More Than 13 Million Children Are At Risk of Hunger

[Bob Jenkins]

http://www.commondreams.org/scriptfi...03/1125-11.htm

More Than 13 Million Children Are At Risk of Hunger as America Prepares for Thanksgiving Feast

WASHINGTON - November 25 - As Americans across the country plan their Thanksgiving feasts, 13.1 million children are living in households that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) considers "food insecure," the Children's Defense Fund reported today. The USDA classification, based on 2002 figures, means those families do not have "access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members." These households are considered to be at high risk of hunger.
The 13.1 million children live in 6.4 million food insecure households. In 265,000 of those households, one or more children went hungry last year. In another 1.2 million homes, a parent or other adult went hungry. And 4.9 million households with children were "food insecure without hunger." That means they teetered on the edge of hunger, occasionally being forced to skip meals or cut back on buying healthy food.

"In many homes struggling to put food on the table, children are fed first," said Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman. "While that sacrifice may spare the child from hunger, the whole family suffers from the strain and insecurity of not knowing where the next meal is coming from."

Compared with childless households, households with children suffer double the chances of food insecurity (16.5 percent compared with 8.1 percent), according to the USDA.

Families at risk of hunger have few options. Charitable help is stretched thin by rising demand, while government food assistance rarely lasts through the month. The average food stamp allotment is about 90 cents per person per meal, which is not enough to purchase healthy and balanced meals.

"Thanksgiving is a time when many Americans reach out to help families in need," said Edelman. "As a nation we have much to be thankful for, but many families are suffering this holiday from joblessness and poverty, and more than 13 million children are at risk of hunger. We are not a selfish people, yet the nation's policy priorities this past year should give us pause. Decisions made by our leaders in Washington to enact lavish tax cuts of $93,500 per millionaire, while budget-strapped states slash funding for schools, child care, and emergency cash assistance, counteract the generous giving of individual Americans."

[Queen]

That is so horrible! Always the children who suffer first from this. I could cry for these poor children.

I hope that everybody gives something (a nice) dish to their poor families in the neighborhood.........or to homeless people. People who suffer and are lonely with the holidays. Sharing is so much more fun and makes a holiday so pretty for those in need...

Thanks for sharing this Bob. It surprises me that on this sitesite nobody has reacted yet to this, because I know you care....

Lots of love and I wish sunshine on the road of life of all human kind,
Queen

[Undomiel]

Today @ 07:51 AM post located here
Queen:

It surprises me that on a Christian site nobody has reacted yet to this........

Lots of love and I wish sunshine on the road of life of all human kind,
Queen

Well for gads sakes, I just saw it! Crimminey. Can't even go away from the keyboard long enough to cook for my family before I find I'm being accused of not caring about starving people! GIVE IT A REST, QUEEN! WE CARE!

Provide food and medicine for kids
http://www.thechildhealthsite.com/cg...s/CTDSites.woa

Save the Rainforest
http://www.therainforestsite.com/cgi...jects/CTDSites

Feed Starving People
http://www.thehungersite.com/cgi-bin...s/CTDSites.woa

Animal Rescue
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/c...s/CTDSites.woa

Free Mammograms
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/c...s/CTDSites.woa

[bar Jonah]

Undomiel listed a URL for the HungerSite.com . That site is highly awesome. (And I really don't care if they are liberal and have almost nothing but banners from liberals and earth-loving nuts.)

The premise of the site is brilliant. Just by visiting and clicking on a button, you cause a bunch of private businesses to pay for food for the hungry. In return, you see some small (non-pop-up) banners come up on the screen. No obligation to click on any of them. No forms to fill out; no personal information.

Extremely easy and totally free. I visit HungerSite.com every day. It's part of my morning routine.

Definitely check it out, folks!


On another note, however... please note this story is not specifically about kids who are going hungry. It's about kids who are not going hungry but who are "at risk" of hunger, whatever that means. Heck, more than half the families in the U.S. are "at risk" to some degree! Arguably all of them! Life is risk! Sheesh.

[Undomiel]

Today @ 08:19 AM post located here
RightIdea:

Undomiel listed a URL for the HungerSite.com . That site is highly awesome. (And I really don't care if they are liberal and have almost nothing but banners from liberals and earth-loving nuts.)

The premise of the site is brilliant. Just by visiting and clicking on a button, you cause a bunch of private businesses to pay for food for the hungry. In return, you see some small (non-pop-up) banners come up on the screen. No obligation to click on any of them. No forms to fill out; no personal information.

Extremely easy and totally free. I visit HungerSite.com every day. It's part of my morning routine.

Definitely check it out, folks!

That's what I thought too. A brilliant idea. I love the fact I can save square footage of Rainforest by simply clicking on some links, feed starving people, give some impoverished woman a mammogram, and help kids who are hungry and need medicine and feed an animal in an animal shelter a bowl of food. It's an amazingly good idea where everyone comes out a winner, or at least you hope so.

[Queen]

Oops......I just said it surprised me.......Hmm, let me put it differently; Because people here seem to care and yet there was no reaction......it felt strange to see no reaction.....Reading it back I just said it rude. Carring has nothing to do with religion of course......*slapping forehead*

sorry, I know you care......



Lots of love and sunshine,
Queen

[Undomiel]

Today @ 08:29 AM post located here
Queen:

Oops......I just said it surprised me.......Hmm, let me put it differently; Because people here seem to care and yet there was no reaction......it felt strange to see no reaction.....Reading it back I just said it rude. Carring has nothing to do with religion of course......*slapping forehead*

sorry, I know you care......



Lots of love and sunshine,
Queen

:tinker: aww, thanks for clearing that up. you had me worried that you'd already written us all off. i was like, noooooooooo, not queen. i'm glad it was just a matter of semantics . :hearts: :hotdog: :hungry: happy thanksgiving, queen. do you live in america? at one point i thought you did and then i was under the impression you were in holland?

[Undomiel]

Bumping it. :birds:

[Solly]

Queen is in Holland.

And i'll clikck the button even if it is for America.

Hunger in America?? What are the demographics of that??

[Queen]

Yep, I am in Holland......

[Rahab]

Many people are busy around Thanksgiving..... maybe some of us could not dedicate as much time to posting on the forum as we would normaly do. We gather with friends, family and sometime even work up to the last minute prior to the "feast day". So I would not be too concerned if this thread was not getting the attention it deserves.
To let you know, some local ministries remain focused on feeding the poor.... The Metropolitan Ministries of Tampa for example baked 250 turkeys over 3 days to feed needy folks between 11am and 2 pm and then deliver meals to home bound folks in the afternoon. They operate all year long and provide food to homeless folks on a daily basis. This year, local schools asked kids to make bake sales to raise funds for them. My son was all "tickled" to be a tiny part of that large humanitarian enterprise.
I think that American people do care about the hunger problem. Everwhere we have seen grocery stores pre packing gift baskets or bags to be purchased and donated to local charities. The stores themselves deliver them to the charities. Everyone is given opportunities to help.

I also know that most families have thought of inviting a lonely co worker or friend.

Whether it be secular or religious, the awareness is there among Americans. I really think that mankind is not as indifferent as it may appear.