Increasing hunger in our midst should prod our conscience
Posted 02/04/09
Increasing hunger in our midst should prod our consciences
The holidays may be over, but the hunger lingers on.
“I wish I could tell you that we have closed the hunger gap,” writes Kitty Schaller, executive director of MANNA FoodBank, “However, our facts tell us a different story – one of continuing and even desperate hunger.” MANNA provides food to 331 agencies across Western North Carolina from warehouses in Asheville and Franklin.
Hunger is nothing new to the mountains. “In 2005 there were 115,000 … people who received food from emergency food providers,” according to Sen. John Snow, D-Murphy. “Of these 115,000 people, 36,000 of them were children – over 30 percent.”
The poverty rate ranges from 9.5 percent in Henderson and Transylvania counties up to 20.9 in Swain, according to MANNA. And that was before the recession. In December, Western North Carolina’s unemployment rate had risen to 8.1 percent, nearly double the rate of a year previously.
While urban counties such as Buncombe (6.3 percent unemployed) have been hard-hit, the effects are especially devastating in rural counties.
Six rural western counties – Cherokee, Graham, McDowell, Rutherford, Swain and Yancey – had rates in excess of 10 percent.
More than 75 percent of the manufacturing jobs lost last year were in rural counties, according to Billy Ray Hall, executive director of the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center. That’s 12,700 fewer people in what are generally better-paying jobs. Some may have taken lower-paying work, but many have no job at all.
Homelessness, by contrast, is more common in urban counties, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. A year ago there were 11,000 homeless people in North Carolina, a number that almost certainly has risen since.
Durham Urban Ministries Director Peter Donlon says he has seen a 40 percent increase in the number of women and children needing a place to sleep.
Hunger is particularly harmful when the hungry are children. “The effects of hunger on a child can be devastating,” Snow said. “Hunger can stunt physical growth, hinder brain development and often impedes social maturity.”
What we can do
So what can the average person do? Two things, according to MANNA. First, urge Congress to increase food stamp benefits from $1 per day and increase funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP). While MANNA gets 70 percent of its stock from food companies, some comes from EFAP.
You can contact Rep. Heath Shuler, D-Waynesville, at 202-225-6401 in Washington or 828-252-6401 in Asheville, or online at www.shuler, house.gov. Sen. Richard Burr, R, is available at 202-224-3154 in Washington or 800-685-8916 in Winston-Salem, or online at www.burr.senate.gov. Sen. Kay Hagan, D, can be reached at 202-224-6342 in Washington or 919-856-4630 in Raleigh or online at www.hagan.senate.gov.
Second, if you have time or money to donate, contact MANNA at 627 Swannanoa River Road, Asheville 28805-2445, phone 828-299-3663, or 509 Depot St. Franklin 28734, phone 828-369-2550.
Schaller put the case for action as dramatically as she could be saying, “You, quite literally, will save lives.”
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