The Recession Bread Lines Are Forming in Mar-a-Lago's Shadow
The Recession Bread Lines Are Forming in Mar-a-Lagos Shadow
In Palm Beach a diner races to feed laid off workers. Food banks and pantries see surge in demand and long-term need.
By Shawn Donnan and Reade Pickert
April 4, 2020, 7:00 AM EDT
Though its just a four-minute drive across the lagoon from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trumps private club, and ten minutes from the Palm Beach outposts of Chanel and Louis Vuitton, Howleys diner has become an emblem of Americas stark new economic reality.
With more than 10 million people across the nation suddenly unemployed, bread lines are forming in the shadows of privileged enclaves like this one in Florida.
For the past two weeks, the kitchen staff at Howleys has been cooking up free mealsthe other day it was smoked barbecue chicken with rice and beans, and saladfor thousands of laid off workers from Palm Beachs shuttered restaurants and resorts. The rows of brown-bag lunches and dinners are an early warning that the countrys income gap is about to be wrenched wider as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, and the deep recession it has brought with it.
Even as much of America is fretting about supermarket shelves depleted of their favorite cereal brands and toilet paper or the logistics of curbside pickup from favorite restaurants, a brutal new hunger crisis is emerging among laid-off workers that has begun to overwhelm the infrastructure that normally takes care of the needy.
Americas Hunger Problem
More than 1 in 8 people in over half of U.S. counties dont have adequate food
Source: Bloomberg analysis of data from Feeding America 2019.
Were seeing about a 650% increase in our request for support, said Sari Vatske, executive vice president of Feeding South Florida, which before the pandemic was already serving more than 700,000 people a year in four counties including Palm Beach County. The growth is exponential.
The surge in demand is not just in Palm Beach. Food banks around the world have recorded increases in requests for assistance as government-ordered lockdowns have started to bite, prompting employers to lay off staff.
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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-04/the-recession-bread-lines-are-forming-in-mar-a-lago-s-shadow?fbclid=IwAR0JMHkQuFt5ggYj_x5lLOQ4nvaI3EN2VWqwR_9QHGammMmkBieFXrYf7NY