Print
E-mail
Share
digg
Newsvine
Facebook
Stumble
Technorati
reddit
Fark
twitterSun editorial:
Hunger an extreme problem
With record unemployment, millions of Americans aren’t getting enough food
Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009 | 2:04 a.m.
Thanksgiving season is an opportune time to take a moment and reflect on the hunger that persists in this country. Two new reports provide insight into the depth of the problem. The Meals on Wheels Association of America, in a study funded by Harrah’s, estimates that 6 million seniors are experiencing difficulty in getting enough food.
The other report is on a national survey of schoolteachers taken by Share Our Strength, a national organization working to end childhood hunger. Sixty-two percent of the teachers surveyed said they see hungry children coming to school every week.
And as we wrote earlier, a federal report released this month shows that hunger among all age groups in the country is at its highest level since the Agriculture Department began keeping records on this topic 14 years ago. The report is based on statistics compiled in 2008, when national unemployment rose to 7.2 percent. The current national unemployment rate is 10.2 percent (in Nevada it is 13 percent), meaning that the records in all probability will be even worse when updated.
That the trend is worsening was evident last week at a hearing on food banks by the House Ways and Means Committee. Catholic Charities was one of the many groups that testified. Representatives of the organization’s Southern Nevada affiliate told the panel that the charity saw its number of food-bank clients double from July to September, the Associated Press reported.
Other groups testifying included Northwest Harvest, which operates the state of Washington’s largest food bank. Its public policy manager told the committee, “In our 42-year history, we have never witnessed a demand for our services like we are seeing now.”
Candy Hill, representing Catholic Charities USA, spoke the truth when she told the committee that “it will not only take government being our partner, but it will also take all of us — corporations, philanthropies and individual donors — to solve the extreme problem of hunger in our country today.”
We hope Americans who are in a position to help take that statement to heart.
Discussion: 21 comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy.
Post a comment
Spotlight
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas to close in May
- Pricey land buy on Strip a bit of a surprise
- Engineering marvel taking shape near Hoover Dam
- Harry Reid’s co-writer unloads while discussing polls, Obama quote
- Grim numbers show Nevada leads nation in suicides over 60
- Police: Legal runner returned to home, shot husband and wife
- UNLV back in the polls: No. 23 in AP, No. 25 in ESPN/USA Today
- MGM Mirage to leave N.J. in dispute over Macau partner
- The 10 best steakhouses in Las Vegas
- GOP should blame itself for deficit, not Democrats
Blogs
Shark Bytes
Willis reminds me of another great UNLV guard (4 Comments)
Elsewhere
With aggressive push, Internet gambling again in play
The Kats Report
A very quick list of which females could replace Steven Tyler in Aerosmith (14 Comments)
A 3.5-day sprint, highlighted superflously at Flamingo with Las Vegas newcomers
Politics: Ralston's Flash
Horsford: No taxes now, but tax reform later (14 Comments)
Gibbons: Cutting the budget can help me raise money (11 Comments)
Gibbons: Lawmakers made State of State worse with taxes (6 Comments)
Calendar »
- 9 Tue
- 10 Wed
- 11 Thu
- 12 Fri
- 13 Sat
-
Far East Movement at Blush
Blush Boutique Nightclub | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Benji Madden at Moon
Moon Nightclub | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Hugh Fink at the Riviera Comedy Club
The Riviera Comedy Club
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Trillions of dollars going to wars not needed. It's time to take care of our own.
We had Obama bail out wall street (see Rolling Stone article)
waste more money on no-win wars
and spend his time going to China, etc.
he will end up like George Bush I, with his globe troting and neglect of domestic concerns.
Maybe there are some left overs from the state diner?
Yeah, right. That's why the U.S. leads the world in obesity among children and adults. Just look around and see how fat this country is. I've been to Africa, India, and Mexico to name a few countries and I assure you, I know what a hungry child looks like. But of course, this is all W's fault. I'm just glad BO has kept unemployment under 8 percent so the parents of these poor starving children will finally be able to feed them.
blake you'd better get glasses and read the article again, along with doing a little more studying.Our elderly are suffering from hunger the most.
Unemployment is over 10% nationwide, 13% in Nevada.
anyone who begins their comment with "yea right" should have their opinions taken as seriously as their attention to proper diction.
Childhood obesity is only an issue for the middle class and up and in no way includes the census taken of hungry children in America. Having seen the hungry children in the US first hand as opposed to on vacation i can tell you this is a very real problem.
People who donate money to other countries while ignoring soup kitchens, food pantries and local charities should be ashamed of themselves. Compairing the starving in the US to those in third world nations is ignorant and invalid. The US has an obligation to its tired, poor and hungry and it is about time the powers that be stop giving them selves raises and start doing their jobs!
Taxes on food, tariffs on food, subsidies for farmers to not grow food, import restrictions on food, and of course subsidies to put corn in gas tanks ALL make food more expensive.
Maybe its just me, but does anyone else think it might be a good idea to get government out of the food market?
Fellow Doers of Good - (those who cast for Obama) Today is a day to think about helping the very young and the very old who are basically helpless and need our help and prayers. It is also a time to pray that all our troops come home from a land 8000 miles away where they absolutely do not belong and are being murdered and blown to bits and pieces. Pray Cindy Sheean moves into a home next door to the coming CriminalBush Library in oinkeesville area of back Texas where slaughter pigs smell things up and she puts up a billboard with the criminal's face on it with a background of his henchmen of blood. She lost her only child in this disgrace of a so called war.
Food banks and missions really are hurting this year more than ever as a trillion dollar tax cut for the rich reduced available money, and a criminal war eats the rest. There are millions our there suffering who need our donations and help. This is the principle thought for this season. 'Great job Brownie!' Thank You.
There was plenty of food at the White House last night. The irony of it was that none of those who were invited were among the hungry.
Grandma averted hunger by laboring a garden of nutritious fruits and vegetables.
: {
Fellow Doers of Good - Excuse me, but aren't they 'gonna pull the plug on Grandma?' What about all those gardens in Manhattan and down on the Strip? What about all those gardens Grandma had where the City Center is now? How 'bout the ones up there where Lovelock now sits and where the aiport is? What did they do with all the gardens in downtown L.A.? Am I missing something here? Oh, I forgot, Grandma has not had the plug pulled yet so she can get out on the Strip and hoe out some macadam and drop some seeds in and ... voila! - up comes the pears and blueberries. I guess the plug is well secured over at the old folks home, after all. Thank You.
Fos,
You should change it from "doers of good" to "hopers of good" or "voters for good." Doers is a bit of a stretch. Those who are most likely to vote for Obama are also least likely to give or volunteer. Voting for someone, or demanding that taxes be increased does not mean you care.
I agree with the first two posts above. Obama is avoiding the main issue facing this country today, joblessness, hunger, and ending these useless wars in the middle east. I say to hell with Iraq and Afghanistan, and put healthcare on the back burner for now, and start working on policies and legislation to get folks back to work in America NOW !!
We send billions of dollars to other country's for aid,Yet allow the people of this country to go hungry. There is no excuse for a U.S. citizen to go hungry, PERIOD!
Of these millions of people who are hungry I wonder how many are hungry because they have to make the monthly payments on their sixty inch big screen televisions, their $250 a month cable bill with all the movie and sports channels, and the six cellphones with unlimited text messaging that every family member has to have. Is this a legitament need or a matter of poor choice that the "poor" always seem to make. The "poor" are always are getting bigger taxpayer handouts but can never seem to get on top of their problems which they always create for themselves.
A lot of people tithe. To tithe means to give 10 per cent to the church. I give the church nothing at all. However I donate a case of canned goods to the Salvation Army every couple of weeks. Sometime soup, juice whatever is on sale. The Salvation Army has a lot of donors and they help a lot of people, and they're non-union.
jib101, Man, Your hard core if you think some people in the united states are going hungry by no other reason than their own spending spree.
spock, jlb is an angry person and will yell at anything.
There are different levels of poverty, no matter what you make, you find a way to spend it.
well, I'll tell you what I think. jlb may have one different opinion on almost every issue I can recall, but one thing's for sure, the person is a straight shooter from one point of view. He seldom is seen beating around a BUSH; he's a bird in the hand, if you will. Happy Thanksgiving all you regulars. Let us eat bird and find the humanity of tooth and jowl, friend and foe, finger and thumb.
Happy thanks giving to you airweare!
Everyone who sat down to a huge feast today should've felt at least a tinge of guilt for the fact that so many are starving. I know I did.
HAPPY TURKEY DAY!