Hunger...continued....again...

"The question many people ask when they see someone panhandling is 'Why?'"

Recently my wife and I have noticed more and more young (and some not as young) folks on busy street corners of our small city. Street corner panhandling is certainly not a new phenomena as it has been done for years in the larger cities. To see this now spreading into small town USA is indeed a change.

We all want to help. Plus most of us want an end to panhandling (only because there would no longer be a need). And most people I know have a very simple question as it relates to our hunger issue - "Why?" 

In addition, many people (myself included) just want to help. And we have had enough training in homelessness to know one very important thing - do not give out money. And there are reasons for that.

So what can we do? First off, we need to know the scope of the problem. And it is a big problem. And it is a problem which gets very little publicity from our media. How big of a problem is hunger right now? In 2007 we had 9,000,000 children receiving food stamps. That was about 1 in 8 households. Last year in 2014, we had 16,000,000 (one in five households) receiving food stamps. And in anyone's book, that is a big, big number. 

And it is not just kids. It is total households also. For example, in 2013 there were over 23,000,000 households, entire families on food stamps. That is a whopping big number, and a growing number. That is an increase of about 3/4 million households from the year before. So the need is great - very great. But one questions begs to be asked - and needs to be answered. Why is the number so big? And why is it growing? And what can be done to bring this number down to a "normal" range?

As usual, more questions than answers. If you come across somebody who is panhandling and want to help, here is a suggestion. Have food emergency kits in your car. For example, use a gallon size baggie and fill it with some simple items. For example, a bottle of water, a pair of socks, an energy bar, a toothbrush, and maybe a $5 gift card from a fast food place. There are no rules - creativity rules the day. But no money.

One more thing. In 2014, the CBO has projected the current farm bill would spend a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. Now here is the shocker - 80% of that money, roughly $750B, is earmarked for food assistance. So our farm bill has really become a  HHS bill instead of a bill geared towards agriculture. That is a big number, it is a record number, and it is a growing number.

The good news from the paper today is we expect a record corn harvest once again this year. We are good, very good at growing food. We are also very good at exporting food overseas to people who are very hungry. What we are not so good at is the distribution of food to our own people. That is, unless there is help in the form of our food assistance programs.

One final thing about the training we have received in helping the homeless, hungry, and hurting. We help first without asking why or how. That is sage counsel. However, as a society, we do need to ask why this number is so high. Why in a land of plenty this number has grown so large. We owe it to the people needing assistance. And we owe it to ourselves.