I blogged a while back about the royal baby and the fact that thousands of people die daily from hunger in the world. Today is about hunger in America. I started volunteering at FISH food bank in Galesburg. It gives me a different perspective on the issue than I had a month ago. There were lots of things I was wrong about. I will acknowledge them as we go along today.
I wanted to think that the majority of those on food stamps were welfare queens who continue to have babies and scam the system. I was sure they had to be young and black and didn't want to work. I know that my few days at the food bank are not a complete sampling and in no way scientific results based on research. I do know what I see come in when I am there. The recipients are generally white and in their 30's or 40's. They have that half dead look in their eyes that people get when life has beat them down. The majority of food stamp recipients work full or part time. In Galesburg I see and hear folks who come in talk about having a job but not enough hours of work, or looking and cannot find a job. I don't know that it is a lack of education or skill, but something keeps them out of the job market. We can talk all day about how they should try harder, pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Sorry but they have no boots.
Who is the largest group receiving food stamps? Again I would have chosen a combination of minorities. Hispanics and blacks. I was wrong again according to what I can find in articles. The largest recipients, by dollar amount, are white children. Does that make it any more tragic? No, it just makes me stupid and prejudiced. It makes me feel like an ass. My reading indicates that 76% of food stamp benefits go to households with children. Disabled and senior citizens make up the largest percentage of recipients. The majority of those receiving benefits are on the program for six months or less. The rate of fraud is less than 1%. Those are the facts. Those are not the things we think or that we hear. We want to think that those people are lazy and shiftless scum of the earth who wouldn't work if they had the chance. They want to collect benefits forever and live on the teat of the welfare state. That they are poor and black and that everything is disabled except their baby making parts. The truth is different. They are young and white. They are old or disabled. They use the benefits to get them through a tough spot. We have been lucky in our personal lives. We have never been on food stamps. We have had times when it was tough to feed our kids. I can remember when a weeks groceries was some chicken leg quarters, a gallon of milk, a couple dozen eggs and a bag of flour. We ate a lot of chicken and noodles. It was cheap and filling. It was tough. We were lucky. It could have been worse.
So now some in our government feel like we spend too much on programs like food stamps. The agricultural bill that funds food stamps (now called SNAP) was partially passed. The part that passed was the part that subsidized farmers including corporate farms and large corporations that produce food. The part that got held up was the part that funded food stamps. We took care of the folks with the money and told the poor they cost too much and we need to cut their benefits. Where did things go so wrong? Didn't we ask for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to be free? Don't we claim to be a Christian nation? Didn't Jesus admonish Christians to care for the sick and infirm, to visit those in prison, to care for the poor? Now the message from too many churches is give your money to Jesus (us) and you will receive back from God more than you can imagine. I don't understand how we turn our backs so quickly on the most vulnerable in our country.
I listened to a Fox News reporter today on a couple of clips played on The Daily Show or the Colbert Report. She seemed to think that the fast food workers who were striking were asking for too much. After all they are being paid minimum wage which is $8.25 in Illinois. Paying them $15.00 per hour just seemed greedy to her. They followed it up with her talking about the President wanting to raise taxes on those making over $250,000 per year last year. She talked about how tough it was to live in New York City on that paltry amount. I guess she didn't realize that minimum wage makes you about 10% of that for a year.
All I hope for is that you, whoever you are, will take a few minutes and actually look at the facts. Stop thinking you know. Start reading and actually find out what the facts are. Maybe it won't change your mind but at least you will be aware of the facts.
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