What Can You Afford?

            Poverty is obviously a prominent issue in the United States today especially among women and children.  Many individuals are barely making ends meet, and they are forced to live day by day off of emergency food.  In chapter two of Jane Poppendieck’s Sweet Charity, she explores the problems poor people experience in relation to food.  It is obvious that poor people lack the resources to provide themselves with a healthy diet that provides them with the correct vitamins and minerals.  Everything is so much more expensive today especially necessities such as rent and utility costs.  Those in poverty do not have the necessary $100 to spend every week on food.  The solution for many of these families becomes emergency food, such as the food provided in food kitchens or food banks.  Most of these families are dealing with such horrific poverty problems because of unemployment or underemployment problems.  Whether it is short-term or long-term unemployment, many individuals in these situations turn to food pantries for help.  They cannot waste the little money they have on food when they have to pay medical and rent bills.  Rent prices have skyrocketed over the past decades, and these new prices are forcing individuals in poverty to use more then their allotted 30% of their income to pay for their shelter.  For those individuals who are applicable for soup kitchens, public assistance is another major helper.  Although this helps provide some income, the amount is still not sufficient.  Another program founded called the Food Stamps program is another attempt to help out those families in poverty.  Although this program attempted to close the gap once again between what families in poverty could and could not afford, its effectiveness is low.  Many people who should not be denied are denied, and some people are to proud to accept defeat.        

            I am absolutely horrified by the amount of poverty in the United States.  Living at Cornell now, and a nice area and New Jersey before, I have not been exposed to the many individuals  living in poverty in the United States.  This article was extremely informative because although I have heard about the widespread issues of poverty, I never realized its extent.  Since I was in Middle School I have volunteered at a Food Bank in New Jersey.  I would work on weekends, and package and sort hundreds of cans of food.  I never understood how the huge amount of food that was donated could not satisfy the number of individuals living in poverty.  Poverty is obviously a huge issue that needs to be addressed.  Although there is many programs implemented, these programs obviously do not suffice.  Poverty and hunger are obviously directly related to each other, and our task for the future will be to decrease the poverty so individuals can receive the amount of nutrition their bodies need.              

WHY?

How can the government implement a new plan that will help individuals in poverty with shelter and food without making them feel “embarrassed”

Is there a more effective way we can run soup kitchens?