Ronald, who would not give his last name for privacy reasons, enjoys a meal provided by the Berkeley Food and Housing Project.
photo/Eli Weissman
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Ronald, who would not give his last name for privacy reasons, enjoys a meal provided by the Berkeley Food and Housing Project. photo/Eli Weissman |
Many working families in Berkeley still rely on local food banks for regular meals, according to a nationwide study released last week. About 36 percent of families served by food banks nationally have at least one employed member, according to the Hunger in America 2006 study conducted by America's Second Harvest, a national network of food banks.
Last year, volunteer surveyors interviewed more than 50,000 clients of food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency shelters around the country, including some sites in Berkeley.
Families that include at least one employed member make up about 38 percent of people who rely on emergency food sources in Alameda County, which is slightly higher than the national average, said Betsy Edwards, hunger educator and advocacy coordinator for the Alameda County Community Food Bank.
A family with two members working full-time at minimum wage does not earn enough money to cover Alameda County living expenses, she said. However, because such a family would make almost $250 above the poverty level, they are ineligible for food stamps.
"The cost of living is high, so poverty levels are skewed here," she said. "Many families' incomes do not cover living expenses, but they are ineligible for most government assistance."
Edwards said most of the survey's data for Alameda County came from Berkeley and Oakland sources.
Between 22 million and 25 million people used food pantries nationally in 2005, while another 2 million to 3 million ate at soup kitchens or emergency shelters, the study reported.
In Berkeley, some people depend on community food sources to provide meals that they sometimes cannot afford.
Ronald, who did not want his last name released for privacy reasons, said he frequently eats hot meals organized by the Berkeley Food and Housing Project when money is short.
An assistant vendor for several vendors on Telegraph Avenue, Ronald lived in an apartment with his girlfriend until a recent drop in his income forced the two to move into their van.
"Sometimes I have trouble making rent, especially after Christmas when business slows down," he said. "Living in the Bay Area has always been expensive, but since 1990, apartment rates have skyrocketed."
At the Berkeley Food Pantry, for example, working family members, fathers with visiting children and the occasional UC Berkeley student constitute the majority of the clientele, said the pantry's executive director Elizabeth Strain.
The pantry supplies a weekly average of 60 to 75 bags of groceries, Strain said. The demand for food rises at the end of each month as people struggle to stretch their income.
"Our goal is to keep people in housing," she said. "Many are faced with the choice between food and rent."
Others blame the cost of health care for homelessness and hunger among the employed.
"Health care is what keeps many working people poor," said boona cheema, executive director of Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, a Berkeley-based support agency. "After they pay their medical bills, they're back on the street because they have no money for housing and necessities."
Hunger in the U.S. has risen 18 percent since America's Second Harvest released its first study in 1997. The organization now annually provides services to 25.35 million low-income people, 9 percent of all Americans.
source: http://www.dailycal.org/printable.php?id=21331 1mar2006
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