Posted on 12/27/2011 2:12:04 PM PST by SeekAndFind
For years, the food pantry in Crystal Lake, Ill., a bedroom community 50 miles west of Chicago, has catered to the suburban areas’ poor, homeless and unemployed. But Cate Williams, the head of the pantry, has noticed a striking change in the makeup of the needy in the past year or two. Some families that once pulled down six-figure incomes and drove flashy cars are now turning to the pantry for help. A few of them donated food and money to the pantry before their luck soured, according to Williams.
“People will shyly say to me, ‘You know, I used to give money and food to you guys. Now I need your help,’” Williams told The Fiscal Times last week. “Most of the folks we see now are people who never took a handout before. They were comfortable, able to feed themselves, to keep gas in the car, and keep a nice roof over their head. ”
Suburbia always had its share of low-income families and the poor, but the sharp surge in suburban poverty is beginning to grab the attention of demographers, government officials and social service advocates.
The past decade has marked the most significant rise in poverty in modern times. One in six people in the U.S. are poor, according to the latest census data, compared to one-in-ten Americans in 2004. This surge in the percentage of the poor is fueling concerns about a growing disparity between the rich and poor -- the 99 percent versus the 1 percent in the parlance of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
But contrary to stereotypes that the worst of poverty is centered in urban areas or isolated rural areas and Appalachia, the suburbs have been hit hardest in recent years, an analysis of census data reveals. “If you take a drive through the suburbs and look at the strip mall vacancies, the ‘For Sale’ signs, and the growing lines at unemployment offices and social services providers, you’d have to be blind not to see the economic crisis is hitting home in a way these areas have never experienced,” said Donna Cooper, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank.
In the wake of the Great Recession, poverty rolls are rising at a more rapid pace in the suburbs than in cities or rural communities. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of suburban households below the poverty line increased by 53 percent, compared to a 23 percent increase in poor households in urban areas, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of census data.
Last year, there were 2.7 million more suburban households below the federal poverty level than urban households, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was the first time on record that America’s cities didn’t contain the highest absolute number of households living in poverty. There are many reasons for the dramatic turnabout in the geographic profile of poverty.
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE REST
We should not allow others to pit us against one another with faulty dilemmas that claim we must choose between ideals of reliance, charity, responsibility and sympathy.
RD
LOL! Too true.
I went and am still going through something similar.
What comes around, goes around.
-Barack Obama
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1177628/posts
You are so right in this comment. We always use to say
“there but for the GRACE OF GOD go I” when seeing someone in difficulty. Life can throw some pretty hard curves at you no matter how much you think you have prepared and planned. I believe I am called by Christ to be humble, thankful and charitable.
If food prices keep rising we will se a whole lot more of us needing help.
We are a lot like Megan.Why should we be charitable to anyone who looked down upon us because we didn’t buy the flashy car or the latest doodad?They were not being misled they were stupid and thought times would always be good.Now they are not and they have to live in the mess they made.
You apparently missed out on the 100% of "expert" financial advice programs and government press releases that insisted housing values would never go down. You apparently did not notice that national bankruptcy laws were made super-strict just prior to the housing crash.
I see nice and not so nice houses for sale here abouts. Family farms, too. And land/acreage. Houses stand empty at a rate of about 10%.
Bad time to sell. Tough time to hold.
“Also, we may be in an economic meltdown but that hasn’t slowed the federal government down. They are still bringing in new black, hispanic and muslim immigrants and many are getting placed in subdivision rentals on the taxpayers tab.
These people are all living on the taxpayers backs and living in better housing than many hard working taxpayers can afford for themselves.”
I have seen this with my own eyes and can testify to the truth of it.
No I did not miss out on that,Since when is it a good idea to overlook good common sense in favor of “expert’s advice”? The saying a “fool and their money are soon departed” fits well here....I was for the bankruptcy law changes it was time that those who has no sense be made to pay for their mistakes.
I guess 0 did have hope and change...he was hopeful that people wouldn’t listen to his speeches... and his changes were for the worse!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.