News
Hunger In Black And White Study results: number seeking help is up by 84 percent
By John Burton
NEPTUNE - The number of people seeking assistance from food pantries supplied by the FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties has increased by 84 percent in the past four years. In 2005, 69,340 people sought assistance. In 2009, that number had risen to 127,500.
That is one of the startling facts that representatives of the food bank shared with the public last Thursday during a press conference at their headquarters on Highway 66 in Neptune. Officials from the food bank called the press conference last week to relay the local results of a national study on hunger commissioned by the nonprofit organization feeding America, which is the nation's gency food providers.
The study, Feeding America 2010, was conducted by the Princeton-based social policy research firm, Mathematica. According to FoodBank officials, It is the first research study to capture the significant connection between the recent economic downturn and an increased need for emergency food assistance.
"The results of this national study are staggering," said Barbara Scholz, director of advocacy for the FoodBank. According to the FoodBank, approximately 24,000 people receive emergency food assistance each week from a food pantry, soup kitchen or other agency served by the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
Twenty-two percent of those individuals had recently lost jobs and were not able to find work, a three-fold increase since 2005. Only six percent of households supplied by emergency food agencies reported that traditional welfare payments were he household's primary source of income.
Only 26 percent of clients in the two county area were receing food stamps, compared with 34 percent in the state and 41 percent in the nation.
Many client households reported having to make choices between paying for food or paying for rent, mortgage or utilitities.
"It's a lot of numbers," observed Susan M. Kelly, executive director for FoodBank, who asked those who review the report to "put a face on it."
"We're talking about real people with real struggles," she said.
About 77 percent of those seeking assistance are what Kelly and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) characterize as "food insecure" - meaning clients who at times lack access to sufficient food for themselves and their families.
In a 2005 study, the number of people characterized as "food insecure" was 68 percent.
The report also indicates that 37 percent of clients served by the food bank are suffering from "very low" food security, meaning that they have had to reduce their food intake due to poverty. Kelly said one in three of clients, "must choose between an everyday necessity or food."
About half of households surveyed report having a family member with unpaid medical bills, she said.
While the numbers are troubling, Kelly explained, it is important to remember, "Every number and every statistic is much more than that. Every number is a person, every statistic is a story." Lisa Pitz, program director for advocacy and outreach for the New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition, told of traveling around the state talking to those receiving assistance and those in need of it. "I have never heard the level of intensity of stories," that she now hears, she said.
Pitz talked about meeting Penny, a young, married mother of three. who had been diagnosed with brain cancer. And while she and her husband had health insurance, the provider refused to pay for her chemotherapy, deeming it experimental. Penny couldn't work and her husband was in danger of losing his job because of the amount of time he had taken off to help his family. The bills were extraordinary. "They literally had no money for food," and went to their local food pantry for help, Pitz said. Penny's was one of three stories Pitz told to illustrate the seriousness of the economic issues that families served by area food agencies are experiencing.
"For the three stories I told you today, there are thousands and thousands more out there."
The average income for their clients is $16,340 for a family of four, with at least one adult earning a paycheck; only about six percent collect government assistance, such as welfare, as their main source of income.
The report indicates 22 percent of client households lost jobs with the last year and were still unemployed, compared with six percent in 2005.
The major factor for many of these families, Kelly said, referring to the study data, is that the clients are having an increasingly difficult time paying for housing and utilities and being able to put food on the table.
The number of clients who reported being late with rent or mor tgage payments increased from 23 percent in 2005 to 35 percent in 2009, and more clients - 53 percent in 2009 as compared to 37 percent in 2005 - reported having to choose between buying food or paying utility bills. "It's a lot to think about," Kelly noted. "How do they make it? How do they do it?" As serious as the numbers are, food bank officials suspect that many people who need assistance don't seek it. The application process to qualify for food stamps can be lengthy and complicated, Kelly acknowledged. Senator Jennifer Beck (R- 12) said there some first time pantry users don't formally apply for assistance, "because of pride."
"So many people who are coming to the food pantry are coming for the first time," Pitz said. "Some of the people coming used to be donors." Unemployment in New Jersey remains at about 10.1 percent, the highest it has been in over 30 years, Kelly noted.
"These numbers, unfortunately, tell us what we hear too often every time we pick up the phone," said Neptune Township Committeeman J. Randy Bishop. "I'm seeing foreclosures of people who have worked all of their lives," and find themselves losing their homes, "through no fault of their own."
Beck said current data indicates one in 55 New Jersey homes are in foreclosure. The "Feeding America 2010" survey included 396 clients in Monmouth and Ocean counties, 1,146 in New Jersey and 61,000 around the country. "We knew there was hunger. We know there was hunger," Kelly observed. "But until we got this report we didn't know the width and breath of it."
Beck assured Kelly and other food bank officials that Gov. Chris Christie would receive a copy of the report. The FoodBank last year distributed more than 6.7 millions pounds of food to approximately 250 soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters and other facilities in Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
A summary of the local findings can be found on the web at www.foodbankmoc. org. The full national report is available on the Feeding America Website at HungerinAmerica2010.
