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Report: Florida Families Still Struggle To Put Food On Table
March 7, 2013
The Florida economy may be showing some signs of improvement, but that recovery has yet to trickle down to those who need it the most. Florida ranks 12th on a list of states where people say they didn’t always have enough money to put food on the table in the last year. That’s more than 21 percent of the state’s population, according to a report from the Food Research and Action Center.
Debra Susie, executive director of Florida Impact, said the state was particularly hard hit because of the economy’s reliance on the construction, service and travel industries.
“We really got hit with a triple whammy on the way Florida had to weather the economic downturn,” she said. “It takes a long time to come out of that.”
Susie is in Washington with more than 700 other people for a National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference this week. They are discussing ways the federal nutrition program “SNAP,” formerly known as food stamps, can help address the problems of hunger in the country as the economy continues to recover.
As important as SNAP is, the FRAC report points out a weakness in that food program: it says the benefit levels aren’t high enough to enable people to purchase enough food to live on. FRAC President Jim Weill says that when people’s nutritional needs aren’t met, it’s difficult for them to move ahead in other aspects of their lives.
“We know from the research that that means parents and kids aren’t doing as well at work and at school as they would be doing if they were consistently eating a healthy diet,” he said.
Weill said improving SNAP benefits starts with passing a new Farm Bill in this legislative year that protects and strengthens the program. Some in Congress have suggested reducing benefits. The old Farm Bill was simply extended when it expired last year.
Florida and other Southeastern states join the Southwest as the two regions of the country most affected by food hardship, according to the report.
By Stephanie Carroll Carson, Public News Service – FL
Comments
12 Responses to “Report: Florida Families Still Struggle To Put Food On Table”
Raising the minimum wage won’t solve anything because it will make the business owners raise the prices on their products and nothing will change.
I would like to see minimum wage raised enough for families to live a modest lifestyle.
“HUH” has a great point as well! Years ago you couldn’t go into a Tom Thumb and buy junk food on your EPT card, where you can now with no limitations. Give it some time and the state will begin allowing the EPT card to be used at fast food places, if they haven’t in some places already.
The system is in desperate need of revamping!
I couldn’t agree more with “ALI!” There is NO reason to grant more assistance to individuals who find it to be a way of supporting their families, when in fact they can get out and find a job. Years ago when my mother worked for DCF there were standards of obtaining assistance for no more than “2″ years. What happen to that program? Not to mention, females getting pregnant just to obtain assistance longer is pathetic. Something needs to be reformed in that area of assistance as we speak. Especially when you see them with 4/5/6 children driving BMW’s, Cadillac’s, and any other brand new top dollar vehicle, smartphones, nails & toes done on a weekly basis bragging about how they don’t have to work because they got it made. Sicken’s me because there are elderly and disabled families out there that do NOT qualify for assistance because their income is slightly over what the state allows.
Agree with Ali but don’t forget that the phones are subsidized as well. Working families have to pay for these smart phones but those ho don’t get free minutes etc. and for $30 a month get unlimited minutes, text and data. Why should the government subsidize phones? What a waste of tax dollars.
I think part of the problem is its cheaper to buy a $1 burger than it is to buy fresh veggies, why is that?
I so agree with Ali and also surprised by the title of this article ‘ Family still struggle to put food on table , true for a lot of family,s now days i,m sure but I am shocked at the amount of food that gets thrown in the garbage every day by are school system and by the children it is unbelievable and you would be shocked and you would think nobody was starving or struggling anywhere I do remember when I was a kid in school ‘way back when’ my Mother would tell me before I left in the morning be sure to eat all your school lunch because there my not be anything for supper when you get home and she sure did mean it and I sure did eat it ,and I still went to bed hungry many a nights because there was NO food .
That’s right!!! sometimes cheaper to eat out than buy food…But that’s not healthy either!
Struggle? That’s called life – it’s been that way since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden of Eden.
The benefits do not need to be increased, this is suppose to be a supplement not a way of life. The program needs to provide help for working families who struggle to keep food on the table. I know a family where the parent works 12 to 14 hr days with no car payments living pay period to pay period struggling to provide for their family while their neighbor sits on the porch all day with their cigarettes and smartphones collecting food stamps. What makes the able bodied person who is unwilling to work more deserving of benefits than a working family who struggles.
Every attack on business hurts our chances of providing for our families.
One of the biggest problems is that subsidies from the federal government mean that the unhealthiest foods are cheaper than nutritious, fresh foods. This needs to be remedied.