The goodwill of taxpayers and charities has helped stabilize rising hunger rates, but more than 17 million households still reported having difficulty buying all the food they needed last year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that in 2009, nearly 50 million Americans -- 15 percent of U. S. families -- were "food insecure," meaning they were "uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food to meet the needs of all their family members" -- either they didn't have enough money or lacked other resources to buy food. One in 10 families with children worried about food at some point in the year. Between 500,000 and 1 million families were so strapped the children had to go without eating at some point.
The hunger rates remained steady till 2008, when they jumped to the highest level since the USDA began tracking hunger in 1995. Dramatically rising unemployment might have continued that jump, agency officials said, if the government had not stepped up food aid.
"There is a silver lining to some degree in the fact that this food insecurity did not increase," Kevin Concannon, undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, told reporters. "Between 2008 and 2009, the number of unemployed people across the United States went from just under 9 million people to over 14 million."
The United States is increasingly a safety-net nation, with one in four Americans now enrolled in one of the 15 federal feeding programs. Forty-two million people currently receive monthly benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps. That's up by 10 million from a year ago.
Taxpayers buy breakfast and lunch for 30 million children. More than 9 million mothers receive federal help feeding infants and children under the Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, program.
"This extended recession has placed people in circumstances where they need to rely on programs like this," said Mark Nord, a researcher with the USDA's Economic Research Service and the lead author of the food insecurity report. "I know meeting with, whether it's government offices across the country or with food pantries and food banks -- in all of those instances people have reflected the fact, to me, anecdotally that they are serving people who never envisioned in their lifetimes needing to turn to either a state or a county for federal assistance or to a food bank for assistance."
Holiday Season Likely to Push Food Banks Even Further
Those food banks, which receive hundreds of millions of dollars worth of food from the federal
government to supplement private donations, are also now inundated with the new poor. Feeding America, an organization that runs a nationwide network of food banks and bills itself as "the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity," said the number of people seeking help from its food banks has increased 46 percent over the past four years, from 25 million to 37 million.
The upcoming holiday season promises even greater demand.
"What people may not generally understand is about 20 million children in this country are fed through school lunch and breakfast programs," said Ross Fraser of Feeding America. "When schools close for Thanksgiving and Christmas for two or three weeks, those are really rough times for us. Because all of those school meals disappear and we've got to make up the difference."
And in the new year, it may cost everyone more to put food on the table. A variety of economic forecasters, including those of the U.S. government, predict major food price increases across the board in 2011.
19 comments:
Not that Hoover was the best thing to happen to the US, some may argue that he was the worst, but in the 1930 Depresssion this is exactly was he was trying to prevent. The issue is two-fold: One, everything, EVERYTHING goes up when more and more people rely on the federal (or even state) government to help them on a day-to-day basis. We see this forcast to be completely true what with the Tax cuts' being so difficult to pass and the very imformation in this article: that prices of all food are expected to increase sometime next year. The 2nd is that Hoover, and even FDR knew that if these kinds of government aid programs were to become permanent, Americans would lose all sense of individualism. THey become dependent and content with their dependence on the government. This is exactly what has happened. When we look at the fact that less that 10% of America is fully unemployed (NPR)and yet more that 14: of AMericans are recieving unemployment, we see a want, not a need. Though I hate to bring pop culture in to the mix, look at the words said in precious: "Get your [blank] down to the welfare office and get them checks coming every month." People are starting to look to these welfare programs as a first choice rather than a last resort. It is no longer "If I can live without it..." but "how little do I need to do to get it." And there is something that we all must remember; even to the maker of these programs, FDR, these should only be temporary relief, not permanent programs. It almost makes you wonder how we will ever get out of this recession if we continue to throw money and food stamps into the hands of able-bodied, allbeit lazy individuals.
Sure the poor needs their food but they are relying on the government to supply them the food. They need to work for their food like finding a job. We taxpayers are losing money cause of this. My opinion is not to increase the level of food aid but focus more on creating new jobs that they can work to get their food. The food is their its always the money problem.
honestly i am all for helping others but instead of baby feeding them with these food donation organizations, why dont we help them get their life on track and help them get to a point where they dont need those frre food organizations. they need help being able to take care of themselves and their families and they cant nor will they try if we keep baby feeding them. if were gonna help lets do it right because i think that they would like to become independnt and know that they will have what they need to survive. less worring.
This is a big thing, especially for me, i lived most of my childhood with my parents needing federal help to put food on the table. We got WIC Food stamps and all kinds of ther things, and i felt ashamed. I felt ashamed because all of these other kids were walking around talking about how much money their parents had, and when I was asked i would just turn red and hide my face, i was so embarassed on saying " oh my parents are bums and we dont have much money so i have food stamps."
Noone has any idea how that feels, i felt guilty as well, because while all of these other parents were working their butts off and paying for their own food, and paying taxes, my parents were feeding off of them. most of the time i would sit there and tell myself that i wouldnt end up that way, i would say that i would feed myself not rely on others to do it for me. will do the job of a responsible adult and buy my own groceries and pay taxes. I would pay taxes knowing that there are other bum parents who cant get off of their butts and feed their own children.
i will teach my kids respect and hard work so that our food crisis will end. My rant is over this is just a big part of my past and its hard to bury it.
This is a really tragic situation, but also pathetic and inevitable at the same time. Food Stamps for one seem to abused frequently. People end up buying junk instead of actually getting essentials. It is really great that we have so many organizations willing to help, but the people also have to be able to accept that help and use it to their full advantage. Seems to me that not everyone will be enjoying the holidays to their fullest and that is something that really is just tragic. But, something to keep in mind, their are endless opportunities(even if it isn't the greatest job) and organizations willing to help you out.
These poor children! Although at the same time I feel no sympathy for the parents of these children because it is a general rule of life to only have as many kids as you can afford (everything with the exception of handicapped people). Personally I think WIC isn't very necessary when foodstamps are already available to these women, not to mention that plenty of the women that get WIC credit ALSO have a foodstamps card... Fair? Not really. I'm all for helping the disadvantaged, but would you consider lazy people that just don't want to find work disadvantaged? I don't.
While these numbers appear to be extremely bleak, the United States is still one of the most well-fed nations in the entire world. While it is important to focus on solving our own problems, children in the U.S. rarely starve to death unlike those in developing countries. Less than 2.5% of our nation is undernourished compared to Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia where over 35% of the population is.
I fully support federal feeding services giving food stamps and other means to people who really need them. But there's always the case where someone abuses that hospitality, and depends on the stamps and other government funding to support themselves instead of trying to find a job and other ways to live. No one should have to go hungry, ever, but especially not during the holidays. Understandably its rough for food banks and soup kitchens that time of year, but its definitely worth the effort.
This isn't surprising. With the rate of unemployment and job loss these days it's not a shocker that people would need help. Sure there are going to be people wh owould rather live off what the government gives them and not get a job, but I honestly think most people would rather have a respectable job and be able to provide for their families than live off what little the government gives them. This number's up because jobs are down. Simple as that. If we get the economy looking better then all will be well. Easier said than done, I know.
I think that it is a great idea for the families that need government assistance to recieve wic and government aid. however the fact remains that when the price of food increases those families are put into risk of poverty and loss of food and shelter. I don't think that when the price increases those families should pay the same price as a family who is capable of paying that amount and more. Families should get the oppertunity to pay half the price
Reading this made me really sad. It's heartbreaking to know that almost a million families in this country were unable to feed their children last year. I think everyone is really aware of hunger and poverty in 3rd world countries but much less informed about hunger in our own country.
Wow. Yet another incentive to concentrate on fixing things within our country before we tell other governments what to do. We definately need to start thinking of better ways to handle this hunger issue within the U.S.. I don't even want to think about all the families and children that won't have enough food for the Thanksgiving feast that we all so dearly love.
I don't like the sound of major food price increases, that is a bit unnerving. Also thats a really large portion of the population of federal food relief aid as only 53% of households pay taxes (not to mention all the non-household people). I'm glad that people, especially children who have no way to get food on their own, are able to have a meal. On the other hand programs like this paired with the myriad of other social services are a huge burden on taxpayers. Not sure what to think.
Capitalism and a true lassiez-faire include sharp edges, a dog eats dog at its worst where survival of the fittest is the golden rule. There is not the guarantee of equal jobs, resources, quality of life as is in socialism; there is the guarantee of (somewhat) equal opportunities. The government has already dulled this harshness by making and enforcing regulations that protect its weakest citizens with food banks and Medicaid, for instance. On the two extremes are socialism and capitalism, the key to success as with most other things is to find a balance. Here I feel that this socioeconomic group should be reduced but should not be eradicated or we as America risk teetering off balance. Social questions are never easy but this particular instance cannot be looked upon as abnormal for as a country gets wealthier, a widening economic gap is inevitable. If we are to seek affluence, there will be ones left behind.
This shows that more Americans nowadays have help with providing food for their children and family then they probably actually need.
The actuality of this situation is that some of the people signing up for this help lie on their forms and do not need it but get it so that they can have more spending more for unnecessary things.
The fact that there are still people in the US that really do need help with taking care of and providing food for their families but are not getting should show us that we need to be stricter about who we allow to get food benefits and to make sure those who require it get them.
This shows that more Americans nowadays have help with providing food for their children and family then they probably actually need.
The actuality of this situation is that some of the people signing up for this help lie on their forms and do not need it but get it so that they can have more spending more for unnecessary things.
The fact that there are still people in the US that really do need help with taking care of and providing food for their families but are not getting should show us that we need to be stricter about who we allow to get food benefits and to make sure those who require it get them.
wow. that's a depressing article. I wonder what percentage of these people who can't afford food are really just good hardworking people in a tough place, and how many are just lazy people who want everything handed to them? It just seems like all these free handouts are getting out of hand, but I feel bad for the children and those few honest people.
So much for the recession being over huh? This is reminiscent of the great depression where people lined up in the food lines so they wouldnt starve. Obviously, we arent quite there yet but programs and food stamps are increasing. This will anger taxpayers and I understand where they are coming from even though I dont pay taxes yet. The thing is without these programs many people who can't get a job, not who wont, who can't will go hungry and we can't let that happen.
--If Americans focused harder on better parenting skills, all the issues dealing with children, food, and healthcare would be fixed. Values and Morals need to be instilled into America's kids that will heal the issues we deal with.
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