical amenities, then so be it.

The gap between the middle class and the poor is certainly being closed. Unfortunately, it is closing in the wrong direction. Instead of the poor moving up the income and net worth ladder, it is the other way around. The depression, wage cuts, inflation, taxation and destruction of credit is knocking the middle class down one rung at a time.

Soon, there will be only the poor and the wealthy, but at least we’ll all have cell phones, iPads and cable TV.

.

[dfwgator]

Krusty Burgers are cheap.

[buccaneer81]

I lived in downtown Springfield 20 years ago. This doesn’t surprise me at all. Puerto Ricans are a real study in human priorities. They’d sell their mothers to keep their knives.

[MNDude]

I remember when I was in India walking past families digging through the garbage on the streets, this Indian girl asked me if there were any “poor people in the US. I wasn’t sure how to answer so I told her there are many people who feel they are poor here.

[Palladin]

In George Will’s column, he states that the disposable income of a single welfare mother with 2 children is higher than that of a postal worker!

That is an eyeopener.

[Rocky]

We obviously need to give more jacuzzis to the poor.

[SatinDoll]

I don’t see that at all.

Prime grade NY steaks at the Kroger’s Fred Meyers near where I live in Washington State was $4.49 per pound this week. Last year, same date, they were $9.95 per pound.

I suspect that many beef producers are reducing their herds this year due to the expected higher prices for feed this winter. But it seems grain and hay prices this coming fall are not going to be that great.

It is the cost of shipping food that is expensive.

[C210N]

The specific question asked was: “Have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed?” ...

The odd thing though is that the local economy is BOOMING, since so many folks get food stamps, which add $1.84 to the economy for every $1 spent.

[ken21]

did they vote for obama?

that could be the problem.

[berdie]

Have you priced Spam lately? :)

You are correct. Food prices are thru the roof.

But a bigger problem, to me, is that most people don't know how to cook these days. Precooked and pre-packaged items are very expensive. Eating out is prohibitive.

But if one shops the sales, uses coupons and actually cooks, you can feed a family relatively inexpensively.

Been there..done that. (and still do,gravy really doesn't have to come from a jar or package.)

[buccaneer81]

Prime grade NY steaks at the Kroger’s Fred Meyers near where I live in Washington State was $4.49 per pound this week. Last year, same date, they were $9.95 per pound.

Exact opposite here at Kroger in Central Ohio.

[Yaelle]

I was just in the hospital having a baby and they come into your room to try to sign you up for WIC. They don’t seem to care if you are eligible or not.

[SatinDoll]

Really? How weird.

I used to find beef was cheaper at Costco, but not any more.

Thriftiness when food shopping is natural to me, but then I don’t drink soda, rarely eat packaged food, and never eat cereal. Saving on food means I get to drink a glass of good red wine every evening. Ha!

[Trailerpark Badass]

NY strips?

They were on sale.

[SatinDoll]

No doubt. But that is the time to buy and freeze for future use.

[Oldexpat]

Walk into any poor household and offer them cash for their big screen TV and food coupons for their cable...they won’t take it. We have a family in our family..broke, poor, etc..they have four TV’s..two new cable for all and they can’t afford to get shots for their kids to go to school.