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......

Another week, another county

here we are with another week. this time we have football at the end of it. also, this is the first time i have used my phone to blog.
so far every place in arkansas has seen an increase in the number of people needing food, so it looks like the economy here is real bad. this is cross county which is a larger number, not sure why, but it should shed some light on the numbers. i will update after tomorrow.......

More and More Hungry

Living here in Northeast Arkansas, there are no big numbers to report, but since we did go out yesterday to deliver food to those needing it, I did an inquiry as to the number of new families signing up for food. We were in Clay county yesterday, and as it seems to be around the country there was about 12% average New Families signing up for food. We had three towns, one had over 20% new folks and another only 6% or so, with only around 600 food packages for the county. But that does fall in line with the 15% increase around the country.

I heard a motivational group some years back that were pretty good, but what i remembered was the name. The GOADS. That stood for Go Out And Do Something. I encourage everyone to Go Out and help with the hungry. It has been an eyeopener to me. I was a white collar worker for 30 plus years and had dreams and aspirations to do something, and while I encourage and support this lifestsyle, it was only after I did something that put me one-on-one with the truly needy that I saw what was really going on in America.

Here is hoping for the best,

Mark

CNN report on the hungry in America and more

Please see the CNN report: entitled Tough choices for America's hungry.  http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/02/02/food.stamps.economy/
Or a New York Times report  on the hungry in America
http://food.change.org/blog/view/how_many_football_stadiums_can_americas_hungry_people_fill

An excert from another web site: dated 11/08

WHEN ORGANIZERS with the Heart of Compassion food bank in Montebello, Calif., planned a food giveaway recently, they decided to keep it low key, advertising it at just a few churches and schools.




When the day of the giveaway arrived, however, they were stunned to find 500 people in line in Montebello Park before dawn, hours before the pantry would open. "By noon, thousands of people stood in the warm November sun," reported the Los Angeles Times. "Those in line hardly spoke, gazing into the park or holding on to restless children."



In all, nearly 5,000 people showed up seeking food that day--more than double the number expected.



Such stories are becoming increasingly common--though you wouldn't know it to judge from the mainstream media. There's plenty of coverage of the economic crisis, of course--but most of the focus is on the chaos on Wall Street and in the financial system.



Meanwhile, the crisis is taking root across the U.S.--and hitting working people hard.



The Freestore Foodbank in Cincinnati set a record this week, with 7,661 people standing in the rain and cold to receive emergency food boxes before Thanksgiving--an increase of 19 percent over the first day of last year's Thanksgiving food distribution, according to WLWT news.

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If you do a Google or Bing search on Hungry in America, You will come up with many hits.
Hungry people in America tells me the Economy is not good here. Please note that I would want to live here more than anywhere else in the world. I am not running down America, juat saying we have a problem to fix.

Hungry People

I am not sure how this will go over, but I do have some things to share with you today. I do not work now due to health issues, but I do go with my wife and I help work at a food bank in northeast Arkansas by handing out USDA commodies. By working with and interacting with the people who need and want help by way of food, I can see a trend. Over the next few years I hope we can expand to multiple states across America. Right now I can tell you this:  We go to different counties every week - keep in mind that 'Ours is to hand out or help people, not to judge if they are in need or not.' What I see is lots of people hungry and or hurting that are lining up to receive food. This either means there is not enough money getting to everyone, OR that the American economy is not good. I believe this also means that when every month the number of hungry people increases, the worse the everyday economy is. It is not the intent or issue to discuss managing your money.


Here is a good article about more and more hungry people.

 http://newsok.com/food-banks-need-help-as-hunger-grows/article/3487549

some quotes from this article:
In Oklahoma and nation, food banks are serving more and more people


In San Francisco, a loss of hours worked has taken food off the plates of families where parents had held two or three part-time jobs to make ends meet.





In Oklahoma and nation, food banks are serving more and more people. A food bank in Washington state reports that almost half of the people they serve have some form of postsecondary education and 21 percent own their homes. Only 9 percent are homeless.


Please read.





Now for a small amount of my soapbox. In America we have two main political parties. Democrats and Republicans. I think they are ALL CROOKS OR CHEATERS. All in all it does not matter which party is in charge, there are still many many people hurting! I could talk about this for a long time, but just to say I don't like either party. now back to the subject.

When the government's and our records indicate a number of families at a distribution site and we increase by 12% or more at every site, that tells me there are more and more hungry people, or a worse economy.


MY QUESTION: DOES THE NUMBER OF HUNGRY PEOPLE SHOWING UP HAVE A INDICATION OF OUR ECONOMY?
WILL YOU SHARE SOME OF YOU EXPERIENCES WITH US?

I know there are cheaters in the system that is getting food, but there are cheaters in every industry in the world. let's not worry about that.

Thanks,

Mark