Bryana Ramirez-Macias

PAS 113B

Professor D.A. Broadous

March 18, 2012

                                              Dealing with Poverty in America

Imagine sitting in a box on a windy day wearing the same clothes you’ve worn every day for the past few weeks. People pass by that box with a look of pity on their face, some people will be kind enough to throw in a couple of bucks and others will just tell you to get a job. You decide to go for a walk and look around for scraps of food from a trash can, as you do this, you spot a family through their window. You notice the nice, warm meal being placed in front of them and you feel the knot that your stomach has turned into from starvation. That’s when you lose hope, watching people lose their jobs and therefore forced out of their homes and onto the streets hoping that there will be some compassion in this world.

The percentage of being struck by poverty continues to rise higher each and every single day. Hunger in America has continued to be a problem throughout the years and more and more families are suffering from starvation. According to the World Hunger Education Service, 17.2 million households had become food insecure in 2012. That was known as the highest number to ever be recorded in the United States. In the meantime, 6.7 million households had a very low amount of food security, which then reduced the normal amount of food intake in each one of those households.

The U.S. Census Bureau took action and decided to publish a supplemental poverty measure in 2011. It had addressed several concerns that kept being raised, such as developing programs for families that were in desperate need of help. The Census Bureau created a program called the SNAP/food stamp program, which took the status of families income and determined whether or not they were eligible for the program. This program had showed a 3 million increase in the number of people that were stricken with poverty in 2010 as it was the official poverty rate. The SNAP program helped make a huge impact on children, because they wouldn’t have to go to school feeling hungry and lack of energy to help them interact in their classes throughout the day.

Another program had changed the lives of mothers and their infants, which was known as WIC. The program WIC is known as the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children(Hunger in America: 2012). WIC was a successful program because it has  provided nutritional foods, gave referrals to health and social services for low-income pregnant mothers, and gave a strong nutrition education. Women who are provided by WIC, receive vouchers or checks so that they are able to purchase all of the nutritional necessities such as, milk, eggs, cheese, bread, baby foods, vegetables, fruits and other nutritional products. Congress has the authority to fund this program each year and is known as a federal grant program.

There has been many news related articles that gave people the chance to speak out and be heard about how they were dealing with poverty. An 80-year old women by the name of Exaltacion Divinagracia, shared her story on how she managed to live with poverty. Divinagracia worked part time at a nursery school, and had took in six roommates, all over the age of 75, into the house that she had rented with her husband that had passed away. Divinagracia attended church on Saturdays and Sundays, but would carry around a beat up suitcase, and drag it along one food pantry to another to stock up on food for the week. Her income was only $13,000 a year and that had included public benefits.

Divinagracia had quoted, “America is a place for the young, but for the old, it is no good.” Her house was filled with two widows and a couple that was involved with the naturalization program for World War II veterans that were from the Philippines. In the living room, a veteran and a widow occupied the couches but had put a curtain to keep their privacy. Each and every single one of them had brought along their most cherished memories such as, photographs and old pieces of uniforms. They don’t make enough money to be able to live independently and live a comfortable life without having to share a room with a stranger.

 Food banks had proven to be very helpful when it comes to catering to the poor and helping them receive a decent meal. Volunteering at the valley food bank in Van Nuys, changes the point of view on how good you really have it in life. People throw away food every day without realizing what a waste of money it is while others aren`t as fortunate to have a warm meal. Grocery stores donate the food that no one wants to buy and it`s not always in good condition. For example, the jalapenos were full of fuzz, the tomatoes were very soft and the onions were very moldy.

The people that worked there didn’t get paid much but they were also experiencing a bit of poverty in their lives so they took whatever they could. The workers would sort the food from the good and the bad, but in our opinion of bad is still kind of good to eat for people that can`t afford to buy groceries. Once the food is sorted out, it is weighed and then loaded onto the trucks. The trucks then deliver the food to mostly churches where the people can stop by and pick up food for their families or even themselves. A major problem right now though is that the trucks travel pretty far and that is costing the food bank to spend a lot of money on gas and soon the organization won`t have any money to fill up and deliver the food at all.

The school systems is another problem right now because the children that are living in poverty suffer the most at school. Children have been forced to move out of their homes and leave behind the comfortable lives they once lived to land into a motel or another family member or friend. Some people are kind enough to share their homes with the people that have lost theirs, as well as their food and utilities. Poverty impacts the children the most because they either can`t sleep from all the stress that has been put onto their family or they go to sleep hungry. Then, the children wake up early the next day skipping breakfast or eating a small portion of something which is very hard to keep them going throughout the day.

A certain article was written by the Columbus Dispatch, stating that race is no longer the case that holds students back in school, it is now poverty. Children are now made fun of because of the type of schools they attend. For example, students receive stereotypes for attending an urban, rural, or even a suburban school. It has been proven that black students have performed below their white peers in their academics. The lack of enthusiasm and energy these students have from poverty appears on their test results.

The percentage of the poverty line that Americans are determined on have been increasing throughout the years. In 2006, American children lived below that poverty line by 17.4 percent, which was more than it was in 1969. Poverty rates in other countries are much lower than the poverty rates in the United States because they have programs to help the poor and unfortunate which is funded by the government. Barack Obama has been working on a plan to help decrease the population of Americans living in poverty. He proposed to raise minimum wage to $9.50 an hour but the economists at Cornell University pointed out that this proposal would fail to improve the poverty rate due to the percentage of benefits that families receive.

Many promises have been made to people to demolish poverty and start fresh economically. Although, that seems very promising, it would take years to get back on track and open up new jobs for people that have been laid off or fired. The president is finding new ways to improve the economic status, but it seems that his term is almost up. If a new president is elected, their roles on poverty wouldn’t be the same as president Obamas views. Things might change drastically, it could be good or bad on the people that are trying to get back on track with their lives.

We can continue to redefine the way poverty is all we want, but it won`t be easy. More programs need to be established and funded in order to reassure the people that have nothing that there is hope. Rescue missions are doing their best to help those people get back on their feet and understand them emotionally. Hopefully Obama is reelected as our president so that he can continue with his strategies on poverty and find ways to create more jobs for the men and women living on the streets or even in their cars. No matter what, changes need to be made and people need to stop taking things for granted or damaging their belongings in order to prove a point that they will just receive whatever they want.