Hungry? We don't wanna know

[WendyBG]

https://www.wsj.com/economy/trump-administration-cancels-annual-hunger-survey-ca3d3793?mod=hp_lead_pos2

Trump Administration Cancels Annual Hunger Survey

The government has been measuring food insecurity since the mid-1990s, but now says the report has become ‘overly politicized’

By Dan Frosch, Patrick Thomas and Andrea Petersen, The Wall Street Journal

The Trump administration is canceling the annual USDA survey measuring food insecurity across the US.

The Trump administration is canceling an annual government effort to gather data on how many Americans struggle to get enough food.

The data, which is collected each December and analyzed by the U.S. Agriculture Department, measures food insecurity across states and demographic groups.

The data has been collected every year since the mid-1990s, and is widely used by federal, state and local policymakers to make funding decisions for food-assistance programs, and to evaluate how well those programs work. …

The decision to end the USDA data collection comes at a time when more Americans are struggling to get enough to eat. Food banks have seen requests for assistance from households rise over the past few years, driven by the end of pandemic aid programs and the impact of inflation on grocery prices. In 2023, the USDA reported that an estimated 13.8 million children lived in households that struggled to get enough food at times, the highest number in nearly a decade, according to the most recent USDA survey.…

The cancellation also comes on the heels of cuts to federal spending on food aid programs. The legislation passed by Congress and signed by President Trump this summer reduces funding and tightens work requirements for people who get food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. … [end quote]

I just made my annual contribution to the local food bank. About one out of nine people in Washington State qualify for SNAP. But WA is relatively prosperous. In New Mexico, 21% of the population qualifies for SNAP.

‎Google Gemini

Food prices are rising. There’s going to be a lot of hunger among the vulnerable population. But don’t tell the government – not anymore. They don’t want to know.

Wendy

(Isaiah 58:7)

[flyerboys]

@WendyBG

Isaiah 58:7

For me, Isaiah 58 is the most magnificently beautiful, powerful, simple and yet utterly daunting passage of the Bible:

Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins!

They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me.
To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people—law-abiding, God-honoring.
They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side.
But they also complain, Why do we fast and you don’t look our way?
Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’

“Well, here’s why: “The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit.
You drive your employees much too hard.
You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
You fast, but you swing a mean fist.
The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground.

Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility?
To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black?
Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?

“This is the kind of fast day I’m after:

to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I’m interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.
Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you get rid of unfair practices,
quit blaming victims,
quit gossiping about other people’s sins,
If you are generous with the hungry
and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness,
your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—
firm muscles, strong bones.
You’ll be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew,
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You’ll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate,
make the community livable again.

[tjscott0]

@WendyBG

In New Mexico, 21% of the population qualifies for SNAP.

That sounds about right.
In my burg we have 4 groups that hand out food weekly. They are funded by individual & business donations plus local grocery stores donate food. If you don’t have the means to cook food. There are 2 organizations that serve prepared meals. One just breakfast and lunch. And another one provides all three meals. And if you are over 60 and can make it to a senior center-Monday through Friday lunch is served there-free if you don’t have the means to pay for it. I pay the suggested $2.50 donation on the days I go. An entree, vegetable,salad & a desert. The best $2.50 meal in town! IMO.
Local communities/governments IMO have the local knowledge & resources aided by their state government to deal with the situation.

So in my city a person really has to make an effort to go hungry. I don’t there aren’t any. But it is my feeling is that those that do go hungry likely have mental issues.

New Mexico responds pretty quickly on SNAP applications. And the state also provides a Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program too.