The Weekly Food Research and Action Center News Digest highlights what's new on hunger, nutrition and poverty issues at FRAC, at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, around the network of national, state and local anti-poverty and anti-hunger organizations, and in the media. The Digest will alert you to trends, reports, news items and resources and, when available, link you directly to them.
1. Hunger and Hypothermia are Huge Threats This Winter
(Stateline.org, September 24, 2008)
State officials are bracing for a public health emergency this winter in which record numbers of poor people will be at risk from the combination of cold temperatures, rising heating costs, high unemployment and other inflated consumer costs. Many will require temporary shelter, especially in the Northeast where more homes use heating oil, which has risen in price faster than other fuels and energy sources. In an August letter to President Bush, governors warned that “an unprecedented crisis is waiting to unfold” if the government does not commit more money to the problem. Now, energy costs are still high and the economy is even worse. According to experts, home energy prices are expected to increase 17 percent this winter (compared to last year); heating oil will increase 30.1 percent. Jobless rates continue to climb, with a 9.5 percent rise since last year, leading to more households struggling and unable to pay heating bills. The government’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) contributes a fraction of heating costs; last year LIHEAP grants to states helped 5.6 million low-income households, with an average energy check of $355 that goes directly to energy companies. The National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association (NAEDA) foresees average household energy bills to rise this winter to an average of $1,152, compared to $986 last year. States are stepping in to forestall the crisis with their own money, and communities, according to Meg Power, energy advisor for the National Community Action Foundation, are setting up temporary shelters in community colleges, shopping malls, and fire stations for those who aren’t able to pay their heating bills.
2. Economic Slide Sends Consumers Hunting for Food Bargains at Dollar Stores
(Associated Press, September 30, 2008)
Dollar stores are booming during these tough economic times as shoppers buy discounted food and grooming products at the stores and “try to limit spending to just the necessities.” "A dollar of detergent is smaller than what I'm going to get at the grocery store," said Marshal Cohen, an analyst with the NPD Group. "But when I'm hard-pressed for money and every dollar needs to go as far as it can, I'm happy to get what I can. …That's how the majority of consumers shop." Owners foresee that the popularity of dollar stores will continue even though many of the stores offer items priced over a dollar; at Family Dollar Stores, only 31 percent of merchandise is priced at a dollar or less. And some stores have stopped carrying items, like motor oil, due to increasing costs for gas and other goods.
3. Delaware Missing Out on Federal Food Programs
(Delaware Online, September 28, 2008)
Patricia Beebe, president of the Food Bank of Delaware, and Nicholas Mirkay, chairman of the board, weigh in on Delaware’s hunger problem in this op-ed and find the state has a history of missing out on federal funding for food assistance programs that would help eradicate hunger across the state. “Hunger in Delaware is virtually invisible,” they write, “known primarily to those who experience it and those who attempt to alleviate it.” Consequently, food stamps, school breakfast, afterschool and summer food programs are underutilized. Only 55 percent of the state’s eligible participate in the food stamp program, with only 14 of 23 food stamp “options” for increasing enrollment (such as enrolling Supplemental Security Income applicants for food stamps) being utilized as well. The state could gain $1 million in revenue through the School Breakfast Program if it raised the current 47 percent participation rate to 60 percent, and 5,175 additional children would receive breakfast at school. The school lunch program could bring in an additional $280,000 if the participation rate of 25 percent went to 40 percent. As more Delaware residents seek out food assistance, the state “can no longer afford to forgo full utilization of federally funded programs” note Beebe and Mirkay, especially since the programs, without any additional state funding, can provide food to needy state residents. The results of hunger are far reaching, write Beebe and Mirkay. Hunger “…is intertwined with nearly every aspect of a community’s prosperity, including job productivity, health care costs, housing and childhood development.”
4. High Unemployment Plagues South Carolina County
(Charleston Post and Courier, September 28, 2008)
With 17 percent of its 11,000 residents out of work, and 35 percent living in poverty, South Carolina’s Allendale County has the state’s highest unemployment rate. Layoffs over the past few months have reduced the already scarce number of jobs in the area, which has struggled with “poverty and despair” for decades. “There’s nothing here. Everything’s closed down,” said Maude Fields, 55. “I’ve lived here all my life. It’s home. But we are all pushed up against the wall here.” Neighboring counties Orangeburg, Bamburg and Barnwell rank among the top ten counties in the state with the highest unemployment rates after posting double-digit jobless rates last month. According to Corey Pitts, Orangeburg’s area director of the state Employment Security Commission, more than 800 people have been laid off over the past few months, and hundreds show up daily at the commission’s offices, desperate for work. “It’s just continually increasing,” he said. Even those who find work aren’t that fortunate. Latoya Conner joined a group of workers, mostly women, who face a four-hour roundtrip bus ride to Hilton Head Island, where they worked washing dishes in high-end restaurants, cleaned hotel rooms, or cut lawns for $8 an hour. The 4 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. day leaves many with no time at home for their families before they have to start again the next day. Latoya Conner eventually quit after her mother died and has been unable to find work since then. Ruby Lee Huggins, 53, a widow and mother of four, was laid off from her job of 21 years two months ago. “I don’t never stop looking,” she said. “As long as I got my health, I’m going to work.”
5. Thousands in Ohio Receive Disaster Food Stamps
(The Review, September 25, 2008)
On the last day for victims of Ohio’s recent extended power outage to apply for disaster food stamps, officials noted that more than 5,800 households received the benefit to replace food lost during the crisis. Spoiled food from refrigerators and freezers made up the biggest portion of loss and demand for the assistance was high, with “standing room only in the waiting area” at the Department of Job and Family Services’ Lisbon office.
6. Ohio’s Budget Cuts will Hurt State’s Needy
(Columbus Dispatch, September 25, 2008)
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland recently requested state agencies reduce their budgets by 4.75 percent to offset a projected state budget deficit of $540 million. This will result in $80 million in cuts to programs helping the state’s needy, but demand for these services continues to rise due to the economy and foreclosure crisis. “We are seeing record numbers of poor, the worst that I have seen in nearly 30 years in the field,” said Michael Orlando, director of Fairfield County’s Job and Family Services. Calling the situation “…a train wreck waiting to happen with the poverty and hunger that we are seeing in our communities,” Orlando warned that the budget cuts mean “there is no way to avoid significant reduction in serving the customers who come through the door.” “It's a vicious cycle,” said Lance Porter, spokesman for Franklin County's Job and Family Services. Franklin County receives about 10 percent of its annual $200 million human services budget from the state, with $7 million coming from the county and the rest from federal grants. A variety of groups – small and large businesses, universities and nonprofits – that contract with the agencies and provide services to the poor will also suffer with the cuts.
7. Stress from Economy Now Seen in Children
(Orlando Sentinel, September 23, 2008)
Parents aren’t only the ones stressed about the economy. More children are experiencing levels of anxiety causing sleep, health and concentration problems as they worry about their parents having enough money. Kids are complaining of stomachaches in school, and according to Jennifer Porter-Smith, Nap Ford Community School’s director, “It’s difficult for them to focus on learning in the classroom when they’re concerned about: ‘Where are we going to live today? Are the lights going to be on when I get home? Is there going to be something to eat? Is someone going to be able to pick me up because they couldn’t put gas in the car?’” Orlando-area school counselors are seeing the effects of this “trickle-down anxiety” already this school year, and hearing about families who have had to move in with relatives. “We have seen an increase in the number of children and the differences in behavioral symptoms – school phobia, ADHD, more anxiety and depression…not knowing what’s happening in their families. Obviously they’ve picked up the anxiety from their parents,” said Jim Berko, director of Seminole Community Mental Health. Psychologist George Schulz sees a major difference between now and previous recessions that families have weathered. “Not only are the parents worried about their jobs, they’re worried about their homes, and that’s a major change. The 24-hour stress is showing up.” He also said he’s seeing more sleep disorders and school phobia, with younger patients suddenly afraid of someone breaking into their homes, and one boy now “terrified of the fire alarm at school.”
8. School Lunches in Ohio “Not Hurting” During Economic Crisis
(Mansfield News Journal, September 28, 2008)
Federal government subsidies to schools for the free and reduced-price lunch program are helping Ohio schools avoid much of the financial deficit other assistance programs are experiencing in the state and nationwide. The current economic slump has “a record number of students receiving” free or reduced-price lunches across the U.S., and “skyrocketing gasoline prices” are eating up school budgets too. While Ohio imposed several budget cuts on schools this year, subsidized lunches weren’t affected. “Because these meals are subsidized by the federal government, we’re not hurting,” said Clear Fork school superintendent Dan Freund. The school knows the severity of the need out there, and has no plans for increasing the price of lunch. “Our parents struggle just like we do with all the price increases. To put an extra stress on them by increasing lunch prices would just be brutal,” Freund said.
9. Missouri Schools See Increase in Free and Reduced-Price Lunch Numbers
(Columbia Tribune, September 24, 2008)
The percentage of Columbia, Mo. students receiving free and reduced-price lunch rose from 32 percent in 2007 to 37 percent in September 2008, an indicator that poverty in the area is rising. Officials say the increase is caused by gas prices and the economy. Columbia’s high schools also saw a major increase in subsidized meal applications, an unexpected turn since high school students “are less likely to apply for free and reduced- lunches.” Statewide, Missouri’s student participation rate in 2007 for free and reduced-price school meals was 41.8 percent.
10. Free School Meals Going to More Broward Students
(Miami Herald, September 27, 2008)
Nearly half of Broward (Fla.) public schools students are considered to live in poverty, evidenced by the increase in the number of students receiving free school meals. Long considered a “suburban, middle class sister to Miami-Dade County,” the Broward county had only 38.6 percent of children living in poverty ten years ago. Now, 48.2 percent of Broward children receive free or reduced-price meals, up 9,000 students from last year for a total of 123,155. While the economy contributed to the increase, a school meal outreach campaign also boosted the numbers as the district grew concerned that eligible families were not aware of the programs. Students benefit greatly from the meals, and it boosts academic achievement according to school district spokesman Keith Bromery. Broward schools are aware of the growing need; Driftwood Middle School principal Jody Perry noted “What we know: For some of our children, the meals provided through the free and reduced [program] are their staples in the day.” Additional signs that the County’s poverty level is rising include:
10,000 additional households are using food stamps this year – 63,000 in all – up from last year’s total of 53,000;
7,438 renter eviction notices served this year, 2,000 more than last year;
9,000 children are on the waiting list for subsidized child care, up 3,000 from last year.
11. Free and Reduced-Price Lunches Going to More Beloit, Wisconsin Students
(Beloit Daily News, September 25, 2008)
More than half (62 percent) of students in Beloit, Wisc. are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch, up from 49.7 percent in 2000. The rate of students receiving subsidized lunches in the 2007-08 school year rose to 32 percent, up 8.1 percent over the past eight years.
12. School’s Classroom Breakfast Program Wins Award
(The Buffalo News, September 29, 2008)
Cheektowaga-Sloan School District’s John F. Kennedy Middle School in New York State was recently recognized for “innovation in breakfast service.” The American Dairy Association awarded the school $1,000 for its classroom breakfast program which experienced an upswing in participation. The school took breakfast out of the cafeteria and served it “grab-and-go” style from carts in the hall, letting students eat breakfast pizzas, muffins, milk and juice in the classroom and other school locations. The 8 a.m. breakfast helps students last until lunch, served as late as 12:44 p.m., without going hungry, and is “a good option for parents” who work, according to sixth grade teacher Megan Zoladz.
13. Connecticut School Lunch Programs Working to Make Programs Profitable
(Hartford Courant, September 29, 2008)
Schools in Connecticut – and across the country – are trying to hold down lunch costs while maintaining nutritional value. Poverty rates in the state are going up, causing more demand for free and reduced-price lunches, which “emphasize nutritious food and operate with relatively high fixed costs.” According to state officials, state subsidies have fallen behind food inflation, although federal subsidies have been rising – for every needy child taking part in the program, the child’s school gets $2.57 from the federal government, and 4.5 cents from the state. Schools can opt to incorporate the state education department’s “healthy foods” certification, which supplies an additional subsidy to schools that choose to comply; the state “healthy foods” subsidy of 10 cents for each meal still doesn’t cover rising food costs, said Greg Boulanger, Bristol County’s food services director. Boulanger thinks it’s worth the extra cost to deliver children more nutritious meals through the new standards: “Kids are getting better quality foods. But it just costs more than what our subsidy from the state is.” Still, some Connecticut school lunch programs are thriving. Enfield County, although experiencing rising poverty levels, prices school lunches low ($1.50 and $2). Instead of preparing meals at individual schools, nutrition services director Diane Edwards cuts expenses by having two kitchens prepare meals that are then distributed to schools, saving money in preparation and cooking time. Enfield has not sought the “healthy foods” certification from the state.
14. Poverty in America Brings Third World Diseases
(Baltimore Sun, September 29, 2008)
The federal government has spent nearly $50 million over the last ten years on national biodefense, and it seems likely that more will be spent across the country on high-containment labs as a defense against biological threats. But there’s already a biological threat in America, notes Dr. Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and Walter G. Ross professor and chair of microbiology, immunology and tropical medicine at George Washington University. In places where poverty is concentrated, like Baltimore, and among mainly Hispanic and African-American populations living in rural and urban poverty areas, a number of diseases are prevalent that are usually only seen in the Third World. “That these diseases exist in large numbers in the world’s most prosperous nation is reason for shame and alarm – and action,” writes Hotez. But, “because they occur almost exclusively among the poorest people in our society… they have become forgotten diseases among forgotten people.” These “neglected infections of poverty” include:
Cysticercosis – occurring in an estimated 169,000 Hispanics, this tapeworm parasite causes brain infection and is the leading cause of epilepsy and seizures among this group.
Chagas disease – a protozoan parasite, transmitted by “assassin bug” bites, causing infection that can result in heart failure, with “hundreds of thousands of Hispanics living in poverty in the U.S.” at risk.
Leptospirosis – transmitted among Baltimore residents who have been exposed to rat urine.
Toxocara parasite infection – affecting up to 2.8 million African-Americans, “mostly children, living in inner cities in the Mid-Atlantic and the South,” this roundworm has been linked to asthma.
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) – young black women “have up to a fiftyfold greater risk” of acquiring this infection than white women during their pregnancy, then passing it on to their unborn babies, resulting in mental retardation and deafness.
In addition, the rate of HIV/AIDS in the African-American community “is as high as in some African countries.”
15. Mortgage Payments Unaffordable for More Than One-Third of American Homeowners
(USA Today, September 22, 2008)
The government defines as “unaffordable” mortgage payments that are 30 percent or more of a homeowner’s before-tax income, and 38 percent of homeowners with mortgages were in that category last year according to a Census data analysis by USA Today. The analysis also found half of all renters and 15 percent of homeowners without mortgages also had trouble meeting housing payments. In 13 of the nation’s largest metro areas, half of homeowners had mortgages that met or exceeded the government’s 30 percent threshold. Nearly 75 percent of homeowners making less than $50,000 a year struggled to make the payments. Of those homeowners with mortgages whose incomes were higher than $50,000, 23 percent had trouble paying their mortgage.
16. England to Pilot Free School Meals
(BBC News, September 24, 2008)
British educators plan to pilot a program that will offer free school meals to pupils in two areas of England. A similar program was conducted in Hull, which offered free breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks for every primary school child for several years. The program lacked formal evaluation, but teachers reported students were more attentive and engaged in class. The Hull pilot had 65 percent of students eating school meals, compared to the 43.6 percent national average (while in some areas of England, schools offer no meals at all). Officials say government, education authorities and “primary care trusts” will share the £40m cost of the new pilot program which will begin in one year and run for two years. Although the pilot areas have not been chosen, plans are in place to measure benefits from the free meals in children’s behavior and obesity, as well as their “general health and well-being.” Unions in the country have been pushing for free school meals, which would cost £1b. Scotland’s government has been running a five year pilot program giving free meals to “infant pupils” and is close to deciding whether or not to extend the program nationwide. Currently, England’s schools are equipped to provide food to students through a combination of full-service kitchens and other means, as follows:
69 percent - primary schools with full production kitchens;
8 percent - schools with mini kitchens;
19 percent - serve food transported from another site;
4 percent - serve only cold food.
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