A Growing Crisis: The Newly Poor

This past week I was handing out boxes of food and essentials at a Feed The Children food drop in Wilmington, Ohio, The weather was freezing. But that didn’t keep people away. The lines were long. You see, in this small town and in its surrounding areas, 8,500 people have been devastated by massive corporate layoffs.

As I looked out into the crowd, I saw how much things in our nation are changing. While their worried gazes and hungry stares were familiar, the people were different. They looked just like you and me, like they could have been my next door neighbor.

Sadly, this isn’t an isolated example. All across America, millions of once successful families are finding themselves on their knees, desperate for help. Their children just don’t understand. “Mommy why are we moving.” “Daddy why can’t you just go the store and buy more food? That’s what we used to do.”

Unlike those who were already living in poverty and used to asking for help when they need it, these “newly poor” are lost. They don’t know where to go or they are too ashamed to ask. And then a friend tells them about a local church that can help or a nearby food pantry that has changed its rules and now allows a family to come once a week for food and essentials. So they swallow their pride, and do what they never thought they would – ask for help.

One food pantry volunteer says, "These are people who never really had to ask for help before. They were once givers and now they’re having to ask for assistance."

Food pantries are doing the best they can to keep up with the rising demand, which has increased more than 30 percent in the past year. But they can’t do it alone. Every day, I’m bombarded with calls and emails asking for our help. And we’re doing our best too, sending out our trucks as fast as we can. But we need help too. The only way we can keep our trucks on the road through the support of our friends. In times of crisis like this, it’s more important than ever that we FEED THE CHILDREN.