Hunger in America
In grade school, there were two lines at lunch. One group of kids stood in line and one by one and paid for their lunch. The other line of kids were just handed their lunch. I never paid much attention to it until I got older and realized that I was in the line that got the free lunch. I was aware in my house that we had to make good with what we had and that options were not an option. However, I never really knew the gravity of the situation because I had parents that sheltered me from those things. What would have happened if my two brothers and I were not able to get the free lunches? How would that have affected my life if that money had to be used for other things? Would we have had to go without? 1 out of every 2 children in America are on food assistance and 44 million people in the United States are on food assistance programs (A Place at the Table). There is a place and need for food assistance programs. No one in America should go to sleep hungry but changes need to be made. The food assistance programs are necessary but we need to focus on exit strategies for the program, work on ways to improve the obesity epidemic plaguing America and drug test applicants.
The price of fruits and vegetables have gone up by 40% since 1980 but processed food has gone down by 40% (A Place in the Table). If the average food stamp budget is $3.00 a day(A Place in the Table) than how are people supposed to eat healthy or feed their kids in a healthy way? Processed foods are cheap and they create a full meal. It is expensive to create a plate that has each food group on it. It’s a cheaper, easier and more time efficient to go through the drive through at a fast food restaurant and get food from the dollar menu, or make Ramen noodles or macaroni and cheese. These problems are contributing to children and adults being overweight and lends to the problems that we are having with obesity in 2014. How is it that in a world so advanced 1 in 6 Americans say that do not have enough to eat? (A Place in the Table).
Raising my own family, this is something I stress over every week at the grocery store. What is cheaper is not what is good for us. Making food and money stretch is not always an easy task. Sometimes buying what is cheaper is the only option some people have. We are lucky enough right now to not be on food assistance but money is tight. These programs are necessary. We need food assistance so that people are not going hungry. It is unacceptable to think that we have kids in our schools who are not getting enough to eat. So how do we change this? How do we stretch a dollar when a dollar isn’t there? How do we make health a priority?
We change the free lunches that are offered. We only allow the foods to be bought through food stamps to be healthy foods. Maybe instead of just giving money we give them a nutritional card. They can buy so many things from each column and we regulate their nutrition. If the government is helping buy their food then they are going to be healthy. “Mississippi has the highest rate of food insecurity and the highest rate of obesity” (A Place at the Table). Maybe we start in Mississippi. We change the program, do a test run, and see if this works. If big companies also lowered prices of healthy foods, less fortunate people will start swaying towards the healthy side of food thus starting to lower the countries problem with overweight issues.
One of the current issues with our food assistance plan is that there is no exit strategy. There are many people who are on food assistance for years and years on end. They qualify for the program because their income is low enough to qualify for the program. If someone makes under the poverty line and they qualify for cash assistance, food assistance, housing, daycare, and medical care, what would motivate them to not live off the governments dollar? If they get a job paying one dollar over the limit they would be ineligible for all of these programs and their family would suffer. What we need to do is give them a way out. These people need an exit strategy.
What if we said that while you are on government assistance, the government will pay for you to get a degree. In return, they are not allowed to be on government assistance for 10 years. The degree will then make them eligible for higher paying jobs and they would hopefully be able to get out of the vicious cycle of needing to make more money, but not being able to because they would essentially lose their benefits that their family needs. The GI Bill is a government program for military veterans that will pay them to go to school for 3 years. While they are going to school they give them a housing allowance. This housing allowance helps the veteran survive financially while in school. After 3 years the veteran will have a degree in their chosen field to support themselves and their family without assistance.
Why does this work? The government is stepping in and saying “you served our country, we are going to support you while you get on your feet.” The government could help people struggling in the vicious circle of food assistance dependency by essentially doing the same thing. Food assistance programs are necessary and it is important to have them but we should be finding a way to make it so these programs are temporary. Helping applicants go to school while on assistance will then help then not need assistance in the future.
If the government helped these needy family get back on their feet and helped find a way to earn enough to feed their families, then these food assistance programs would only be temporary. I also support welfare being able to drug test people applying for food assistance. There is so many families that really need assistance but are turned down, yet there are a good amount of people on food assistance who are claiming they need help but they are finding financial means to support their addiction. If they truly need food assistance, I believe they would become clean to receive it.
I think drug testing applicants would open up funds to be available to families who truly need it. It would also give these programs and the families receiving help a better image. People on food assistance are ashamed of getting the help they need and “our own government is ashamed of acknowledging it” (A Place at the Table).
In conclusion, food assistance programs are necessary but we can make changes in order to ensure that these programs are functioning at full capacity and giving to the people exactly what they need. Healthy bodies, healthy food, and the ability to not need the government to step in anymore. It is important that we give our kids healthy food. It’s important that if the government is providing nourishment to people it is providing food that is of substance. Putting price ceilings on products that can be bought with government assistance might help this. Allowing people a way to break the cycle of government assistance should be a major goal. I am thankful for government assistance because I did not go hungry during school. Not one child should sit at lunch with nothing to eat. We have children who depend on this assistance too, without means to change their situation. I wouldn’t sleep at night if I had to tell them that they couldn’t eat because their parents couldn’t pay, could you?
Work Cited
A place at the table. Dir. kristi Jacobson. , . Other source
In grade school, there were two lines at lunch. One group of kids stood in line and one by one and paid for their lunch. The other line of kids were just handed their lunch. I never paid much attention to it until I got older and realized that I was in the line that got the free lunch. I was aware in my house that we had to make good with what we had and that options were not an option. However, I never really knew the gravity of the situation because I had parents that sheltered me from those things. What would have happened if my two brothers and I were not able to get the free lunches? How would that have affected my life if that money had to be used for other things? Would we have had to go without? 1 out of every 2 children in America are on food assistance and 44 million people in the United States are on food assistance programs (A Place at the Table). There is a place and need for food assistance programs. No one in America should go to sleep hungry but changes need to be made. The food assistance programs are necessary but we need to focus on exit strategies for the program, work on ways to improve the obesity epidemic plaguing America and drug test applicants.
The price of fruits and vegetables have gone up by 40% since 1980 but processed food has gone down by 40% (A Place in the Table). If the average food stamp budget is $3.00 a day(A Place in the Table) than how are people supposed to eat healthy or feed their kids in a healthy way? Processed foods are cheap and they create a full meal. It is expensive to create a plate that has each food group on it. It’s a cheaper, easier and more time efficient to go through the drive through at a fast food restaurant and get food from the dollar menu, or make Ramen noodles or macaroni and cheese. These problems are contributing to children and adults being overweight and lends to the problems that we are having with obesity in 2014. How is it that in a world so advanced 1 in 6 Americans say that do not have enough to eat? (A Place in the Table).
Raising my own family, this is something I stress over every week at the grocery store. What is cheaper is not what is good for us. Making food and money stretch is not always an easy task. Sometimes buying what is cheaper is the only option some people have. We are lucky enough right now to not be on food assistance but money is tight. These programs are necessary. We need food assistance so that people are not going hungry. It is unacceptable to think that we have kids in our schools who are not getting enough to eat. So how do we change this? How do we stretch a dollar when a dollar isn’t there? How do we make health a priority?
We change the free lunches that are offered. We only allow the foods to be bought through food stamps to be healthy foods. Maybe instead of just giving money we give them a nutritional card. They can buy so many things from each column and we regulate their nutrition. If the government is helping buy their food then they are going to be healthy. “Mississippi has the highest rate of food insecurity and the highest rate of obesity” (A Place at the Table). Maybe we start in Mississippi. We change the program, do a test run, and see if this works. If big companies also lowered prices of healthy foods, less fortunate people will start swaying towards the healthy side of food thus starting to lower the countries problem with overweight issues.
One of the current issues with our food assistance plan is that there is no exit strategy. There are many people who are on food assistance for years and years on end. They qualify for the program because their income is low enough to qualify for the program. If someone makes under the poverty line and they qualify for cash assistance, food assistance, housing, daycare, and medical care, what would motivate them to not live off the governments dollar? If they get a job paying one dollar over the limit they would be ineligible for all of these programs and their family would suffer. What we need to do is give them a way out. These people need an exit strategy.
What if we said that while you are on government assistance, the government will pay for you to get a degree. In return, they are not allowed to be on government assistance for 10 years. The degree will then make them eligible for higher paying jobs and they would hopefully be able to get out of the vicious cycle of needing to make more money, but not being able to because they would essentially lose their benefits that their family needs. The GI Bill is a government program for military veterans that will pay them to go to school for 3 years. While they are going to school they give them a housing allowance. This housing allowance helps the veteran survive financially while in school. After 3 years the veteran will have a degree in their chosen field to support themselves and their family without assistance.
Why does this work? The government is stepping in and saying “you served our country, we are going to support you while you get on your feet.” The government could help people struggling in the vicious circle of food assistance dependency by essentially doing the same thing. Food assistance programs are necessary and it is important to have them but we should be finding a way to make it so these programs are temporary. Helping applicants go to school while on assistance will then help then not need assistance in the future.
If the government helped these needy family get back on their feet and helped find a way to earn enough to feed their families, then these food assistance programs would only be temporary. I also support welfare being able to drug test people applying for food assistance. There is so many families that really need assistance but are turned down, yet there are a good amount of people on food assistance who are claiming they need help but they are finding financial means to support their addiction. If they truly need food assistance, I believe they would become clean to receive it.
I think drug testing applicants would open up funds to be available to families who truly need it. It would also give these programs and the families receiving help a better image. People on food assistance are ashamed of getting the help they need and “our own government is ashamed of acknowledging it” (A Place at the Table).
In conclusion, food assistance programs are necessary but we can make changes in order to ensure that these programs are functioning at full capacity and giving to the people exactly what they need. Healthy bodies, healthy food, and the ability to not need the government to step in anymore. It is important that we give our kids healthy food. It’s important that if the government is providing nourishment to people it is providing food that is of substance. Putting price ceilings on products that can be bought with government assistance might help this. Allowing people a way to break the cycle of government assistance should be a major goal. I am thankful for government assistance because I did not go hungry during school. Not one child should sit at lunch with nothing to eat. We have children who depend on this assistance too, without means to change their situation. I wouldn’t sleep at night if I had to tell them that they couldn’t eat because their parents couldn’t pay, could you?
Work Cited
A place at the table. Dir. kristi Jacobson. , . Other source