Filling the gap when food stamps don't
More than a million people in Michigan relied on food stamps last year -- an increase of 76.8 percent since 2001.
That's more than a million reasons to be concerned about the reauthorization of the federal food stamp program, part of the Farm Bill now sitting in Congress' Agriculture committees.
Federal tax cuts, combined with an expensive war, are compelling congressional budgeters to look at domestic programs to cut.
And more, the same year, Congress froze the standard deduction that food stamp households may subtract from their income to $134 for all household sizes. Before that, the standard deduction was indexed each year to the rate of inflation.
The combined actions mean that today a three-person household is receiving an average of $37 in assistance each month. That may not sound like much, but to many low-income families, it makes an enormous difference.
And it makes an enormous difference to the local non-profit agencies that try to make certain no one in the Kalamazoo area goes hungry.
The eroding purchasing power of food stamps means that more families are looking for emergency food assistance from Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes or are seeking free meals at Ministry With Community. In 1995, Loaves and Fishes filled nearly 40,000 two-day orders of emergency food. In 2005, it was nearly 68,000 two-day orders.
At Ministry With Community, which serves breakfast and lunch, the number of meals served has increased 11 percent over last year.
Private agencies have been trying to fill the gap. But a chronically stagnant state economy is putting more and more pressure on the private non-profit sector to make certain that low-income families aren't going without.
Last month, the House Hunger Caucus challenged members to attempt to live for a week on $21 worth of food -- the amount the average food stamp recipient receives per week. The aim was to help members of Congress, who will reauthorize the food stamp program this year, get an understanding of how difficult it is to live on food stamps.
Only four members of Congress -- including the two co-chairs of the House Hunger Caucus -- participated.
The results were not healthy.
Participating members found that, instead of buying fresh fruits and vegetables and lean meats, they were resorting to cheaper high-fat meats and high-sodium or high-sugar canned fruits and vegetables. They opted for starchy, high-calorie foods to fill them up.
It's too bad that no other members of Congress were interested in the experience. It would have given them greater insight into the way an increasing number of Americans are forced to live.
As the economy continues to constrict, more people are losing their jobs and families are falling on hard times. Clearly, they need a safety net.
And the world's richest nation clearly has a responsibility to provide for its poor and help the downtrodden get back on their feet.