Feeding America one Family at a Time

I didn't mean to. If I had my way it wouldn't have happened. I left before daylight today to get here to the foodbank. I spent almost 30 years building a career that allowed me to start at a bright and early 9:30 or 10:00 am. that way I could sleep. Although I worked a lot until midnight or after, and occasionally at 5:30 or 6:00am I would get a phone call for help, usually I could sleep late. Now after 3 strokes, I help my wife here and get up early. I always thought it should be the other way around.... Oh well............


Hey, we gave out in another county, 430+ families there with well over 100 of the kids foods. TANF (Tempory Aid for Needy Families) is what it is called. We have a large one this week as well. It will be over 500 and closer to 600 Families. Feeding America, the nations largest domestic hunger relief organization, and who we are a part of, says that 1 in 6 Americans struggle with hunger. One can witness this at St. Andrews Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Tx, where men, women and children gather at the door on the first and thursdays of each month, that are not looking for God, they're looking for something to eat. Janet Drane, their volunteer Manager said they've had a food pantry for 25 years, and while it's been small, it has lately went from 10 families to 25 families. Lucia Russet at the advocy for Little Sisters of the Assumption Families Health Service in east Harlem, NY serves about 450 families per month. The USDA says this hunger is a big problem. 49 Million Americans are unsure of where they will find their next meal, which includes 17 million children, and 2.3 million seniors. What is surprising is that 36% live in households where at least 1 adult is working. "It used to be that one job was all you needed. The people we see now have 3 and 4 part time jobs and they're still on the edge financially." says St. Andrew's Drane. Vicki Escarra of Feeding America says 'This isn't just a poor person issue. Middle Americas, people with jobs, are having a tough time feeding their families.'



Some demographics:

Age of Clients that are Hungry:

0-5  9%
6-17 29%
18-64 55%
65+ 8%

Racial Background:

White 40%
Black 34%
Hispanic 21%
Other 9%

A good portion of the above is from http://www.time.com/.

More after we do the next county. It's hungry out there folks.

Thanks, Mark.

Family Additional food

We have done two counties with additional food for families with kids under the age or 18 in the household. If they have younger kids at home, they get more food from the USDA. THIS HELPS. what I have noticed was one county had a higher percentage of people in this group. Does this mean that more young people are hurting or are hungry? Or does it mean more youger people are either living at home or letting their parents raise their kids?  Tomorrow , 9-9-10 we are doing another county so I will see how that works. One thing I do know is this. EVERONE who is not in the catagory of hungry or hurting should go out and get their hands dirty by giving out food. I was a white collar worker for nearly 30 years, and today I see more people in need that any time in my past. With the numbers we have today around the country, the economy is NOT good. I was talking to an older gentleman the other day who said that just like in the 30's the administration would get the economy back on track but it would take some time. Maybe so, but how many people will starve in the mean-time? If it takes 6 or so years to do, we will have tens of thousands of people loosing their houses and going hungry. I don't know all of the answers, but if you know someone hungry, FEED THEM!

I will......