Chapter two of Sweet Charity looks at who is hungry and why food pantries and soup kitchens are used so much. In general, poverty leads to hunger. Those in single-parent households, children, women, minorities, and the elderly are the most likely to be hungry. It is not surprising given that poverty is linked with hunger, because the poverty line is based on households’ ability to purchase enough nutritiously adequate food with 1/3 of its income. However, the poverty line has become more and more of an unrealistic measurement. Proportionally, people are spending less on food, because standards of living have risen in other areas. More is being spent on rent, utilities, transportation, etc. So, those who are actually below the poverty line are poorer then ever. While they can get food for free, they can’t get other things like oil for free, so more pressure is put on soup kitchens, which normally set their eligibility at 150-185% of poverty income. People are hungry and go to food pantries for many reasons including unemployment (long or short term), inadequate salaries, or only having seasonal work. Also, rent and utilities used to make up about 1/3 of expenses, but the costs have risen. With so much being spent on accommodations, there is significantly less to spend on food. Because of such high costs or other things like a fire or mental illness, many people become homeless and being hungry normally follows. Public assistance for the poor has also decreased, putting more pressure on food pantries and soup kitchens. Food stamps were created to make up the difference between a households income and the cost of food. Some people were too proud or unaware of how the program worked, but often people were wrongly denied access or did receive them, but it still wasn’t enough.
It shocked me how small that amount of money that people at the poverty line may have to spend on food. About 15 years ago, the amount spent on each meal at the poverty line was $1.19. I just spent more than that on a cup of coffee. Given how little so many people have to spend on food, it makes sense that so many people are forced to turn to food pantries or soup kitchens. Given that poverty is linked to hunger is seems that the best and most comprehensive way to decrease the number of hungry people is to decrease the number of poor people, but this is no easy task.
What can be done to reduce the number of hungry people in the US?
Are food pantries and soup kitchens the best way to feed the hungry?
Should we try to develop a new way to calculate the poverty line?
I think the best way to feed the hungry is to enable them to feed themselves. The hand outs are nice, but can be humiliating and taken advantage of. Therefore a program such as government funded CSA's allows for the community to come together and provides the hungry with the resources to make their own healthy food. We must not hand feed the people, but instead give them the tools to feed themselves.
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