- Bill slashing food stamp funds worries charities, By Renee C. Lee, August 7, 2010, Houston Chronicle: “Local charities already struggling to provide food for needy families worry that a U.S. Senate bill that cuts $14 billion from the national food stamp program will increase demand for assistance in the Houston area and put more strain on nonprofit groups. Harris County stands to lose an estimated $174.3 million in federal aid, leaving thousands of poor and low-income families who depend on the monthly stipend to go hungry, said JC Dwyer, state policy director for the Texas Food Bank Network. ‘We think this is a huge mistake,’ Dwyer said. ‘The food program is the front line of hunger relief in America. With the cut, the pressure falls to charities that are not equipped to handle it.’ The Senate approved a $26 billion financial aid package Thursday to help state and local governments cover Medicaid payments and avoid teacher layoffs. And it’s doing it by siphoning money from the food stamp program…”
- Use of food stamps increases, and more people seek aid from food banks, By Matt Campbell, August 8, 2010, Kansas City Star: “Another month, another record number of Americans on food stamps. More than 40.8 million people, or 13 percent of the country, are now receiving monthly help for basic groceries as the unemployment rate remains stuck at 9.5 percent. Newcomers are joining the food stamp rolls all the time. One of them is LeAnn Ward of Kansas City, who made her first visit to a food pantry Friday while waiting to receive her initial monthly allotment of food stamps for herself and her son…”
- School lunches show poverty bite, By Kelli Gauthier, August 8, 2010, Chattanooga Times Free Press: “In the last five years, Hamilton County managed to woo Volkswagen, help Tennessee snag a $500 million federal grant and invest millions of dollars in at least six brand-new school buildings. The telltale signs of progress and promise of economic prosperity are everywhere. But what often goes unnoticed is that a greater number of families are slipping into poverty. Since 2005, Hamilton County has seen a 20 percent increase in the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches – the measure used by the federal government to determine how much financial assistance a school or school system receives for poor students, according to Tennessee’s education Report Cards…”
Tag: Food pantries
Summer Meal Programs for Children – Michigan
No vacation from hunger in Metro area, By Catherine Jun, July 26, 2010, Detroit News: “Access to nutritional food becomes dicey in the summer for many impoverished families, who are forced to go without the free or reduced-cost breakfast and lunches they depend on during the school year. Though a federal program serves free lunches in poorer neighborhoods in the summer, it continues to drawn just a small fraction of these families. And as more households fall into poverty, experts say childhood hunger is growing more acute, and agencies, churches and community centers are taking matters into their own hands to fill the hunger gap. ‘We are hearing more and more about kids suffering,’ said Susan Goodell, president and CEO of Forgotten Harvest. The Oak Park-based food rescue agency this summer is using donations to deliver 1,000 brown bag lunches a day to children in Detroit and Pontiac, including the Spring Lake Village Apartments on Carriage Circle. The effort amounts to a 56 percent increase in food distribution this summer over last, Goodell said…”
Exhaustion of Jobless Benefits
Strain on aid agencies rises with jobless extensions stopped, By Sean F. Driscoll, July 14, 2010, Rockford Register Star: “All Kim Adams-Bakke has to do to judge the effect of lapsed unemployment benefits is listen to the chatter in the Rock River Valley Food Pantry’s waiting room. ‘I hear a lot of people talking about them and what will happen if the extension doesn’t go through,’ said the pantry’s executive director. ‘We know this is affecting us.’ It’s been 44 days since funding for 73 weeks of unemployment extensions lapsed, with efforts since to revive them ending in congressional stalemates. The benefits are in addition to the 26 weeks’ coverage offered by the states. More than 100,000 Illinoisans have prematurely exhausted their benefits before being able to take advantage of the four tiers of extensions available. Although a Senate vote on the funding is expected next week, it’s far from a sure thing that Democrats will garner the 60 votes they need to overcome a filibuster and pass the measure. The uncertainty has social service agencies like the food pantry preparing for the worst in the midst of an already challenging year…”