Area residents wait for hours for food, line of cars stretches 1 1/2 miles

When the Smith Chapel Food Pantry in Logan opened at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 24, the line of cars waiting to get in stretched for 1 ½ miles.
Cars began arriving at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday night, and by 5 a.m. there were already 106 cars filled with people waiting in the dark, cold night for food.

The pantry hands out food items on the fourth Monday of every month to families that register with the facility. More than 80 volunteers were on hand on Nov. 24, working out in the rain to get food to the families who might otherwise go without.

“Have a smile on your face today and give everyone a kind word. This may be the only kind word they get all week,” said Dannie Devol to the volunteers just before the pantry opened for the day. Devol and his wife, Jane, run the facility, which also has a thrift shop that is open on Wednesdays and Fridays. The thrift shop helps to support the pantry, and also allows area residents to buy clothing items for $.50, coats for $1 and other items for very low prices.
In October, the pantry served food items to 759 families, which represented more than 2,000 people in need. The number of people helped on Monday was expected to be even higher.
Devol starts each day at the pantry leading the volunteers in a prayer and short pep talk. Then, the volunteers get to their stations and two lines of cars begin slowing making their way through the parking lot, getting food items placed in their vehicles at each station.
James Thompson got in line at 12:30 a.m. on Monday so that he could get through the line quickly after it opened.

“I wouldn’t be here now if I didn’t get here then,” he said. He also receives food stamps, but that program only provides for enough food for his family for about two weeks. The food pantry items help his family get through the month, he said.

One woman, who only wanted to give her first name, Cindy, explained that she got in line at 4 a.m. “I wouldn’t be able to make it without this,” she said. Cindy works part-time, but the job does not pay enough to cover all of her bills or provide for her and her daughter.

One man, who also did not want to give his name, explained that he is disabled and unable to work. He got in line at 4:20 a.m. in order to get food. While he is very thankful for the assistance, he wishes that he could be one of the people giving out the food instead of being one of the people receiving it.

Tammy Tippie got into the line at 4:30 a.m. She explained that the food items the pantry hands out make it worthwhile to spend much of the night sleeping in her car out in the cold.

“I’ve got my blanket,” she said. Tippie moved to Logan a few months ago and was able to find a job, but it does not pay enough to cover all of her expenses. She did not know how she would have made it through Thanksgiving without the help from the pantry, and said it means a lot to her and her family.

The food pantry hands out items such as cereal, tomato paste, vegetable soup, tomato juice, green beans, corn, peas, rice, dried cherries, applesauce, beef stew, ham, onions, noodles, potatoes, apples and bread. On Monday, it also provided turkeys and turkey breasts for Thanksgiving.

Volunteer Susan Aldridge helped to coordinate the turkey hand-outs on Monday. Aldridge is the store manager for the Logan Wal-Mart, and explained that the store had 31 employees volunteering at the pantry. The store previously has had as many as 68 volunteers at the pantry, and Aldridge explained that Wal-Mart donates $5,000 to the pantry every time a certain number of volunteer hours are worked there by the store employees.

“It humbles you,” Aldridge said about working at the pantry. “You look at all the people in line and you’ve got to be thankful for what you have, and you want to give something back.” The people going through the line are also very thankful, and Aldridge said she enjoys talking to them.

One woman told Aldridge that her grandchildren were coming to her home for Thanksgiving, and she was worried she wouldn’t have anything to feed them. The food bank was a big help for her, she said.

One store employee worked until 11 p.m. on Sunday, and then got in line at 1 a.m. so she could pick up food for two elderly shut-ins that she knows, Aldridge said. Many people, like that employee, go through the line picking up items for other people even if they are not receiving any food themselves.

George Ralph spent his day giving the people in line fliers about the free medical clinics held at local churches for the uninsured and underinsured. Ralph said that it is striking to see how long the line is for people waiting for food, and said it shows how deep the poverty problem is in the region.

“It gets a hold of you,” Ralph said.
The poverty problem is growing in southeast Ohio and the holidays can often add to the burden faced by local families. The fact that Thanksgiving and Christmas both come at the end of the month, while the government benefits many people receive don’t provide for enough food or funding to make it through a whole month, also makes it difficult for many families.
For more information on the Smith Chapel Food Pantry, call Devol at (740) 974-1356 or log onto smithchapelfoodpantry.com


By Nick Claussen
Community Relations Coordinator, Athens County Job and Family Services
(740) 797-2523
clausn@odjfs.state.oh.us

Foodbanks see need increase, supplies decrease

While the federal government discusses $700 billion bailouts and broad economic plans, hundreds of southeast Ohio residents are lining up in the middle of the night in the hopes of receiving food.
All of the local food pantries are seeing an increase in demand, but the huge need is especially shocking to see at the Smith Chapel Food Pantry in Logan.
Dannie Devol, coordinator for the food pantry, explained that people will often begin arriving the night before the once-a-month giveaway, waiting in their cars until the pantry opens at 8 a.m. When the pantry opens, the line of cars can stretch for 1 ½ miles.
Many of the people wait in their cars all night so that they can get to work on time in the morning after picking up their food, Devol said. Many also just want to make sure they can get food items they need for their family members.
“About a year and a half ago, we had about 400, 450 (families receiving food boxes). It’s up to 750 now,” Devol said.
Marilyn Sloan, food bank manager for the Second Harvest Food Bank in Logan, explained that the Smith Chapel Food Pantry has items such as apples, bread, cereals, tomato paste, vegetable soup, tomato juice, green beans, corn, peas, rice, dried cherries, applesauce, beef stew, ham and wide noodles to give to area residents.
The Second Harvest Food Bank is a regional food center that distributes supplies to food pantries in 10 southern Ohio counties.
Hocking County currently has 10 active food pantries. Ten years ago, the demand was much smaller and the county only had four active food pantries, Sloan said.
“We had so much food back then, and now that things are really hard, the demand is up and the donations of food are down,” Sloan said.
The country’s economic recession has hurt manufacturers that used to donate to the food pantries, and it has also hurt numerous public and private donors who used to contribute, she said.
“They have scaled back,” Sloan said.
Some people who used to drive others to the food banks are now in the position where they need to receive food boxes in order to make it through the month, Sloan explained.
“What we are seeing more and more of is elderly and people who are on disability who are just not making enough money to keep up with the demands,” Sloan said. “It’s just a very difficult time for our families.”

The 750 families served by the Smith Chapel Pantry in October represented more than 2,000 people who received food, Devol explained. He talks often with senior citizens, veterans, individuals who are disabled and people who have lost their jobs about the problems they are having making ends meet every month. Many people are also working in the community and simply can’t make enough money at their jobs to pay all of their bills, he added.
“The economy, it’s just thrown everything into a real tough situation for us,” Devol said.
The food pantry also runs a thrift store that is open on Wednesdays and Fridays. Many people in the community donate clothing and other items to the thrift store, which sells the clothing items for $0.50 each. Winter coats cost $1 a piece.
By charging a small amount per item, it helps raise money for the pantry and it also brings in customers who would not come in for hand-outs, Devol said.
“Last year, this little shop took in $39,000,” Devol said. All of the money from the thrift store goes to the food pantry, and it makes up about 50 percent of the food pantry’s budget, he said.
The food pantry also receives donations from organizations such the United Way and Wal-Mart, as well as receiving a small amount of government funding and a large number of private donations from the community.
“Wal-Mart has been very supportive,” he said, adding that the food pantry also receives between 20 and 30 volunteers from Wal-Mart every month.
Because the Second Harvest Food Bank cannot get many canned good items to the local food pantries anymore, Devol often buys items from Wal-Mart to hand out. Recently, for example, he had to order 8,000 cans of corn and beans, well as items such as ramen noodles and peanut butter.
“All of that came from Wal-Mart, and they gave me a very good price on it,” he said.
The pantry also receives excellent support from community members who volunteer every month.
“I never make a phone call. (The volunteers) know when it is and they’re here,” he said. People need to fill out applications in order to receive food at the pantry, and Devol said the volunteers help with this, too.
At age 83, he enjoys working at the food pantry and thrift store every day, and said that he and his wife, Jane, know that their work is needed.
“We feel that it’s a need in our community,” Devol said. “We have been blessed to a certain degree. We sort of feel like it’s a way to pay something back.”
He sees nearly every day how the food pantry helps people in need, and said that it is also good for him to be working at the facility.
“We don’t want to sit in a rocking chair and deteriorate. If you use your mind and your body like the Bible says, you’ll live longer,” Devol said.
For more information on the food pantry, call Dannie Devol at (740) 974-1356.
For more information on the Second Harvest Food Bank, call Marilyn Sloan at (740) 385-6813.

By Nick Claussen, community relations coordinator
Athens County Job and Family Services
(740) 797-2523
clausn@odjfs.state.oh.us

Slackers?

The campaign for a “Real Bottom Line of How Much Money it takes to Survive” has provided a much-needed resource to define what amount of money a family needs to meet its basic needs. The research and hard work put into this effort are to be commended. If nothing else, it confirms the inadequacy of our financial safety net of public assistance programs. It also explains the constant struggle our working poor families are facing in their effort to make ends meet. It further suggests that government programs should look to this new higher standard as a guide for eligibility. This would, of course, expand the benefits many of our financial assistance programs offer to many more families, which is a worthy goal. No one in America should do without basic human necessities.

Unfortunately, in a sample letter to the editor (see below) issued by the supporters of this plan, there seems to be very inappropriate comments about “welfare” and those receiving cash assistance as being “slackers.” Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines a “slacker” as “a person who shirks work or obligation.” The writer seems to be making the point that somehow the assistance we give to working families is not welfare and in the process chooses to malign those families who currently must rely on cash assistance.

The term “slacker” cannot be applied to folks receiving assistance under the “reformed” welfare system adopted in this country ten years ago. Welfare reform added time limits, work requirements, reporting requirements, and sophisticated computer monitoring systems to resolve the issues of who “deserved” public assistance raised by all the old myths about welfare. Folks receiving public assistance benefits cannot and do not shirk work or their many other obligations. However, apparently some of the advocates for the poor have adopted the currently fashionable political posturing of some that public assistance given to folks who are more like “us” is not welfare and, therefore, is acceptable. Folks who are more like “us” are more “deserving” of our help.

Instead of trashing the poorest people, those on cash assistance, we need to build stronger coalitions among all low-income families and individuals. The truth is that all means-tested financial assistance programs are welfare. That includes Medicaid, child care subsidies, housing assistance, earned income tax credits and HEAP. It baffles me as to why some programs are seen in such a positive light and others denigrated. Someone receiving financial assistance due to limited income is in the same boat as millions of other people who are sick, disabled, unemployed, divorced, elderly or just working at a low wage job. We should all be proud that we live in a country that feels a responsibility to help its less fortunate citizens. Pitting the poor against each other does not advance our efforts to create a just and fair society.

Jack Frech 11/10/08
Director, Athens County Department of Job and Family Services

==============================================================
DRAFT Op-ED for Submission to Daily Newspaper Editorial Editor by Low Income Advocate
Please review carefully and personalize with individual country information

What’s the REAL Bottom Line of How Much Money it Takes to Survive Here in XXXXX County and Why It Matters

As ______[job title and organization]_____________________________, I’ve learned that how we as a nation define, measure and report poverty is emotionally charged and can often generate more heat than light.

Many times, when the conversation turns to poverty here in America and in our community, logic and rationality can go out the window. And when that happens the possibility of any useful follow-up discussion about what, if anything, can and should be done to assist those who are not making it financially becomes almost impossible.

But in these scary and challenging economic times, it’s even more critical to have these kinds of discussions as more and more Ohioans find themselves closer to the margins and living on the edge.

I’ve seen it many times. Just using terms like “poverty”, “poor” or “low-income” can conjure up arguments, resentments, political agendas and a host of other distractions that don’t help us get any closer to answering the real question that we as citizens of any income level or political viewpoint should want to know: Exactly how much money does it take to be economically self-sufficient right here in our community? In other words, exactly how much money is required to be able to pay the basic bills without any family, charitable or government assistance?

If conservatives, liberals and everybody else could just find common ground on what economic self-sufficiency really means in the real world – what the REAL bottom line for survival is – then we could discuss and debate what we should do about it in a more meaningful way. We might not agree on the policy prescriptions or action agenda for helping people become more self sufficient but, at least, we could start the discussion on the same page.

With a new President and Congress (on the horizon) the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies (OACAA) – the organization representing Ohio’s XX locally-governed poverty-fighting organizations – believed the time was right to answer this question for each of Ohio’s 88 counties. So, they asked the University of Washington to develop something called The Ohio Self Sufficiency Standard for 2008.

The Ohio Self-Sufficiency Standard uses a proven formula and real world data to determine exactly the minimum amount of money it takes to pay the rent, buy food, cover child care, get to work and just cover the basics without any savings, fun or frills in each of Ohio’s 88 counties.

Right here in XXXXXX County, for example, two working parents with an infant need to earn at a minimum of $XX,XXX a year to be considered self sufficient; that’s $X.XX per hour per parent. Again, this represents the REAL bottom line of what it takes to just get by. That figure is well above the federal poverty guidelines, which determine eligibility for programs like Head Start and Medicaid that can help low income working people better be able to hold onto a job. That figure is well above the minimum wage. In fact that figure is more than most jobs in Ohio pay.

The Ohio Self Sufficiency Standard presents a budget and the necessary income to meet that budget for various family sizes and configurations in every Ohio county along with full information on how the researchers determined each county’s self-sufficiency budgets. You can access the full report at: www.oacaatraining.org (or newspaper web site, if posted there).As you look through the report and digest the numbers keep these things in mind:

• The families who live below the self-sufficiency standard or even below the federal government’s definition of poverty – which is usually around half of the self-sufficiency standard – are by-and-large working families. They aren’t on welfare. They aren’t slacking off. They work low wage jobs and are treading water. Sadly today, with fewer jobs and lower wages in every corner of Ohio, working is too often not a ticket to true self sufficiency;
  
• In order to survive and be able to raise a family on wages that pay below the self-sufficiency standard, we believe – especially now -- that a solid system of work supports needs to be in place – child care assistance, health care, job-training and skills development, housing vouchers, etc. – to reward work and help assure families can cover the basics that low wages do not until additional training and job success moves them toward real self-sufficiency;
  
• We also believe that the federal Poverty Guidelines used to determine eligibility for these kinds of work supports should be adjusted to be closer to the self-sufficiency family budgeting standard in the report rather than the artificially low and outdated methods used to calculate them today.

Look through the self-sufficiency standard for your county and ask yourself if the numbers make sense as a way to determine a survival baseline. If they do, then join us in the coming dialogue on how we can assure more Ohio working families meet and ultimately exceed this standard.

XXXXXXX is XXXXXXXXXXXX

====================================================================

No bail out for our poorest children

There are 3 million children in America, including 130,000 in Ohio, who depend on the reformed welfare system to meet their basic needs. The families of these children comply with all of the time limits, work requirements, extensive verifications and numerous rules of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant. An average family of two on TANF in Ohio receives $336 a month in cash assistance and would also be eligible for a maximum of $298 a month in Food Stamps. When combined, this only provides an income of roughly half of the Federal Poverty Level. Ohio’s benefit amount is close to the national average.

These families cannot meet their basic needs. The economic depression is here for them now. They must frequently depend on food pantries, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters. They are doubled and tripled up in their housing.

The annual TANF appropriation for the nation is about $16 billion. The Food Stamp program appropriation is about $35 billion. Both have been reauthorized by Congress in the past few years. There were no emergency meetings of Congress, no pleas from the White House, no media attention to address the 3 million American children who are hungry by design. Yet, Congress is willing to spend $700 billion to bail out Wall Street.

Jack Frech
Director

It is time to face Ohio's problems for the poor

As I sit in my office today in Perry County, my heart is full of sorrow. My question as the County Director for Perry is," How will I make the lives better for the poorest of the poor in Perry County? " Looking out my back window I watched many children enter the church behind our agency to get a "free" pair of shoes for school. One after another they lined up to get their shoes...my heart aches. These same children will not have school supplies, new clothes or a full stomach when they go to school the first day. This is a real picture of what is happening in every county in the State of Ohio. These are poor parents struggling to meet the needs of their families. They are trapped with no way out. How many of you go without a meal? Most poor children can't imagine having fresh fruits and vegetables as they cost too much. Their meals consist of pasta and whatever else the food pantries have available because they are running low on commodities.

My question to those that want to balance the state budget is," Are you willing to do that at the expense of the poor and especially the children."Someone with more power than a County Director must do something about this problem as I have personally done all that I can with the monies I have received. The choice is yours to ignore the situation or actually care about the people of Ohio. It is time to FACE OHIO'S PROBLEMS FOR THE POOR....NOT TURN YOUR BACKS !

Respectfully submitted,
Sherry L. Sterner
Director Perry Co. Dept. of Job & Family Services

How can you help?

People have been asking, "how can I help those in need?"

Be a voice for many who often aren't able to make their own voices heard. Don't let our state and federal elected officials turn away from their responsibility to ensure all Ohioans and all Americans have their basic needs met when they need a safety net. Use the links below to contact your elected officials and express your support to focus on basic needs as a first priority.

Thank you!

Looking for more poverty information?

Looking for more poverty information and data? Be sure to check out the Athens County Job & Family Services' blog: http://athensjfs.blogspot.com/.

Children Services posts banner

Athens County Children Services has placed a banner on East State Street (Athens, Ohio) expressing its concern for families living in extreme poverty and its impact on children.

The agency wants the community to recognize that this is a serious issue that is affecting the safety and well being of the children of this county.

Harmful Effect of Poverty

Athens County Children Services is the county agency responsible for protecting children from abuse and neglect. The agency provides an array of services to support families to keep children safely in their home. We know that research has identified several stress factors that can lead to abuse and neglect of children1. One of the stress factors is a family’s inability to meet their basic needs: food and shelter for their children. With the increasingly severe situations of poverty, we believe the risk of abuse and neglect are also increasing.

In July, 2008, Athens County Children Services caseworkers were asked whether or not poverty, the inability of parents to meet basic needs, were putting children at risk of abuse and neglect. The following are some of the responses from agency staff:

“I am so scared for families this winter. Although there is HEAP and other programs, some families face their utilities being turned off all the time. With the rise in gas prices, I fear for families this winter.”

“Transportation in this rural area is huge. How can they get to a job without a care and how can they save to buy a car without a job? It’s a vicious cycle.”

“I have seen families running out of food stamps well before the end of the month due to high food costs. I have shopped with a mother who did not buy her six children milk because it is too expensive.”

“80% of the elementary students in the school district qualify for free/reduced lunches this year, compared with 67% last year.”

“Transportation is a huge problem. Families become isolated and bored; parents become stressed and depressed. Even if we give families free pool passes, how do they get there?”

“I recently worked with a single mother with several children on cash assistance and food stamps. This family has no transportation, relying on others for transportation. They live in a two bedroom trailer in poor repair and inadequate furniture. The mother needs mental health services, but cannot get transportation for service or the funds to pay for medication….The family does not have the resources to function successfully: no bank account, no money to save, no transportation, medical bills they cannot afford and housing which is not suitable.”

“Families are often unable to afford housing, so they move from family to friends. The children do not have a home, no regular schools and no consistency. Some of these moves put children in homes with adults who are not safe around children.”

“The local homeless shelter has been full for the past several months, so homeless families have no place to go.”

“Parents have no medical cards and cannot get treatment for depression or other mental health problems.”


1. The Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-3; Andrea J. Sedlak and Diane D. Broadhurst, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, Washington, DC, 1996), the most comprehensive federal source of information about the incidence of child maltreatment in the United States, found poverty/family income was significantly related to incidence rates in nearly every category of maltreatment. Reseachers noted that there are a number of problems associated with poverty that may contribute to child maltreatment: more transient residence, poorer education, and higher rates of substance abuse and emotional disorders. Moreover, families at the lower socioeconomic levels have less adequate social support systems to assist parents in their child care responsibilities.

As you sow, so shall you reap

Many of the families our agency interacts with each day are facing choices between paying bills, buying food, and going without. As one of the poorest and smallest counties in Ohio, the staff of Vinton CDJFS see the problems our families encounter on a daily basis, many are our neighbors and family. Too many families (and elderly) are living at, or below, the poverty guidelines. Until we begin to increase the quality of life for the families we serve, they will continue to struggle with meeting their basic needs, which impacts their ability to function.

There is a Latin saying, "Ut sementem feceris, ita metes" (As you sow, so shall you reap). Ohio needs to take a serious look at it's priorities. Until we begin to raise the quality of life for the poorest of the poor, we will continue to pay a higher cost on the back end (i.e., families falling apart) for our lack of investment on the front.

Jody Walker, Director
Vinton County Department of Job and Family Services