Elders and Hunger in America

Thank you.

You are assuming Paul Ryan has a mind? His proposed cuts to SNAP is covert racism as many whites think that the black community are the recipients of 'welfare'. While this is not true, the ones Ryan is trying to reach do believe this and he is pandering to their prejudice.

I don't have much spare change to donate, but what I do have goes to the Food Bank. I read that donations are always down during an election year (people transfer their donations to the candidates) so It is doubly important to donate to your local food bank now.

Even reading the title of this post is distressing let alone the stats behind it. I find this profoundly disturbing. The boomers are a large voting block, let's hope we vote our own and our peers interests.

I have been told by the director of our largest local food pantry in my community, that it is far better to donate directly to the pantry, rather than the regional food bank. Evidently, the amount of the donation that goes directly toward food provision is much greater that way. I am hoping that in the near future, people can find a way to band together to provide themselves more and better nutrition, perhaps from the production of some of that food, to its preparation. Sort of like coops for produce and organic foods have done. This could ne much more efficient, and helpful to those with limited abilities to do some of the steps themselves, and people could contribute however they could. People living and doing replicative work in isolated homes and kitchens, each making multiple trips to the store each month, etc. is simply not working for many people as they age. We've talked a long time about paradigm shifts, perhaps it's time they actually begin to be made. We're going to have to do more towards saving ourselves, rather than thinking someone in government, regardless of the party, is going to take care of all this.

I'll eat anything without beans in it! I think Cathy has a great idea, but implementing it would be hard. In California, in my hippie days, we went around to grocery stores and produce warehouses to get free "limp" veggies to make a soup or stew for the "community" and we also took donations of canned goods and loaves of day-old bread and rolls. We fed hundreds of people. Just good, wholesome meat (if we could get it), veggies, and bread. Back then I had the energy to work at something like that, but I doubt I could do it today...

Yes Crabby, Paul Ryan has a mind and it's focussed exclusively on the elections and his role in the Romney administration where he sees himself as the power behind the throne , Romney's own Svengali or Richelieu.
Thanks to Bill Clinton, now there's even a better chance that Ryan will never have the opportunity of snatching the bread out of the hands of the hungry but it ain't over til it's over.

Been there; done that; still there sometimes; shredded the T-shirt. I can't go stand in line. Mostly, I manage just fine.

When policy is formulated ala Ryan, or business profits made ala Romney, without consideration for the human factor -- people -- then we know how r&r think -- though they may well make exceptions for their families and cohorts.

I am progressive by nature, but are we talking about "food they wanted" or "food they needed" in order to just not feel hungry? And what exactly is the "threat of hunger"? Seriously, with the majority of Americans being classified as overweight or obese, especially older Americans, is there really "hunger in America"? Ask yourself, how many people do you know which are actually underweight, or in other words, skinny due to lack of adequate food? I would dare to say the most frequent answer would be virtually none. But that can be confined to only people you know. BTW, I work in health care. I personally have been poor and was never able to afford being fat or even over weight. There are so many things nowadays that one can give up in order to be able to afford nutritious food, including cell phones, cable TV, in internet access, etc. Please explain to me who theses "hungry" people are as honestly don't see them, and I constantly deal with people in all income brackets in my work.

Then you must not live in one of the states indicated Thera. I don't either- but my son does. If there is not meat, then fat in beans fill the void.
If you work in health care, you would know that stress adds weigh to the most difficult parts of the body - esp if you are genetically predestined.
I am glad you can stay skinny while being poor. You were probably taught to cook "correctly" and choose wisely. I am teaching a class right now to teens on just such things. I have already heard back from one mom how her teen has taken over the kitchen. It is all about availability and education in my book.

"Wants" and "needs" are different, but the quote was that these families

"...struggled for the food they needed"

...unless Thera is questioning whether or not the food was truly needed, based on her having not seen any undernourished people, and being aware that we have many obese people in our culture.

I work in health care, too, though not in the dietetic area, but Thea must surely realize people can get fat from eating improperly because they don't have access or can't afford the healthy foods the human body requires -- so they try to stop the hunger feelings with what they can get -- doesn't mean they're without need for food -- the healthy food.

I frequently see TV interviews of children, who are certainly not obese, who talk of going off to school with no breakfast, or going to bed hungry at night -- sometimes their parents are without jobs, sometimes housing. That's partly why public schools often offer free meals to select students.

I can well imagine it's possible there are many people scattered about the country, and in the states named who may not even be seen by health services people, but that doesn't mean these people don't exist.

No matter where anyone works, I think there are virtual 'worlds' of people in geographic area pockets that most of us never see.

Dear Janette: Thanks for your thoughtful reply. Actually, I do live in one of the states listed- Alabama. I realize my previous post may be taken as rather callous and self-righteous, but I see the effects of overweight/obesity everyday in my work and it troubles me. The thing that really has me so riled up is the methodology of the Gallup poll, and their criteria for “hunger”. Maybe, in my own way, I am turning into a crabby old lady myself. To quote from the website for the poll, “In 15 states, at least one in five Americans say they struggled to afford the food they needed at least once during the past 12 months”. Once in the past 12 months? That’s a pretty low criteria for being included in the ranks of folks “unable to afford food”. I don’t think it’s a useful measure at all. In the poll's survey methods, it is stated that question wording can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls. Perhaps a more telling gauge of true hunger would be to ask respondents if they or any members of their families had lost a significant amount of weight in the last 12 months due to lack of ability to afford food. Those would be people we should be worried about and help feed. I still believe one cannot be overweight or obese and truly be poor/financially strapped. In my experience, the two will always be mutually exclusive.

Dear Janette: One more thing. I applaud your efforts on food/cooking education as you are so right about that. Here’s a link to an interesting article in the NYT that addresses the idea of highly processed junk food being cheaper than real food/home prepared meals and the importance of education and cultural change to enable people to make good choices about what they eat.