Re: OLDER AMERICANS ARE GOING HUNGRY
- From: "Jerry Okamura" <okamuraj005@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 07:56:29 -1000
"redpoet" <redpoet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:2cbb8b15-80a2-45e6-bfa5-66b6f9ae49ed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
OLDER AMERICANS ARE GOING HUNGRY
Oread Daily http://oreaddaily.blogspot.com/
It shouldn't be like this.
A recent study found that one in three older New Yorkers lived in fear
of going hungry. Many didn't know where they would find their next
meal.
Isn't there a difference between going hungry and the fear of going hungry?
The Council of Senior Centers and Services says their study in New
York City found that 35 percent of those surveyed worried that they
would not have enough to eat.
I would think that living in the city of New York, is a heck of a lot more expensive than say living in Fargo, North Dakota, and as a result by definition, more people would go hungry in New York City than in Fargo, North Dakota.
The council adds predicted growth in the aging population will put
further stress on programs.
Amazingly this is the first comprehensive report since the early 1990s
to examine hunger among the elderly in the city said City Council
Speaker Christine Quinn.
Not so amazingly in this country of ours Black and Latino senior
citizens were more adversely affected with nearly twice as many of
them then whites saying they faced food insecurity.
This in the United States of America.
Jeez, you work all your life and this is what you get. How can a
society treat its elderly like this. It's a shame all of us must deal
with.
"If" you work all your life and spend every last dime you earned, and did not save for the day when you would no longer work, and as a result suffer the consequences, whose fault is that? "If" you worked all your life and did not earn enough money to "save" isn't that the result for the most part of the "choices" you made concerning such things as the amount of education you obtained?
America's Second Harvest, maybe the largest food provider for the poor
in America, put it this way:
"As a nation, we have a special responsibility to vulnerable
populations such as the elderly. Older Americans have built the
economy and national infrastructure from which we now benefit. Raised
during the Great Depression, they went on to defend our freedom in the
Second World War and won the cold war. America's older citizens have
rightly been called the "greatest generation." It is morally
reprehensible that the people that built this country should suffer
hunger in a land of plenty, which they helped to create."
Isn't that the purpose of Social Security. "If" there are people who are struggling to live once they retire, shouldn't we place the blame to some degree on the fact that not a whole lot of people could actually survive on a Social Security income alone, and certainly not in a city like New York?
"Being hungry is a subtle, personal, chaotic, unpredictable, but often
systematic experience," where welfare policies may provide a meal but
don't go far enough to help poor Americans rise above welfare says Amy
Glasmeier, director of Penn State's Center for Policy Research on
Energy, Environment and Community Well-being in University Park, Pa.
National reports on hunger in America amongst all ages say 35.5
million Americans are in the same boat as those older New Yorkers.
And what level of education have these people obtained?
But those numbers are considered by activists and anyone with a brain
as low.
The statistics undercount the number of Americans who have experienced
hunger in a given year, Kathleen Gorman, director of the Center for a
Hunger-Free America in Kingston, R.I. told the Christian Science
Monitor earlier this month.
For one, America's 744,000 chronically homeless are not counted in the
food security survey, and neither are people living on Indian
reservations. Hunger among the elderly may also be underreported,
experts say, in part because of how older people experience and
explain the physical effects of hunger.
The Monitor reported surveys among school nutritionists in Appalachia
show that, in some districts, children come to school in the fall
weighing 10 percent less than they did when they left school for the
summer. "These aren't small groups of people going hungry. These are
big groups of people," says Christine Olson, a human ecology professor
at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
"The U.S. is the only industrialised nation that still allows hunger
within its borders," said David Beckmann, president of the advocacy
group Bread for the World.
Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Centre, warned
the situation likely has worsened since the agriculture department
surveyed the populace in December 2006.
"As costs for food, energy, and housing continue to rise and wages
stagnate or decline, households are finding themselves increasingly
strapped," Weill said. "This may mean even worse numbers in 2007. We
need to do more to make sure that households have access to healthy
food by improving and expanding proven programmes that help."
Of all the folks running for President this year, the only one I've
heard say much about hunger in America is John Edwards. Everyone else
is apparently out to lunch.
The following was taken from the web site of Global Action on Aging.
Study Finds 1 In 3 Elderly New Yorkers Fears Going Hungry
NY 1 News December 11, 2007
One in every three senior citizens in the city is either going hungry,
or worried about where they'll find their next meal, according to a
new study funded by the City Council.
"Not having enough resources to eat in a nutritious way - which is
called food insecurity - is a problem throughout the city," said City
Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
Researchers say black and Hispanic New Yorkers reported the most
serious levels of hunger, ranging from skipping meals to going hungry
altogether.
The report also found that seniors ages 60 to 64 worried the most
about their next meal and were more likely to report weight loss.
Those surveyed said existing food programs are inadequate.
City leaders say changes must be made within the senior citizen
community, such as making Meals on Wheels a fully funded program and a
guaranteed right for every senior.
"Enough with waiting lists! We have hundreds of people on waiting
lists - they're 80, 90 years old and over. Why would anyone in this
city want a senior to be on a waiting list for a home-delivered meal?
We actually don't think that anybody would," said Bobbie Sackman of
the Council of Senior Centers & Services.
Another recommendation was to allow senior centers to provide meals
off site, anywhere seniors congregate.
"I think that we're at a point, when it comes to senior nutrition,
that we have to bring the meal to the senior," said City Councilmember
James Vacca.
The study said seniors may be reporting hunger because thousands don't
receive Social Security or Medicaid. The study also found a widespread
under-utilization of food stamps.
The City Council funded the study, which was performed by the Council
of Senior Centers and Services. About 800 people over the age of 60
took part. All of their data was gathered last winter in 15 different
communities across the five boroughs.
In the months ahead, Quinn promises the council will look at the
study's recommendations, trying to find a solution to the city's
hunger problem.
The solution is simple. Figure out how to convince more people to get more educated.....
.
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