PRESIDENT'S BUDGET CUTS VITAL FOOD PROGRAM, PUTS SENIORS AT RISK OF HUNGER
Nearly 500,000 Low Income Seniors and Families Would Lose Monthly Meal BoxesCHICAGO --- February 6, 2008 --- President Bush released a Fiscal Year 2009 budget proposal this week , that eliminates funding for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) - a critical nutrition program benefiting nearly half a million low-income seniors and women with young children monthly in 32 states, the District of Columbia and two Indian Tribal Organization areas.
“Elimination of CSFP will be devastating to the most vulnerable populations of low-income Americans in the United States, and in many cases it is their most critical source of nutritious food,” said Vicki Escarra, president and chief executive officer of America’s Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network. “It is extremely disappointing that many of our senior citizens are experiencing hunger. We live in a land of plenty. No one should go without food, especially our seniors who have contributed so much over the years to their communities and to this great nation.”
The President’s budget also would eliminate more than 300,000 working families with children from eligibility for the Food Stamp Program. Despite increasing costs of food and a deteriorating economy, the President’s proposal fails to make much needed improvements in the Food Stamp Program and the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), which are contained in the pending House and Senate Farm Bills. These programs are crucial resources for many low-income Americans in need of food.
Some 93 percent of the Americans participating in CSFP are vulnerable seniors who rely on the food boxes that the CSFP provides to get them through each month. Eliminating CSFP puts these seniors at significant risk of health and related problems associated with aging and poor diets. It also will place additional burdens on food banks and emergency feeding organizations that already are suffering from stagnant funding and more than a 75 percent decline in USDA bonus commodity donations over the last four years.
“This proposal comes on the heels of continued bad economic news and declining conditions among low-income Americans,” said Escarra. “Our nation is experiencing record levels of foreclosures, rising unemployment and dramatically increasing food and fuel costs. Meanwhile, our food bank shelves are getting emptier each day as more than 25 million Americans continue to turn to us for help each year.”
High health care costs, spiraling housing costs and special dietary needs associated with aging present critical problems for the seniors living on low-and fixed incomes. Senior participation in food stamps is low and the average monthly benefit is only $65. The food boxes provided through CSFP offer the equivalent of an additional $50 worth of foods to help seniors secure a nutritious diet. This is more than twice the value of food that needy seniors could purchase with their own limited resources on a monthly basis. And, many of the seniors receiving CSFP food boxes are homebound or lack the resources necessary to access food through federal nutrition programs or prepare a meal due to lack of transportation, functional limitations, or health problems.
“Hungry Americans and food banks need a Farm Bill enacted as soon as possible,” said Escarra. “It is hard to understand why the Administration continues to pursue cutbacks in food assistance programs that the Congress had twice rejected in the past. We hope and expect that the Congress will adequately fund CSFP in the fiscal year 2009 budget, and will enact a new farm bill that continues and improves this essential program for the elderly.”
Nearly 10 percent of America’s elderly live below the poverty line and the nation’s growing boomer population threatens to worsen this statistic. The America’s Second Harvest Network serves nearly three million seniors. Elimination of CSFP will impose additional strains on already tight food bank budgets as hundreds of thousands of seniors will be turning to America's Second Harvest Network Members for a meal.
Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network as well as staff, clients and volunteers are available for interview.
America's Second Harvest–The Nation's Food Bank Network is the largest charitable domestic hunger-relief organization in the country with a Network of more than 200 Member food banks and food-rescue organizations serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The America's Second Harvest Network secures and distributes more than 2 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually; and supports approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies operating more than 94,000 programs including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs and Kids Cafes. Last year, the America's Second Harvest Network provided food assistance to more than 25 million low-income hungry people in the United States, including 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors. For more on the America's Second Harvest Network, please visit www.secondharvest.org.
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Contact:
Ross Fraser
Fraser: 312.641.6422
312.641.6421
