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CNN Live Saturday

Number of Families Who Cannot Afford Food Surges

Aired January 05, 2002 - 16:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Of all the gauges and statistics that point to a sour economy, one of the grimmest is the surge in families who no longer have the money for life's most basic necessity, food. Here's CNN's Brian Palmer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One might not expect to see this, lines for donated food, in one of the wealthiest states in the country, Connecticut.

(AUDIO GAP) where the average (UNINTELLIGIBLE) paycheck in 2000 was $61,000.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The people who use our pantry are often working and not making enough money to afford both housing costs, food costs, as well as basic necessities of life. They're making daily choices between paying an electricity bill and paying for rent.

BARBARA SHELDON: I came for the first time in November. It took me -- it's very hard for me to even drive in here, but I do. You do whatever it takes for your kids.

PALMER: Barbara Sheldon left a job at a television network and spent her entire savings to take care of her son, injured in an accident. Finding a new job in the current economy has been tough.

Hunger and food insecurity, not knowing where your next meal is coming from, is rising across the country, not just in Connecticut. Requests for emergency food aid in 2001 increased by 93 percent, according to City Harvest, a hunger relief group that surveyed 32,000 people in 32 states and the District of Columbia.

JULIA ERICKSON, EXEC. DIR., CITY HARVEST: The main reasons for the increase in food need is the recession. People have lost their jobs. That's probably the biggest reason. They do not have income. The second is, the jobs that they do have, many people just can't make ends meet. High housing costs, heating costs. Food is (UNINTELLIGIBLE) thing, you know. And I think that the last thing is we've got some changing demographics. We have more elderly people.

PALMER (on camera): The 1996 Welfare Reform Act set a five-year time limit for benefits that ran out in December 2001. Some states, like New York, set up temporary safety nets for those whose benefits ended. Others, like Connecticut, did not.

(voice-over): Then, there is the September 11 attacks' effect on the economy, and on donations to food pantries.

GAYE HYRE, WEST HAVEN EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE CENTER: Naturally, everyone wanted to give where they perceive the most immediate need and the most emergency. The problem is that, human nature, you tend to forget that there is a constant need in your own community, and it's been empty here.

PALMER: Relief groups say they'll do whatever they must to keep fighting hunger, even if that means substituting less nutritious food for what they would normally give to families.

Brian Palmer, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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