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VERONICA'S VIEW: Pride Doesn’t Have to Come Before A Fall
*Making ends meet in this economy is more than challenging these days. It’s a real magic trick from month to month for many families.
Gas prices seem to have no ceiling. Fees for some municipal services are scheduled to increase. Here in Los Angeles, companies are cutting their workforce due to sagging sales. Reduced revenues have our City government planning layoffs from an institution that was long regarded as recession proof. People are struggling to pay adjusting mortgages; record numbers of people have even lost their homes.
I think all of us are feeling the pinch of this tough economy, especially at the gas pump. And lets not forget the bite at the grocery store with food prices soaring to new heights.
It’s just tough all the way around.
For the first time many working families are faced with making tough choices when it comes to deciding what expenses to pay and what expenses they will have to cut. As their obligatory expenses such as housing, gas, utilities and medical care chip away at their already shrinking budget, very little money is left at the end of the month for food. The choice is daunting month to month.
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank is seeing more families who have to make this kind Sophie’s Choice. I recently took a tour of their 96,000 square foot facility, which is located just outside of downtown Los Angeles. It wasn’t at all what I imaged. There were shelves of non-perishable, name brand and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) foods neatly assembled for distribution. And surprising, there was a huge refrigerated section for perishable fresh foods, dairy products, and vegetables.
The Food Bank is celebrating its 35-year anniversary in their fight to end hunger. And with the spiraling downturn in our economy, that fight is getting a lot tougher.
“Hunger is a hidden epidemic,” said Darren Hoffman, Communications Director of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. “There have been a lot of job loses and we are finding that single mothers and working families need temporary help to make ends meet. And we are here to provide that help.”
How many people are they helping?
Last year they reported that more than 600,000 people in Los Angeles County received food through about 900 Food Bank agencies and programs including soup kitchens, homeless shelters, emergency food assistance pantries, and community agencies that serve low income families and seniors. That’s about 34 million pounds of food. The need is so great and increasing. In fact from February 2007 to February 2008, the Food Bank has experienced about a 28% increase in requests for emergency food assistance.
However, the number of non-perishable food donations received from the USDA have decreased from 24 million pounds to 9 million pounds in the past five years. To make up the increasing food gap, the Food Bank has looked to donations from the food industry, financial institutions, and fundraising drives.
“People are proud and we understand that,” said Hoffman. “We are not here to judge. We are here to help and encourage those who need help to ask.”
For many families this is a deeply private matter. But the reality is that one out of every 10 residents in the County of Los Angeles is at risk of being hungry and not having enough food to eat. And most of them are children.
How do you locate a food pantry or community center for food assistance? In the County of Los Angeles you can call 211. If you have access to the Internet, visit http://www.lafoodbank.org/ and click on Pantry Locator and enter your zip code.
To locate a food bank in other parts of the country, visit America’s Second Harvest, a national food bank network at http://www.secondharvest.org/. If you or your business or civic organization would like to volunteer, make a donation or organize visit these websites and look at the various ways you can give.
It is often said that pride comes before a fall. In the case of hunger, it doesn’t have to.
Veronica Hendrix is a syndicated journalist and columnist whose work has covered the span of the human continuum - from clinical trials of male contraceptives, to the gang violence. She is the producer of the highly acclaimed half hour talk show called "LA Woman," which airs on L.A. City View Channel 35, and is a Los Angeles Emmy nominated producer. Veronica's career as a journalist has included being a reporter for USA Today and a producer for a radio talk show in Los Angeles, which focused on issues impacting the African American Family. Veronica is a proud native of Southern California where she lives with her two sons.
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