Hunger in America: Difficult Decisions

[rhett o rick]

Hunger in America: Difficult Decisions
By: Katharine Ryan

DIFFICULT DECISIONS: FOOD BANK CLIENTS ARE TENACIOUS.

70% USE 3 OR MORE COPING STRATEGIES IN THEIR STRUGGLE TO MAKE ENDS MEET.

COPING STRATEGIES FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS USE WHEN LIFE GETS HARD

More than 3 out of 4 households had to decide between paying their utility bill and buying food – they face similar decisions about paying for housing and transportation.

Despite these challenges, clients are finding creative ways to help keep their families above water. They use a number of coping strategies including:

57% receive help from friends and family

89% purchase unhealthy food because it is more affordable

36% grow their own food

https://foodlifeline.org/blog/201409/03-hunger-america-difficult-decisions

Please support your local food bank.

[FSogol]

1. K & R.

Don't just help at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is a real problem all year long.

[Autumn]

2. We could wipe out those numbers easily. Give what we spend on these politicians wars

to the people who need it by creating a better safety net. No one in this country should have to chose between food and basic necessities.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. And it's really hard for people who have never had to make those decisions to imagine how it feels.

You have X amount of dollars and 3 or 4 places that it needs to be spent. There's never enough to go around so every week it's the same thing. There is never a sense of financial security because every dollar is spent long before you get your paycheck and it's constantly on your mind who gets paid first and who has to wait and will you have enough groceries to last until payday.

[Dont call me Shirley]

6. Yup. It's economic/resource warfare.

We are all born onto this earth. We are all equally deserving of the resources of this world.

No one person deserves to have more than any other. There is no one person more special than any other.

To rape and pillage the earth to have more than another is criminal.

To deny a person their basic needs is criminal.

[justabob]

9. I call it juggling hand grenades

There is never enough to go around and you are always robbing peter to pay paul, etc. Most of the time it is do-able, and you can keep it going, it sucks and it is relentless, but it is possible. Then some little (or big) thing happens and upsets the rhythm and those grenades drop, and you go from bad to crisis until you have enough money to start juggling again. Sigh. Too many people live this way.

[Laelth]

4. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[swilton]

8. Growing one's own food

is positive - for the growers (physically and socially) and for the local economy....Many of the 36% identified (ad doesn't specify) I would argue do so not because of 'difficult' economic choices but as an initiative toward owning their own food system.

[rhett o rick]

10. I would like to learn more about this statistic. It's hard to believe from my limited experience.

It's extremely difficult in cities where land is a premium and in many locations the weather isn't very helpful. Our foodbank gives out five gallon buckets in the spring with soil and a few vegetables like radishes, onions, garlic, and a few carrots. But this is hardly "growing your own food".

[theHandpuppet]

12. Sounds like container gardening would be an option for you

I grow quite a bit of food in containers and you can even grow tomatoes and potatoes in larger containers. Pole beans do very well if you give them something to climb on.

[theHandpuppet]

11. Plant food, not ornamentals!

That includes dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees rather than decorative trees. Berry-producing shrubs rather than flowering decorations. Food banks would be happy for the fresh fruit.