Food Assistance Programs

Posted on November 24, 2009 by townsend

• R.I. emergency food programs see a one-year 30-percent surge, By Paul Davis, November 23, 2009, Providence Journal: “Two years ago, Robin McDuffie and her family often spent $150 a night for five meals at a favorite Spanish restaurant. On the menu? Lobster, filet mignon and arroz con pollo. Then her husband lost his mortgage-company job. Now, McDuffie spends a little more for a week’s worth of groceries — with money from the state. ‘We went from making a hundred grand to making four grand,’ says McDuffie, who attends a class on how to prepare healthful meals with less money. She no longer eats meat. ‘I never thought I’d have to do this,’ says the 38-year-old mother of three. In Rhode Island, where the unemployment rate is among the worst in the nation, the number of people who go to bed hungry is at a 10-year high, according to a new report from the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. ‘Poverty and hunger are facts of life for too many Rhode Islanders,’ says the report, to be released Monday…”
• Suburban food pantries struggle with record demand, By Ernst Lamothe Jr., November 23, 2009, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: “Mary Ellen McDowell has gotten accustomed to seeing crowds of people arrive during the holidays at Webster Community Chest, a food cupboard for area residents in need. However, this year is unlike any she’s experienced in the past decade, with a record number coming in for help. The worst recession since the Great Depression forced local suburban food cupboards to become more resourceful to provide the same services. Those who run the food cupboards say the problem isn’t going away and they are leaning on the public and themselves like never before…”
• Miss. charities struggle amid need, By Gary Pettus, November 22, 2009, Jackson Clarion-Ledger: “For the first time in its history, the Mississippi Food Network won’t be able to buy turkeys and distribute them to thousands of needy Mississippians at Thanksgiving. ‘We aren’t able to provide the turkeys and hams and some of the special foods we usually have,’ said Walker Satterwhite, executive director of the 25-year-old food bank, which supplies more than 300 churches and nonprofits in the state. The reason: a malnourished economy has caused turkey costs to soar and charitable donations to sink…”