Posted on 11/16/2010 4:29:25 AM PST by STONEWALLS
WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - The number of U.S. households that reported getting emergency food from a food pantry almost doubled between 2007 and 2009, at the height of the recession, a government report said on Monday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the number of households jumped to 5.6 from 3.9 million.
"Households also accessed additional assistance through USDA's 15 food and nutrition assistance programs," the article in the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) "Amber Waves" said.
The USDA oversees the government's food stamp program, also known as SNAP or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, for low-income families and other domestic feeding programs like school lunches.
(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...
Open your eyes and look around, Rooters. Americans ain't starving......not by a long shot.
“A big pot of homemade soup, stew or chili costs pennies a serving compared to fast food. We have too many parents who no longer cook for their families.”
....AMEN!!
“We have too many parents who no longer cook for their families.”
Well, yeah! I was very surprised to hear that public school children in my county were given free lunch, as well as free breakfast.
I brought this up to some government school types ~ regular folks, not the stereotypical welfare types ~ and they went ballistic. They were offended.
It’s too bad they weren’t offended by the idea that the government has to prepare meals for their children?
As one who works at a food bank, I can say you are correct.
The idea of opening a pawn shop crosses my mind whenever I see the jewelry the clients wear.
As for me, I am a hard core couponer. I can feed a family of 4 for $150/mo but that takes work. An easier way would be the grocery game I hear.
Here in the WDC area some schools give breakfast, lunch and dinner to the “unfortunates”. For the children... Maybe the crack-addict, loser irresponsible “parents” should care about their children. Probably, they’re too busy “community organizing”.
AMEN! My son is 2 and our 3 person weekly grocery budget is $100. This includes dry goods and a couple of six packs or a couple of bottles of wine. If we didn’t buy booze my budget could be $75, but the U sucks this year and I need my emergency pinot grigio every Saturday. Anyway, we eat very well on this and I could probably cut it down more if I had to. I cook from scratch, I love my slow cooker, and I love to see how far I can stretch my dollar. I make and can my own chicken stock and beef stock. I even make my own yogurt. Super easy! Plus we have eliminated HFCS, MSG, and hydrogenated oils from out diets. Win-win.
Well then, when are we going to get a reality show to compete with the “Biggest Loser.” Bowling for Burgers or something.
The USA has the fattest starving people in the world.
I work with the homeless too and it really opens your eyes. I have compassion for them but when you work with them you realize that they aren’t what the press portrays—just like you and me but fallen on hard times. I know healthy homeless men who simply refuse to work and have an incredible sense of entitlement. I got one guy a job as a chef (he was a great cook) and within two months he quit because he didn’t want to take the bus to commute and wanted a job closer to the row house he was squatting in. I also knew one guy who was in tears about the fact that he couldn’t stop drinking. I helped him find AA meetings but he viewed taking the bus to the meeting as a “pain in the ass” so he didn’t go and, of course, kept drinking.
I also work in clothing banks a couple times a year and when I see who is showing up, I really question whether they need the assistance. I honestly think some people view it as a free rumage sale.
Last I knew, the federal gov’t’s definition of hunger was a person going without one meal or more in a month. Using that definition, I’ve been hungry for decades.
“The idea of opening a pawn shop crosses my mind whenever I see the jewelry the clients wear.”
We helped feed the homeless while in California. You’re right about the jewelry. The other thing I can’t get out of my mind is that just about all of them had better cell phones than we did and were chatting up a storm while waiting in line.
I don’t know how this story got through the Marxist filters at Reuters. This story should have been stored until the republicans took over. Some people at Reuters need to go back to the gulag re-education camps.
There are indeed those who will always leech off others, but in the area where I live (central Alabama) the food pantries provide valuable assistance to families who are truly in need. The men & women who conduct the “intake” at these food banks see a lot of poverty and distress in those who turn to the pantries for their needs. And, there are some abusers who are turned away, too.
Guess I’m a softie, but I can’t see a hungry family and not want to help them somehow. Money, donations, grocery bags of food...these are always welcome at the food banks to help out our neighbors. That hungry family could so easily be me or my relatives. I leave it up to God to deal with the leeches who misuse the charity of others. Jesus commanded me to do 2 things: Love Him, and Love my neighbor. Hard as it is to do sometimes, it still must be done.
Okay, I’m jumping off my preaching platform...hope I haven’t offended anyone.
If the government paid out welfare via a debit card and restricted them from being used at fast food places she would get what she wants to a large extent.
“One in 7 US households hit by hunger issues in 2009”
How could this be? We are the fattest First World nation on earth.
actually, it does for them...
this statistic is built on bs polls they ask with the question “Does your child ever say they are hungry before bedtime?” miraculously, you soon see a headline saying “1 in 5 children goes to bed hungry in the US” How many kids - especially teenagers - never say that they’re hungry?
The number of old FRAIL seniors in wheel chairs, walkers, on funky canes are lining up at my local community center for commodities has nearly tripled in the past 18 months. They qualify for $10-30 in food stamps...while illegals get free every thing. They get 4 cans each of veggies and fruit, dry milk, peanut butter from what I can see in the bags.
I thought we were all obese? Get your stories straight, people!
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.