Module 5 Paragraph Summary

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)

First of all, having food on the table is not their only problem. Most struggle paying their bills and are not able to afford many necessities for their children. Some don’t have a place to stay. Think about the kids that don’t have a place to go to after school. There more worried about food and shelter than getting an A on their tests. Not having enough food can have negative effects on the body over a long period of time. This all has a detrimental effect on the whole family, more importantly on the child and their future. Since the child isn’t given what it needs to prosper and thrive in society, then he/she will turn like their parents. This is an endless cycle. In the United States, your parent’s social class is extremely important. It determines the child’s access to “certain educational, occupational, and residential opportunities” (Newman). Children that have wealthy parents usually go to better schools and have better job opportunities than kids who have poor parents. I can only imagine what people who are on food stamps go through. Luckily, I have never been on food stamps. I live in my parent’s house and everything was given to me. Bills are paid and I have food on the table every night. Sometimes we even get take out. Now I know that having take out is a luxury for some. I wouldn’t want my kids to go through this. It

The argument was formulated from two stories in the documentary that are very eye opening. The first story is of Barbie, an unemployed single mother from Philadelphia, who struggles to feed both of her children on food stamps. Often times Barbie would skip meals to make sure her children have enough to eat. Unfortunately, she would occasionally have to send her children to bed on an empty stomach simply because she ran out of food stamps. The second story that supports the argument is that of Tremonica. She is a 2nd grader from Mississippi whose health is put at risk because of the amount of processed food she consumes because it’s cheaper than fruits and vegetables. Although it may not appear like Tremonica

In today’s society, the stigma around child poverty is related to homelessness. Poverty is the lack of support, goods, and money. As a matter of fact, many kids who partake in the 21% statistic from NCCP do live with parents who go to work and have a paying job. With that being said, the jobs that some of their parents have are unstable and their income is very low making it difficult for these children’s parents to make ends meet. This issue is transparent and many do not realize just how much we are surrounded by those who suffer from child poverty.

Thousands of Americans use some type of help from the government, whether it is finical aid or food stamps and more than half of those Americans have children that they are trying to feed but barely getting by. It must hurt those thousands of people prides that they can’t put food on the table to feed their own children by themselves without help from the government hoping that one day they can support them; but they do what they must do to provide for their families, they put their pride aside and their responsibility first. In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeanette’s parents Rose-Mary and Rex Walls have trouble doing this, they don’t accept hands outs or any form of charity because they think they can take care of their children by

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.

In the documentary “Poor Kids”, Frontline explores childhood poverty from the eyes of the children that are enduring the epidemic. Through interviews and observations, the children from these poor families tell their stories uncandid, honest and in their own words. The outcome is remarkably discerning, by taking viewers into their livelihoods and day to day experiences, and displaying their unfortunate lack of resources and hope. Every single day, huge numbers of American families get pulled out of the middle class and dumped into poverty. The amount of reliable, secure jobs continues to shrink, and families don’t have any way to pay their bills, causing them to lose electricity, water, and even their homes.

There are 50 million people who live in poverty in the U.S, today. There are more than 30 million children growing up in bad conditions. Due to lack of money some people are unable to afford food and shelter which result in homelessness. On a night in January 2014, 578,424 people were experiencing homelessness. These people were sleeping outside or in an emergency shelter because they couldn’t afford to pay for a place to stay and had no family that would let them stay over. Included in the 578,424 homeless people were war veterans, people with mental health issues, people whose families have thrown them out, and more. During the winter, many homeless people freeze to death because they don’t have the appropriate clothing for the low temperature. Today there are about 795 million people out of the 7.3 billion people in the world, suffering from chronic malnourishment. Over a thousand people go through their day without eating including men, women, and children. These people are too poor to afford food for themselves or their families; although there are food stamps and other services to provide to help these families, some don’t want to accept this help because they believe it is their job to provide for their

According to the USDA's Economic Research Service, the food-insecure are those families in America that at times didn't know whether they had or could find enough food to meet their needs. This was due to the lack of money or other resources, such as government assistance or community food banks (USDA ERS - Food Security in the U.S.). In it's most recent study, the Economic Research Service found that as of 2013, 80.5 percent of families in the U.S. were food secure, leavinf over 49 million people food-insecure (USDA ERS - Food Security in the U.S.). Of that 49 million, nearly 9 million children lived in food-insecure households (USDA ERS - Food Security in the U.S.).

This policy requires Food Assistance programs to be means-tested, which prevents anyone who does not pass those tests no assistance. Those people still may need that assistance but because they did not qualify, they would not receive any. Because the policy was constructed like this, it does not accurately benefit a household the way it intends to. The policy also requires states to authorize regular reportings of change that is done in households that are for the elderly or disabled, migrants or seasonal farmworkers, or homeless (congress.gov)”. These reportings are done to see if the family still needs the assistance and is also used to see whether or not there has been any changes in the household. Due to the history with the fraud, the current policy has become stricter on giving assistance in order to prevent similar situations. Though, because of those rules and regulations on the policy it has blocked households who are in need of the assistance and those

The face of poverty is changing in the United States. When someone mentions that a person is living in poverty, we are inclined to think of a bum living on the street, eating at shelters, and using whatever money they have for alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Usually we visualize this person as being a middle-aged male with drab clothing and a long beard. This description may have fit the average person living in poverty or on the street a few years ago, but it is no longer a correct generalization. Children are the face of poverty in 2015. These children have little chance to rise up out of the lifestyle they are born into. Many of these children are born to teenage girls. The economic states of these mothers and their lifestyles many times

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

“The agriculture Department estimated in 1999 that twelve million children were hungry or at risk of going hungry.” She proclaimed. The cause of that could be because parents who can’t afford or find service programs to park their vacationing children in front of the television, lock the door, and go to work hoping for

“Homeless The Motel Kids of Orange County”, this is a film by Alexandra Pelosi. This film is about well the homeless kids in Orange County. The film starts off with a short text stating, “These are some of the poorest kids living in one of the richest countries in the nation”. The film’s purpose is to show the viewers how adults struggle, those that lose their jobs or are working 2 jobs and overtime and can’t afford to live in an apartment or house and can’t afford to buy their children clothes and school supplies. For women this could be said to be feminization of poverty, were most are single moms with young children working 2 jobs or if they alone support the family. It’s opening the eyes to the public showing a true definition of the working poor. Meaning people who are working yet can’t make it. Then the video provides the conditions the children are put in and how they feel about it. It also shows the way kids’ and families live in a motel and go to school and what they go through each day.

Food insecurity is an issue faced by millions of Americans every day, and the biggest group affected by this are working families with children. Food insecurity is so big that the United States government have now recognized it and provided a definition for it. The United States government has defined food insecurity as a household level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food (USDA.gov). Food banks and anti-hunger advocates agree that some of the causes of food insecurity are stagnant wages, increase in housing costs, unemployment, and inflation of the cost of food. These factors and unemployment have cause food banks to see a change in the groups of people needing assistance. Doug O’Brien,