Hunger in the USA

[mrj]

We seem to be inundated with stories of ever more people going hungry in the USA. Implied is that it is through no fault of their own, which may well be the case for some, notably small children and those too ill to work, yet too 'wealthy' to have access to food programs (can that happen???).

Yet, I notice that any time the nearest 'big' city solicits more money to increase their 'feeding' effort, there are always more people who show up. Additionally, USDA spends no small sum ADVERTISING, ENTICING people to check to see if they qualify for food assistance!!!

Today, reading the Green Sheet, an Ag ad/news paper out of Aberdeen, SD, I learn that in 2008 USDA spent more than $62.5 BILLION on eighteen food and nutrition assistance programs! The population as of 2000 in the USA was 296,410,404 people according to the Rand McNally atlas.

How am I wrong in believing that figures out to be relatively close to 208 MILLION dollars spent per person in the USA just ATTEMPTING to feed those most in need??? Granted, it probably includes money spent on overseas aid, and who knows how many uncounted illegal 'immigrants' living in the USA, but given the limited amount of time I'm willing to spend on 'figuring' it, beyone a simple rounding of numbers and division, where did I go wrong?

And that USDA figure does not include amounts spent by truly charitable groups such as churches, and others who have privately funded 'food for the hungry' programs. And there seems to be no limit to the amounts of very low cost food available to the local 'food pantries' with at least some volunteer and private money for support.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to discern the true needs or how to assist those people?

mrj

 

[burnt]

Better check your math. Numbers are not my forte, but I come up with $208.00

 

[cedardell]

I was invited to serve on a committee to bring"more healthful food" to the Chicago school children. The organic green crowd wanted to upgrade them to a healthy vegitarian diet. Interestingly enough the veggie company was run by a sicilian who controls all the veggies in Chicago. All the Italian department heads were there. So I opted not to come anymore. They got the program through and now serve healthy food to the millions of kids in the district. And most of it goes into the garbage can as quoted by a news broadcast by a Chiago Station. My question is this. If they cheapened up the meals by substituting carrots for meat did they return the savings to the govt food program? Or did they simply pocket the difference in price between meat and carrots.

 

[Tex]

We seem to be inundated with stories of ever more people going hungry in the USA. Implied is that it is through no fault of their own, which may well be the case for some, notably small children and those too ill to work, yet too 'wealthy' to have access to food programs (can that happen???).

Yet, I notice that any time the nearest 'big' city solicits more money to increase their 'feeding' effort, there are always more people who show up. Additionally, USDA spends no small sum ADVERTISING, ENTICING people to check to see if they qualify for food assistance!!!

Today, reading the Green Sheet, an Ag ad/news paper out of Aberdeen, SD, I learn that in 2008 USDA spent more than $62.5 BILLION on eighteen food and nutrition assistance programs! The population as of 2000 in the USA was 296,410,404 people according to the Rand McNally atlas.

How am I wrong in believing that figures out to be relatively close to 208 MILLION dollars spent per person in the USA just ATTEMPTING to feed those most in need??? Granted, it probably includes money spent on overseas aid, and who knows how many uncounted illegal 'immigrants' living in the USA, but given the limited amount of time I'm willing to spend on 'figuring' it, beyone a simple rounding of numbers and division, where did I go wrong?

And that USDA figure does not include amounts spent by truly charitable groups such as churches, and others who have privately funded 'food for the hungry' programs. And there seems to be no limit to the amounts of very low cost food available to the local 'food pantries' with at least some volunteer and private money for support.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to discern the true needs or how to assist those people?

mrj

I don't know about that, mrj, but if you work at a food kitchen as I have before, they can only eat so much at one time even when hungry.

This is a distribution problem.

Tex

 

[mrj]

Finally getting back to less than essential things on the computer! My past ten days has included three funerals, cooking for a birthday one day, and cowboys another, with ten or more people each day. That is not so easy as it used to be! But will admit both days were very worthwhile, tho cooking is not a favorite task.

I do hesitate to post ANY numbers due to problems transposing numbers. Now, I find decimal points suffer the same fate in my hands!!! Sorry about that.

Never the less, the $208.00 number grows when one excludes the number of people who buy their own food, with their EARNED money.

Point: and this is reinforced by the post from 'cedardell', the more 'free' food (or anything else!) provided, the more people will demand.

Re. the point of 'up-grading' diets of 'poor' school children, back in the day when I sat in with the lone NCBA staff person representing a committee who couldn't get there during a blizzard in W,DC, Carol Tucker Foreman was insisting that along with the soy 'crumbles' she was subbing for hamburger, she needed to get more yogurt into their diets. When the dietician kindly suggested that the children most likely had never tasted yogurt and it is not easy to change their diets so dramatically, Ms. Foreman insisted that they would learn to appreciate the finer things in life and it would help them to work harder to be able to attain those things for their families in the future. Whether the lady believed what she was saying or not is impossible to know, but the arrogance she displayed was chilling! Fortunately, she did not succeed in her quest.......AT THAT TIME. Those type of ideas seem never to die.

BTW, my belief that the 'sicilian' control was on the east coast, and chicago was controlled by old time mobsters, modernized and 'up-dated' into the liberal politicians of these days.

mrj