FRAC News Digest - August 20, 2004

The weekly Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) 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.

Note: Beginning July 23, the FRAC News Digest will be published biweekly until September 6, 2004.

Issue 31, August 20, 2004

Schools Adjust for Higher Lunch Costs
Many Hurricane Charley Victims Receive Food Stamp Benefits
Food Stamp Income Eligibility Guidelines Updated for FY 2005
Wealthiest 20% See Income Share Grow to 50%
Comments Due Aug. 23 for Renaming the Food Stamp Program
Calorie Intake Among U.S. Adults Up in Last 30 Years
Obesity Often Linked to Income
Kansas: Governor Serves Up Lunch and Praise for Summer Food Program
California: Good Nutrition a Luxury for Low-income Seniors
Washington, DC: Consumers and Anti-Hunger Advocates Have New Online Tools
California: While Cash Aid Declines, More Get Food Stamps
Florida: Rallies Statewide Support Minimum Wage Referendum
New York: Agency Mails Nearly 100,000 Food Stamp Benefit Cards to Reach More People
Wisconsin: Survey Finding Food Insecurity In Comfortable Community Comes as "Shock"
Minnesota: Increase in Needy Strains Food Shelf

1. Schools Adjust for Higher Lunch Costs

("Schools adjust for higher lunch costs," CNN, August 10, 2004)

Schools nationwide are raising the price of lunch, in some cases for the first time in more than a decade and by as much as $1. The price hikes are responses to rising food, labor, and transportation costs. While typical annual food inflation is about 3 percent, dairy prices in June were 27 percent higher than a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Meat and cheese were up 11 percent and poultry 9 percent.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/08/10/school.lunches.ap/l

2. Many Hurricane Charley Victims Receive Food Stamp Benefits

(U.S. Department of Agriculture, August 16, 2004)

In the wake of Hurricane Charley, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)
has approved replacing the full August allotments of food stamp benefits for
current recipients in several hard hit areas: the entire counties of Lee,
Desoto, Charlotte, Polk, Manatee, Hardee, Sarasota, Collier, Highlands, and
Volusia, and for certain ZIP code areas in the counties of Brevard, Lake, Orange,
Osceola and Seminole. A USDA press release issued on August 16th reports on
the initial efforts undertaken to provide commodities as well as food stamps
to Florida's hurricane victims.

http://frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/FSP/Hurricane_Charley_Relief_04.html

3. Food Stamp Income Eligibility Guidelines Updated for FY 2005

(U.S. Department of Agriculture, August 2004)

Food Stamp Program maximum allotments, deductions, and income eligibility standards have been adjusted for Fiscal Year 2005. The U.S. Department of Agriculture makes the cost of living adjustments (COLA) at the beginning of each federal fiscal year based on changes in the cost of living. COLAs take effect on October 1 each year. Income eligibility standards are set by law. Gross monthly income limits are set at 130 percent of the poverty level for the household size. Net monthly income limits are set at 100 percent of poverty.

http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/programs/fsp.html

4. Wealthiest 20% See Income Share Grow to 50%

("Wealthiest 20% See Income Share Grow to 50%," Baltimore Sun Times, July 29, 2004)

The income gap has steadily grown over the past 20 years between the wealthiest Americans and those at the middle and bottom end of the pay scale. In 1973, the top 20 percent accounted for 44 percent of total U.S. income, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Their share rose to 50 percent in 2002, while everyone else's fell. Tax cuts have shifted the overall tax burden from the richest Americans to the middle class. A soft job market has sent wages down, and lost jobs are being replaced by lower-paying ones with fewer benefits. Economists say wages should rise as companies boost hiring, but the growing gap between the haves and have-nots will remain.

http://tinyurl.com/5eoyc

5. Comments Due Aug. 23 for Renaming the Food Stamp Program

(U.S. Department of Agriculture, August 2004)

US Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials, state administrators, and anti-hunger advocates have all raised the possibility of a new name for the federal Food Stamp Program. Two major factors are driving interest: 1) benefits no longer come in the form of "stamps," but are delivered via Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT); and 2) a new program name might lessen perceived stigma and better position the Program with clients and the public. Now, through Monday, August 23, 2004, USDA is accepting public comments on the possible renaming of the Food Stamp Program.

http://frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/FSP/Name_Change.html

6. Calorie Intake Among U.S. Adults Up in Last 30 Years

(Annual Review of Nutrition, 2004)

Energy intake among adults has increased in the last 30 years, according to a study published in the latest Annual Review of Nutrition. Factors contributing to the increase include a rise in the percentage of the population eating away from home (particularly at fast-food restaurants), larger portion sizes of foods and beverages, increased consumption of sweetened beverages, changes in snacking habits, and improved dietary intake methodology. Children age 1-19 showed little change in energy intake, except for an increase among adolescent females.

http://nutr.annualreviews.org (Payment or subscription required to view).

7. Obesity Often Linked to Income

(National Public Radio, July 2004)

Americans spend a good deal of money eating out, a habit tied to the nation's obesity epidemic. Researchers say the less people can pay for food, the more calories they consume. NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports in the first of a two-part series.

http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=3854505

8. Kansas: Governor Serves Up Lunch and Praise for Kids' Summer Food Program

("Governor serves lunch, lauds city kids' program," Kansas.com, August 17, 2004)

Governor Sebelius visited Aley Park, a summer food site in Wichita, to serve lunch to children and to praise officials across Kansas for running similar programs. Sebelius said that in a sagging economy, which has hit Wichita particularly hard, the summer food program ensures children who depend on free and reduced-price lunches during the school year continue to get nutritious food when school is out. She congratulated Wichita public schools and Inter-Faith Ministries for reaching out to children who qualify. Karole Bradford, director of Inter-Faith's Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, said 28 percent more children are participating in the program than last year.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/local/9418538.htm

9. California: Good Nutrition a Luxury for Low-income Seniors

("Hungry Seniors Can't Afford to Eat More Nutritiously, the Alameda County Community Food Bank Discovers After Conducting Focus Groups," PR Web, August 10, 2004)

Low-income seniors may not know where their next meal will come from and therefore are unable to concentrate on good nutrition, according to a focus group summary report released by the Alameda County Community Food Bank of California (ACCFB). While policy makers prescribe nutrition education as the solution to the explosion of diet-related diseases among low-income populations, the Food Bank's newly released qualitative data suggests that education alone will not address this problem until issues of hunger and food insecurity are first resolved.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/8/prweb147633.htm

10. Washington, DC: Consumers and Anti-Hunger Advocates Have New Online Tools

(D.C. Hunger Solutions, August, 2004)

Registering to vote, e-mailing D.C.'s congressional lawmaker, getting information on becoming a federal food program site or sponsor, and locating the nearest feeding site are some of the new interactive tools available on the D.C. Hunger Solutions website. Visitors may also add their personal epxerience with hunger and food insecurity to the online story bank. D.C. Hunger Solutions, a project of the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), is dedicated to fighting hunger and improving the nutrition, health, and well-being of children and families in the District of Columbia.

http://www.dchunger.org

11. California: While Cash Aid Declines, More Get Food Stamps

("While Cash Aid Declines, More Get Food Stamps," Hi-Desert Star, August 16, 2004)

Food stamp and Medi-Cal caseloads increased significantly in 2003, due to a combination of a slower economy and changes in regulation that made more people eligible for aid, according to a San Bernardino County welfare assessment. The assessment also showed a slowing but continued decline in the number of people there receiving cash aid from the government.

http://hidesertstar.com/articles/2004/07/30/news/news2.txt

12. Florida: Rallies Statewide Support Minimum Wage Referendum

("Minimum wage referendum supporters hold rallies around Florida," Daytona Beach News-Journal Online, August 11, 2004)

Supporters rallied statewide recently in favor of a proposal to create a Florida minimum wage linked to inflation. The proposal would create a constitutional amendment for a Florida hourly minimum wage of $6.15 that would increase annually with inflation. The federal hourly minimum wage, $5.15, has remained unchanged for seven years, causing low-wage workers to drift "farther and farther into poverty," said Doug Martin, a spokesman with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

http://tinyurl.com/535n4

13. New York: Agency Mails Nearly 100,000 Food Stamp Benefit Cards to Reach More People

("Stamp of Approval," CityLimits.org, August 9, 2004)

Nearly 100,000 New Yorkers who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and live alone will receive a food stamp benefit card in the mail. None of them will have filled out an application, talked to a caseworker or visited an office to receive the benefit. "We're just going to give it to them," said a government spokesperson. The state welfare agency's new policy is one of USDA’s approved Combined Application Projects (CAPs) aimed at serving more people who are eligible for food stamps. While food stamp participants are expected to top one million this summer, an estimated 700,000 New Yorkers who are eligible for food stamps do not receive them, according to the Community Food Resource Center (CFRC). CFRC's Jodi Harawitz says identifying people likely to qualify is key to bolstering the program's participation.

http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/weeklyView.cfm?articlenumber=1567

USDA Report on CAP
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/government/cap.pdf

FRAC report on CAP
http://www.frac.org/pdf/CAPreport.pdf

14. Wisconsin: Survey Finding Food Insecurity In Comfortable Community Comes as "Shock"

("School survey reveals nutrition gap," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 17, 2004)

A survey finding nearly one in five elementary school children in the Burlington Area School District come from families that eat inadequately, worry about not having enough food or skip meals because they can't afford food came as "a shock" to university and school officials. The finding suggests food insecurity is more serious in the Burlington area, a seemingly comfortable community, than statewide. The majority of households with food insecurity had a working family member. Food insecurity is "actually happening here, not someplace else, which is what we normally think," said one educator. The survey, the first of its kind in Racine County, has prompted one principal to suggest the school district do more to promote the lunch program. Alice Thomson, administrator of the UW Extension Nutritional Education Program for Racine and Kenosha counties, would like the district to offer free and cheap breakfasts. Research suggests that a lack of adequate food is linked to lower test scores, poor school achievement, increased absences, hyperactivity and anxiety.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/racine/aug04/251674.asp

15. Minnesota: Increase in Needy Strains Food Shelf

("Increase in needy complicates food shelf's job," Winona Daily News, August 13, 2004)

Demand at the Winona Volunteer Service's food shelf rose to 623 households during the month of July, a jump of 36 percent. Food shelves across the area usually run low on food during the summer months, but the spike in people needing help has strained the food shelf. "We have clients coming in saying, 'Where's the food? There's no food here,'" said director Sandra Burke. She also noted, "We're not experiencing this alone," because other area food pantries have been seeing an increase in demand as well. Underemployment, cutbacks in assisted housing funds, and rising energy and utility bills are causes of the rise in need, Burke said.

http://www.winonadailynews.com/articles/2004/08/13/news/00lead.txt