Kids are going to school hungry on the Palouse.
“Children in this community’s schools will try to empty their leftovers from their lunch tray into their pockets and take it home for the weekend,” Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney said. “Then they come in on Monday bedraggled and make a beeline for the school cafeteria; so hunger really exists here.”
It’s not just children on the Palouse going hungry, communities across the nation have seen an increase in the need for food stamps. High unemployment rates and increasing food, fuel and medical costs have led more Americans to rely on food stamps than at any time since the program began in the 1960s. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, one in seven people in the United States are in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).
Latah County and Idaho have not escaped this trend either. Approximately 235,000 families in Idaho receive food assistance, up 36 percent from 2011. Nearly 14.5 percent of Idaho’s citizens use food stamps, compared to 9.7 percent of Californians, according to Latah County Rep. Tom Trail.
“At one point Idaho had the fastest growth in the food stamp caseloads in the United States,” Rep. Trail said.
Of 37,244 residents, in Latah County, 3,143 receive food stamps through the SNAP program, according to health&welfare.gov.
The Food Stamp Program in Idaho is designed to help low-income families buy the food they need to stay healthy. An eligible family receives an Idaho Quest Card to swipe at the grocery store. The card uses money from a Food Stamp account set up for the family to pay for food items. In order to be eligible for food stamps a number of requirements must be met, which differ from family-to-family. (To see all the requirements go to healthandwelfare.idaho.gov)
“The intent of food stamps is not to be a way of life, but more of a leg-up. But, many families are looking at this as a way of life because their dollars don’t stretch as far as they once did,” Chaney said.
Dependency on food stamps is not just happening locally, but spreading across the nation. The nation’s poverty rate rose to 15.1 percent (46.2 million) in 2010, up from 14.3 percent (approximately 43.6 million) in 2009 and to its highest level since 1993. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13.6 percent of Idaho is below poverty level. A rise in poverty means a rise in food stamp use.
Even with the amount of poverty increasing, Chaney said it is often invisible on the Palouse.
“Unless one is working with the agencies and service organizations, which address issues, related to poverty, we may not be aware of the extent of the problem,” Chaney said
While need and participation increase, resources to fill that need slowly decline. The lowly state of the economy has led to slashed budgets for social services and dwindling donations from non-profit organizations. Chaney said she wants to see increased awareness and an investment in education to raise people out of poverty.
“Because it’s not just feeding the symptoms but it’s looking at the cause of the disease and how we can help people help themselves out of poverty,” Chaney said.
Local food banks serve more Palouse families than ever before, and new needs appear consistently.
“We continue to see an increase in the need of food assistance in our area,” Connie Granbois, manager at Community Action Food Bank in Lewiston, said. “In 2010 we served 4,686 food boxes, and in 2011 we served 5,089 food boxes, and it continues to rise every year. We are seeing more people who have never used a food bank before.”
The Community Action Food Bank in Lewiston is a perishable food program where people receive a weekly allotment of food.
“We serve 27,563 households, impacting 77,185 individuals once a week,” Granbois said.
Another local food supplier, the Trinity Moscow Food Pantry, works to help people get out of poverty and avoid going hungry.
“Sometimes it comes down to choosing between paying a medical bill or eating, and sometimes it comes between buying gas for the car to get to work, or buying groceries, so we are just glad to be there to take that one thing out of the equation — to make things a little easier for people,” Bafus said.
While local food banks stretch supplies to help people in need, resources are declining for many reasons.
“We receive donations from community members, churches. We receive federal, state, and county grants,” Bafus said. “Donations and resources are definitely declining. We have seen budget cuts, we have even seen that people who used to donate are now recipients.”
Bafus and others involved with the Palouse’s food banks want to see a change. They want to help people rise out of poverty and value the life they live.
“We want to see the community working together to end poverty,” Granbois said. “We envision a community where all people have sufficient money, relationships, and meaning in their lives to thrive in a community where everyone is equipped to fully achieve its potential, a community where each person is valued and all people are meeting their needs by utilizing their talents, potential, and passions.”
Carol Zinke can be reached at [email protected]