Who are Bloggers Against Hunger?
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=69842901&blogID=407280471
Since myspazz was acting so strange yesterday, the BAH blog event will go on for another day. Take some time and read these posts for the Blogathon, "Bloggers Against Hunger"!
****Some of these folks have "friends only" blogs, make them your friend, tell em BAH sent you!
To join BAH- Bloggers Against Hunger
http://groups.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=groups.groupProfile&groupid=107149636&Mytoken=1754A9EC-A772-4C30-82FDD9170D79751297485582
Sage Boucher's Blog
Free Rice
Paulie's Blog
Tears In Rain
Bellesouth's Blog
End Hunger. Buy Local
Selles' Blog
Hunger in Lower Texas
Mama Loves Puppies Blog (friend's only, so send her a friend request!)
Carrying Capacity
Just Mel's Blog
What's Wrong With Us
CC's Blog
Reporting From Maine
Aaaaaaaaron's Blog
Chances Are, You Won the Lottery
Torment's Blog
Bloggin Against Hunger
McFeisty's blog
In The Ghetto
Misha's Blog
I Don't Know How They Do It
Lauren's Blog
Life in a Soup Kitchen
Chaosgrrl's Blog
BAH – It's Complicated
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A while back, my dot-comrade Lauren, asked me to join her in an event she called "Blogging Against Hunger". I enthusiastically agreed and started to research the topic. I read, and read, and read and then read some more. I am ashamed to admit, that even though I probably face this problem in my daily work life, I really didn't realize the extent of the problem. I decided to attack this blog challenge scientifically, I loaded my draft with facts, figures and pleas. Then I wrote. I wasn't satisfied with the finished product. It was dry. It sounded like a platform speech for Miss America.
So I decided to attack this project a different way, MasterCard style.
Minimum wage in California-
$8.00/ hour.
Working full time-$1280.00/month.
Two person monthly income-
$2560.00/month
(before taxes)
Cheapest rent in Napa(before taxes)
2B, 1B-
$1300.00/month
Price for a gallon of gas-
$4.39/gallon
Monthly gas costs, assuming
you work in town, have only
one vehicle and don't
drive a SUV-
you work in town, have only
one vehicle and don't
drive a SUV-
$180.00/month
Monthly utilities without TV,cell phones, water or garbage-
$225.00/month
Health Insurance for 4 people
not including medications ordoctor visit co-pays AND
assuming the employer
subsidizes the cost-
$400.00/month
Childcare for 2 kids,
since both parents work-
since both parents work-
$400.00/month
Money left over to feed, clothe,
and clean your home and family-
and clean your home and family-
$55.00/month
The cost of putting yourkids to bed with food in
their stomachs-
Priceless.
$55.00 a month leftover to feed a family of 4!
I don't know how my patients do it.
Please find out what you can do to help the fight against hunger. The hunger of others is immoral and if you think that it doesn't effect you, you are wrong.
Here are links, articles and video produced by others regarding hunger:
Here are links, articles and video produced by others regarding hunger:
..
Online Videos by Veoh.com
The news at the grocery store is grim for many. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, food prices rose by 4% last year, the largest increase in 17 years. And, the USDA predicts they will rise another 4% this year. Eggs are up 40% in the past year; milk up 26% a gallon; a loaf of standard bread, 20%.
All across the nation families, government agencies and food banks are feeling the pinch. So many people are in precarious straits our government figures 28 million Americans will be using food stamps this year, the highest level since the program began in the 1960s. Almost one in l0 people in Ohio get food stamps; one in eight in Michigan, and one in six West Virginians. The rising food prices make that assistance worth less and less and food banks and pantries are facing increased need and those same higher prices.
The government has specific terms to quantify the nation's access to food — recently removing "hunger" from its designations.
* Food security People have access, at all times, to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.
* Low food security: Reports of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet. Little or no indication of reduced food intake.
* Very low food security: Reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake.
The federal government reports its annual figures in numbers of "food secure." In 2006, 89 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the entire year. The remaining households (10.9 percent) were food insecure at least some time during that year, essentially unchanged from 11.0 percent in 2005. The prevalence of very low food security was 4.0 percent of households, also essentially unchanged from 2005 (3.9 percent).
America's Second Harvest profiles extensive demographic profiles of emergency food clients at charitable feeding agencies. Their Hunger Study 2006 found that 4.5 million different people receive emergency food assistance from the system in any given week.
Find out how you can get or give assistance through the links below:
The Hunger Site
America's Second Harvest
Mercy Corps
Bread For The World
BAH- Blogging Against Hunger (myspace group)
BAH- Blogging Against Hunger (facebook group)
America's Second Harvest provides nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger. You can search their database for a food panty near you and get tips on how to donate and volunteer.
"About 1.1 Million Ohioans Receive Food Stamps, Highest In Nation"
AHN Media, Julie Farby, March 25, 2008.
"High Grocery Bills? Get Great Deals on Dated Food Amish Country Grocery Store Says Outdated or Damaged Food Is Fine to Sell"
ABC News, Ryan Owens and Ely Brown, March 18, 2008
"Hunger Pains"
THE WASHINGTON POST, Kirstin Downey, April 8, 2008
"One in 6 West Virginians is on food stamps: Officials say higher cost of food, fuel diminish value of assistance"
CHARLESTON DAILY MAIL, Justin D. Anderson, March 26, 2008.
"Rising Food Prices Hard in Brooklyn"
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, Amanda Coleman and Veronika Belenkaya, April 8th 2008.
"What Grocers Teach Us About The U.S. Economy"
FORBES, Melanie Lindner, April 9, 2008.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04112008/profile4.html
Health Consequences of Hunger
Hunger and under-nutrition contribute to a number of negative health consequences:
A joint analysis released by the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University and the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) shows how hunger and obesity not only pose separate and distinct health risks, but also can co-exist in the same household.
According to FRAC's survey of families living below 185 percent of poverty -- the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project (CCHIP) -- hungry children suffer from two to four times as many individual health problems, such as unwanted weight loss, fatigue, headaches, irritability, inability to concentrate and frequent colds, as low-income children whose families do not experience food shortages. This relationship between hunger and health problems was unaffected by income. In other words, hunger had a strong effect on children's health no matter what the income level of their families.
According to CCHIP, hungry children are more likely to be ill and absent from school.
The infant mortality rate is closely linked to inadequate quantity or quality in the diet of the infant's mother. In 1996, the infant mortality rate in the United States was 7.3 deaths per 1,000 live births. Black infants in the U.S. died at more than twice the rate of white infants, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Stunting (low height for age) in children results from inadequate nutrition.
According to the U.S. Public Health Service, the Surgeon General's 1990 goal of eliminating growth retardation of infants and children caused by inadequate diets was not met because significant numbers of low-income children continued to suffer retarded growth. In 1992, almost twice as many low-income children as would be expected were short for their age.
Iron-deficiency anemia in children can lead to adverse health effects such as developmental and behavioral disturbances that can affect children's ability to learn to read or do mathematics, and increased susceptibility to lead poisoning. Anemia remains a significant health problem among low-income children, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Pregnant women who are undernourished are more likely to have low-birthweight babies. These infants are more likely to suffer delays in their development and are more likely to have behavior and learning problems later in life.
Hungry children are less likely to interact with other people or explore or learn from their surroundings. This interferes with their ability to learn from a very early age.
Hunger has a negative impact on children's ability to learn in school. School-aged children who are hungry cannot concentrate or do as well as others on the tasks they need to perform to learn the basics. Research indicates that low-income children who participate in the School Breakfast Program show an improvement in standardized test scores and a decrease in tardiness and absenteeism compared to low-income students who do not eat breakfast at school.
According to the Tufts University Center on Hunger, Poverty and Nutrition Policy, evidence from recent research about child nutrition shows that, in addition to having a detrimental effect on the cognitive development of children, undernutrition results in lost knowledge, brainpower, and productivity for the nation.
Hunger and malnutrition exacerbate chronic and acute diseases and speed the onset of degenerative diseases among the elderly. This not only leads to an unnecessary decrease in the quality of life for many older people, but also increases the cost of health care in the United States. National data for people ages 65 to 75 show that a majority are not consuming even two-thirds of the nutrients they need to stay healthy.
Hunger, and insecurity about whether a family will be able to obtain enough food to avoid hunger, also have an emotional impact on children and their parents. Anxiety, negative feelings about self-worth, and hostility towards the outside world can result from chronic hunger and food insecurity.
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