Rise in college food banks linked to the economy and campus demographics, By Jason Song, August 3, 2015, Los Angeles Times: “For years, the food bank at Michigan State University was one of the few, if not the only, such organizations in the country. By 2008, only four other groups offered college students free meals. But as the economy continued to sink, Michigan State began to get a lot of company. There are now 199 similar groups throughout the country, according to the College and University Food Bank Alliance, including food pantries at UC Berkeley and UCLA. The California State University system is conducting a study to determine the number of students on its campuses who do not have regular sources of food and housing. And one student is attempting to convince vendors and restaurants at Santa Monica College to accept food stamps.
Tag: Food pantries
Food Insecurity in the US
Hunger strikes even rich U.S. counties, By Marisol Bello, April 13, 2015, USA Today: “Loudoun County in Virginia is made up of one of the wealthiest communities in the USA. But it’s also where Barbara Diaz, a nanny, struggles to feed her family of eight. While the median income in the county stands at $122,000 a year, Diaz, 55, makes about $21,600 a year as a nanny. With her salary, she has to feed her family and pay rent, car insurance and utilities. Often, she doesn’t have enough at the end of the month for food, so she turns regularly to her local food pantry for help. Diaz and her family are among the 46 million Americans who have a meal gap, in which they can’t afford to pay for three meals a day, according to a new report titled ‘Map the Meal Gap’ by Feeding America, a network of 200 food banks nationwide. The food banks provide food to pantries…”
SNAP System – Massachusetts
SNAP system overhaul leads to fewer receiving food stamps, Western Mass. pantries see surge in need, By Laura Newberry, February 19, 2015, MassLive: “When the state rolled out its new Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program case management system in Oct. 2014, it was touted as a way to match caseworkers with clients more quickly, a crucial step in getting food stamps into the hands of those who need them most. But since then, the state has reported a sharp decline in the number of those receiving stamps through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP.) Advocates say the drop in recipients isn’t a result of a rebounding economy, but rather a faulty system that’s causing bureaucratic backlog…”