The facts on hunger??

[clayton58]

I just read again for the umpteenth time that 14.5% of U.S. faces chronic hunger, and even more don't make enough to feed their family day in and day out.  This according to USDA.  Yet I hear adds for a charity(don't remember the name)  that $1 will provide 7 meals, and the feeding america program where Monsanto matches farmers donations says $1 can feed 3 people.  We also have 48million people receiving SNAP benefits. 

To me the numbers don't add up.  Does anyone else see this?  Or am I missing something?  Can someone enlighten me??

[sw363535]

agree

The more government agencies we have manipulating the numbers, the less they will add up.

World health organization--------120 Americans died from "lack of food" in 2004.  in the relatively rare instances that it does occur, is not usually an indication of poverty but rather a variety of other social issues.  Starvation rates in the United States are generally not recorded due to the relative infrequency of the occurrence.

What our government is good at is redefining terms.  "face cronic Hunger" has its own "created for a purpose" definition.  One should never take data from an source whose job depends on that data.  There is no shame factor for a lie.  There is only "you repeat my lie and I will repeat yours"  to create new truth.

[Kay/NC]

When I see numbers, I tend to question them this way, too. When a term is used, I always want to know how it is defined.

SNAP gets traded off for cash for items like cigarettes, so someone in that household is only SO hungry. Free lunches at schools have morphed to free breakfasts, to even suppers in some places now. The EBTs can be used at places and in ways the program was never really intended to address.

WIC is more worthwhile to me, since it seems to call for more real foods, and addresses the developing body and mind at a very crucial time.

Commodities distributions at least provide more basic foodstuffs. I think people do face hunger, but the private sector does step up a lot, too. Those resources have been strapped during bad economic times.

It would probably make us angry to see what does get bought with a lot of benefit dollars.

[k-289]

Witnessing personally at a  metro mission might give one a slightly different slant ---

[Shaggy98]

Lots of kids at our small school that receive free lunches and free breakfasts. Some are obviously deserving, and some just make you scratch your head and wonder. It maybe the stereotype of the recipients of these free meals, but if your parents are driving relatively brand new vehicles, is there really a shortage of money under that roof, or is it just the knowledge of knowing how to play the system?

[sw363535]

k289's got a point and it reminds me of a quote from a professor I had---or should I say had me.  "The wealth of nations is visible when you compare their poor, not their rich."

IMO ---------- Since federal authority was accepted by local public schools, the major function is now child care,  rather than education.  I OBSERVE, that many adults find work easier than child care.  Parenting is real work and most jobs are not.  That has more to do with the food at school than poverty in our area.

Some parents with 3 kids and an i-phone ------------ might as well tether the three to a lamp post.  

How'd my mom raise 3 , a garden, an orchard, sew clothes, and run a grain truck without a cell phone.  If she had  one I might not be able to read.  Which brings us up to today's standards.

[k-289]

They probably read  rSw postings and think why not ---  

[Kay/NC]

Actually, the debt on thise nice cars may help the kids qualify for free or reduced price meals. I have heard social workers talk about this eligibility kind of thing.

It is a sort of negative incentivevto livevwithin your own means. A lot of what is wrong with America, IMHO.

[Artifice]

USDA food stamps has become politized  and want to make the Pubs  look bad, period.

2. “”Solutions become problems””, by FAR obesity has become the #I nutritional problem in the US,  replacing under nourishment in the 30s 40s.

We WAY  over consume calories.  Heaviness is in all socioeconomic classes but especially win the poorer 

[Kay/NC]

I totally agree with the point about the cell phone! I make it a point not to handle mine while our grandson is over.

We are so rarely " in the moment" in our lives.