Hunger, Poverty, And Poverty

Fortunately there are programs that assist families in crisis and can help to feed the children of the United States; however the number of hungry children is growing. Child hunger in the United States has been described as an increasingly complex problem and has been called the “silent epidemic.” (Goldstein, 2009)

Hunger in America can be hard to recognize. With how the economy is now, the effects of hunger are more severe. Many Americans are relying on food stamps and private organizations to help with this crisis. Millions in this nation are currently suffering from hunger in America. Half of that being from job loss. More than 12,000,000 children suffer from food insecure hunger because of limited or uncertain access to nutritious food. About 900,000 are hungry in the three- country Detroit metropolitan area alone. The hardest hits are the elderly, the unemployed, immigrants, and the mentally and physically impaired.

These programs may include Welfare, food stamps (SNAP), and government housing projects. According to the authors, the results showed from the analysis of how many families are on food stamps is, in 2011 over 1.5 million households with about 3 million children were surviving on less than $2.00 a day, including a family member in the work force (Edin, Shaefer, 2016). It is amazing that these families are living on so little when on when many people spend more than that before they go to school, or work. For example, grabbing a quick breakfast before work can cost almost $7.00. The authors noted that they researched about a total of 18 families, but only 8 total are featured in the book.

It was difficult to read that countless millions of federal dollars and many of our country's most successful efforts to halt the spread of childhood hunger and starvation have recently been withdrawn. And as a result, this problem of childhood hunger is not getting better but is actually getting worse. The most recent estimates compiled by the USDA in 1999 indicate that 36.2 million Americans live in food-insecure households, which means that their access to adequate and safe food is limited or uncertain. This too is very disturbing information.

Imagine your stomach growling, a feeling of emptiness, fatigue, and an inability to concentrate. Most people would associate these feelings with hunger and eat. Unfortunately, many Americans do not have the luxury of eating because of living in poverty. According to the Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of people living in poverty rose from 31.6 million in 2000 to 36.5 million in 2006. The number of people living in households facing food insecurity rose from 31 million in 1999 to 35.5 million in 2006. More than 12 million of the people living in food insecure households were children (Labue, 2009). Food America (2017) reports:

This, however, is not true for the rest of the year. Many parents may send their children to places such as day camps, school programs, or other services that also serve food, but many parents can’t afford food at home. The main reason for this lack of food is quite simple: the parents lack food because they lack income. This is shown in the text when it says, “The people who run food banks report that most of their clients are minimum-wage workers who can’t afford enough to eat on their salaries.” People lack food because they don’t have the money to get it. Many people do not see this, so it is a difficult thing to stop, but their are several ways this can be

Living in America, citizens should be well aware of the poverty issues that strike the country everyday. With the poverty rates increasing, Americans are pleading the government for aid in providing food and shelter for their families. In “Poverty in America: Why Can’t We End It,” author Peter Edelman, asserts that poverty can be fixed if the people have interest to do so. He includes statistics and reasons that explain the rise of poverty in America and possible solutions to the problem of poverty. Edelman stated that although the numbers of poverty have declined, there are still 15 million more people who are poor today. The government has also taken action to decrease the numbers of citizens in need of aid and keep 40 million people out of poverty by giving: Social Security, food stamps, cash assistance and programs. The author explains that even though there are still individuals who need aid, the numbers would have been double without government assistance. Edelman

Families that struggle to provide a meal for their family depend on food banks to get food for their family .The essay state “And some kids don’t get enough to eat, no matter what people want to tell themselves.”(Page-223) Many kids would be happy

In studies reviewed by James Levine, over 3,000 US counties were observed. He found that 43% of households that are living under the poverty line ($21,756) are living with food insecurity. In accordance to the 15.1% of Americans living in poverty, 14% of the counties reviewed have more than 1 in 5 individuals use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The service of the program in the counties correlates with the county-wide poverty rates (Levine 2667).

America, known for its economic success, livestocks, and some of the world’s most fortunate people, still leaves us pondering with one question: who does such a vast amount of our population go hungry? Exploring hunger in parts of the United States, it all comes back to the same statistics: one-sixth of American’s don’t have enough to eat. In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where, sometime during the previous year, people didn’t have enough food to eat. By whatever name, the number of people going hungry has grown dramatically in the U.S., increasing to 48 million by 2012. This is a fivefold jump since the late 1960s, including an increase of 57 percent since the late 1990s.

Reports from Feeding America, 42 million americans go hungry every night(CNBC). Nearly 1 in 7 Americans go to bed hungry at night. Also with 15.8 million U.S households didn’t have food to eat at some point. Last year the government handed out $74 billion in food-assistance benefits about double the level of 2008(CNBC). As of 2016, there were 95 million americans without a job in the workforce(CNBC). Over 20 million children in the U.S will have received the supplemental nutritional benefits also known as food stamps. With new restrictions on food-stamp eligibility, in the form of work requirements, mandatory drug testing, and so on. It’s ironic the world's “richest” country has nearly 1 in every 7 americans going to bed hungry. With all of the food this country prepares through schools, restaurants or even at home think about the amount of food being wasted and thrown away throughout only half of the

In America, many families rely on welfare, food banks, or reduced lunches to feed their families. “Most clients are minimum-wage workers who can’t afford enough to eat on their salaries” the people who run the food banks say. During the summer

I was in fifth grade when one of my friends began showing up less and less. When I heard that she kept getting suspended for stealing food from other student’s lunch boxes, I did not think much of it. Now I realize, that she was experiencing poverty. Thirteen million children in America, live in a household without consistent access to enough food “Hunger Devastates Children (2010).” The most common reason of why children go hungry is due to the fact that their families can’t afford food. Food is a valuable asset to a child’s day. Giving children food is taking away their pain of hunger, and saving their family from worrying to having bread on the table, with their nutritious breakfast, healthy summer meals, and their lesson to their families on how to cook affordable meals “No Kid Hungry (2017).” The “No Kid Hungry” campaign is incredibly effective at ending childhood hunger by engaging the public to make it a priority, working to shine on the issue, and mobilizing a strong movement of individuals.

Believe it or not over 20 million children receive free or reduced price lunch each day at school in America. Less than half of them get breakfast, and only 10% have access to summer meal sites. Yes, even in America children and adults likewise have a limited food source or are starving. America has an abundance of food and every year 40% of the food in the USA is thrown out, that includes good food that could have been shared or donated. All this excess uneaten food could have fed at least 25 million Americans. As proud Americans we should work to decrease the amount of food wasted, and the amount of children and adults that go hungry each day.

Many Americans have debated the connection shared between poverty and welfare for years; for the most part, there are two opposing sides to this debate. On one side of the argument, people who lean more to the right in terms of political thinking seem to believe that government assistance will provide a certain comfort for impoverished families, a safety net which can potentially promote laziness and a lack of motivation to rise above the poverty line. On the other hand, people who lean more to the political left have claimed that providing comfort and sustainability to families in need is the whole purpose behind having welfare programs in the first place, and lifting some of the burden from the shoulders of impoverished individuals will not necessarily promote laziness. While the effects of welfare on poverty remain a contentious topic, evidence from both sides of the debate can be scrutinized to better gain an understanding of what the truth may really look like.