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Families Depending on Food Stamps at Thanksgiving Hardly Feast; Buying Minimal Meal Creates Food Budget Hole (UPDTAE)

Posted on: Thursday, 17 November 2005, 18:00 CST

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- With hunger in America on the rise for the fifth straight year and Congress poised to throw nearly 300,000 poor people off food stamps, Bread for the World Institute's 16th annual "Hunger Report," Frontline Issues in Nutrition Assistance, shows that poor families using food stamps cannot afford to buy nutritious food, let alone Thanksgiving dinner.

"The faces of our nation's 24 million poor people receiving food stamps could hardly be included in Norman Rockwell's Thanksgiving portrait," said David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. "They cannot afford a nutritious diet, let alone a Thanksgiving dinner. Congress should be increasing food stamp benefits, not throwing people off the program."

"A recent Boston Medical Center study shows that low income families even getting the maximum food stamp benefits cannot afford a diet consistent with our national nutrition guidelines," Beckmann said. "All that food stamp families can afford is cheap, high fat, high sodium, high starch food that fills you up."

Frontline Issues in Nutrition Assistance's main recommendations are:

-- people who qualify for food stamps should receive enough assistance to allow them to purchase nutritious foods;

-- all low-income children should receive the benefit of our in- school and summer feeding programs;

-- an international campaign to fortify widely used foods to dramatically improve child health;

-- nutrition programs should figure more prominently in development programs; and

-- the world needs a humanitarian reserve fund, so that we can respond to famines without waiting for CNN to broadcast photographs of starving children.

The Cost of Thanksgiving

A common food stamp household consists of a single, female adult with two or three school-aged children, all of whom are born U.S. citizens. The household is located in a metropolitan area and has a gross income below the federal poverty line -- and often less than half of the poverty level. In 2004, such a household received an average of $273 per month in food stamp benefits.

In Washington, D.C., nearly 65 percent of all food stamp recipient households have gross income below 50 percent of the poverty line. In Washington-area supermarkets, a minimal Thanksgiving meal would cost approximately:

Turkey (12 lbs): $8.24

Stuffing: $1.79

Cornbread: $1.29

Green Beans (2 lbs): $3.98

Carrots (2 lbs): $1.89

Potatoes (5 lbs): $3.69

Sweet Potatoes (4 lbs): $5.16

Cranberry Sauce: $0.89

Pumpkin Pie: $3.99

Butter (1 lb): $3.59

Total: $34.51

For a recipient household consisting of a single, female adult with children, the cost of this minimal Thanksgiving meal consumes more than 1/8 of its entire monthly food stamp budget.

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Founded in 1974, Bread for the World's members have lobbied Congress and the administration to bring about public policy changes that address the root causes of hunger and poverty in the United States and overseas.

Bread for the World is a nonpartisan organization supported by 45 denominations and many theological perspectives. Please visit the Web site at http://www.bread.org.

http://www.usnewswire.com

Source: U.S. Newswire

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