Hunger grows despite strong economy
A statewide hunger survey shows that even as unemployment decreases, more people need assistance.
By LAURA MEADE KIRK Journal-Bulletin Staff Writer
WEST WARWICK -- Paige Feley received welfare for 10 years before she got a job two months ago as a teacher's assistant for Providence Head Start.
She now earns $6 an hour -- $198 a week after taxes -- which she stretches to pay the $400 monthly rent, in addition to utilities, medical bills and other expenses for herself and her three sons, ages 6, 10 and 11.
That's why she still relies on the food pantry at the Blackstone Valley Community Action Program to help make ends meet.
"I'm still struggling," she said. "It's hard."
Feley is an example of the increasing number of "working poor" who rely on area food banks to help their families survive, despite the fact that the state's economy is the best it has been in years.
She was among those who spoke at a news conference yesterday, during which Bernard Beaudreau, executive director of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, released the results of a statewide hunger survey that showed more people than ever need help, especially in light of changes in the welfare law and cuts in other state and federal assistance for the poor.
The results mirror those in a national study released yesterday by the Second Harvest national network of food banks, which showed that nearly 26 million people nationwide turned to them for help last year.
"In spite of the economic good times, we're seeing pretty much unprecedented hunger in this country, and Rhode Island is no exception," Beaudreau told a group of about 50 people gathered at the food bank's warehouse in West Warwick, against a backdrop of hundreds of cases of bananas for the poor.
"I think we all agree that hunger is unacceptable," Beaudreau said. So he urged politicians, philanthropists and members of the general public to redouble efforts to put an end to it.
The local survey, which was part of the national study called Hunger 1997: The Faces and The Facts, showed a dramatic increase in the number of working families turning to food banks for help -- 25 percent of all emergency food recipients last year, compared with 7.1 percent in 1993.
More than 82 percent of the families served had incomes of less than $11,500 a year -- the federal poverty level is $16,050 for a family of four. Another 10 percent had no income at all.
Another "disturbing trend," Beaudreau said, was that the number of clients receiving food stamps had dropped from 57.1 percent in 1993 to 49.1 percent last year.
And 42 percent of the clients reported that they had to choose between paying rent or buying food last year, he said.
The clients also reported an increase in health problems, he said. All told, 51 percent of clients reported household members in poor health last year, compared with 44.9 percent in 1993, Beaudreau said. For last year, 35.8 percent reported putting off obtaining health care because they couldn't afford it, and 39 percent had unpaid medical bills, compared with 30.6 percent who put off health care and 24.8 percent with unpaid bills in 1993.
The number of clients who were physically disabled also increased, from 25 percent four years ago to 33.3 percent last year.
Beaudreau attributed many of these shifts to the welfare law changes and cuts in state and federal aid, but said they also reflected overall changes in the state's economy in the past 10 years.
Although unemployment is at its lowest point in years, many people are earning less money than in the past because of the change from a manufacturing to a service-based economy, he said.
The manufacturing jobs paid, on average, more than $5,000 more than a service-sector job, Beaudreau noted. And many of the people in those manufacturing jobs don't have the necessary skills to find a job in the service sector.
So even though unemployment is down, he said, the number of families living in poverty continues to increase.
Although the Rhode Island Community Food Bank and other agencies are increasing their efforts to help these people, Beaudreau said more needs to be done. Even with emergency food supplies, he said, 41 percent of the clients -- including more than 10 percent of the children served -- skipped meals at least once in the past month "because they couldn't afford to eat."
Feley is among those who knows what it's like to be hungry and need somewhere to turn for help. She first went to the food bank in her area a few years ago. She was a high school dropout, a single parent and trying to raise her three sons on welfare.
"A couple of years ago, things really looked down for me," she said. "I looked in my cupboard and there was nothing there."
It was tough going to the food bank for help, she said. "But it was either I go or my kids go hungry."
The Blackstone Valley Community Action Program not only helped provide food for her family, but also helped her obtain her GED last year and find a job with Providence Head Start.
Feley said she hopes her story provides hope to others. "If they know I can do it, and I came from the same place they did, then they can too."
But she said she's glad to know the food banks are there to help folks like her make it from day to day and month to month, whenever they need help.
That's why Pauline Moye, director of social services for the Florence M. Gray Center in Newport, said everyone has to band together to help the hungry.
As she said: "Any one of us could someday stand in the unemployment line. Any one of us could someday be looking for a food bank. Any one of us could find ourselves knocking on the door of a soup kitchen. Do we want to hear there's no room at the inn?"
Copyright © 1998 The Providence Journal Company Produced by www.projo.com
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