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Diaper Drive
January is diaper drive month at SECOM. We need to collect 54,750 diapers in either size 4 or size 5. It sounds like a lot, but think of it this way. It is only enough for 50 children to have 3 diapers a day for a year. It is about 475 boxes.
Think also of how it will take the strain off a familiy's budget and allow them to buy needed food items.
If you can help, please call Robert at 616.452.7684. Thank you for getting involved.
Kent County Food Pantries in Need of Providers
See WZZM article at: http://on.wzzm.com/sMQNeZ
Spending
on Food by Tens of Millions of Americans Drops to Unhealthy Level
New FRAC
Analysis Finds Hispanics, African Americans Especially Hard
Hit
Washington, D.C. – December 8, 2011 – A
new analysis of federal data (pdf) by the Food Research and Action Center
(FRAC) finds that more and more Americans have been losing the struggle to
afford an adequate and healthy diet. Food spending by the average household fell
dramatically over the past decade, with particularly dramatic drops in 2000-2002
and 2006-2010.
FRAC analyzed U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) annual
reports that compare the amount of households’ median spending on food to the
amount of the Thrifty Food Plan – the level the government defines as needed for
a bare bones diet on an emergency basis, albeit a level that many experts
consider to be inadequate for most families to obtain a healthy diet. The FRAC
analysis found that:
• Spending on food by the median household fell from 1.36 times the Thrifty Food Plan level in 2000
to 1.19 times that level in 2010.
• By 2010 median spending
on food by Black households and Hispanic households had fallen to
the point where it was only a tiny bit above (101 percent for Black households)
or was actually below (96 percent for Hispanic households) the bare bones
Thrifty level.
• Spending by households with incomes
less than 185 percent of the poverty level fell from 106 percent of the
thrifty level in 2000 to 95 percent in 2010.
This dramatically reduced
spending on food would not be so problematic if households were still spending
amounts adequate to obtain a healthy diet. FRAC’s analysis shows that they are
not: indeed, the median spending of all households has fallen below the amount
of the government’s Low-Cost Food Plan, which is a much more realistic measure
of spending to support health and well-being.
“In short, tens of millions
of households are failing to attain an adequate standard for food purchasing,”
said FRAC President Jim Weill. “When families don’t have enough resources to
purchase an adequate diet, it leads to increased hunger and damages health,
mental health, family cohesion, early child development, learning, and
productivity at work. Today’s inability to afford enough food will lead to
widespread harm to the nation’s children and adults, its schools and its
workplaces, and its economy unless this trend is reversed.”
This squeeze
on food spending, especially among lower-income groups, can be largely
attributed to a decade of falling incomes and rising housing costs. The only
positive note was that Congress in early 2009 enacted a boost in food stamp
(“SNAP”) payments. FRAC attributes the small improvement in the food spending
ratio from 2008 to 2009 to this boost in SNAP benefit levels, as well as a
temporary slowdown in food inflation.
“Even a modest improvement in SNAP
benefit levels made a difference for struggling households by slightly
increasing their purchasing power,” said Weill. “Several proposals to cut or
limit SNAP have been introduced in Congress, and this analysis underscores just
how harmful those cuts would be. It also underscores the need for Congress to
act on the President’s commitment to forestall an actual cut in benefits
scheduled for 2013. As Congress heads into a new legislative session, it must
continue to protect and improve the nation’s safety net, including SNAP, and
focus on measures to rebuild the economy.”
Celebrating 30 years of serving 1981 - 2011
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