If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
If you're a parent struggling to make ends meet, you're probably going to choose to spend $1.99 for a gallon at Aldi rather than $6.99 for organic at Whole Foods. Does that mean you don't care as much about the health of your child?
Last year more Americans relied on food stamps to eat than at any time since the program began in 1939 -- 46 million. Yet once again some voices are starting to wonder whether we really need robust anti-hunger programs in America.
While winter has spared remote areas of Minnesota this year, proposed budget cuts will slam the North Country if the U.S. Post Office abandons its location in Ponsford.
I don't use a walking stick. I would become too dependent on one. When you learn to become dependent on something, not having that "thing" makes whatever task you are facing immensely harder, mentally.
It is time for innovation, a bold plan of action that will create a path of hope and opportunity for those currently living in poverty. Looking at these daunting rates of poverty in this country, it is clear that the status quo is not working.
"Very poor" are dirty words in this nation, and I have come to grips with the shame I once carried about being impoverished. I have also learned that very poor has much more to do with the spirit of a person than it does with the balance in his bank account.
Childhood hunger is an invisible epidemic. Invisible, because there is no political will in America to address it, or even acknowledge that it exists.
Ignoring all evidence and facts, Wall Street is reported to be "an industry that the White House has thoroughly and repeatedly demonized and demoralized" -- what?
Four out of five physicians felt that meeting the social needs of a person is just as important as meeting their medical conditions. Of those care providers in low-income communities, nine out of ten felt the same.
Our leaders must recognize the corrosive effects of poverty, but also realize there are tens of millions of Republican and Democratic citizens alike who stand ready to tackle this issue. And citizens need small amounts to make a big difference.
Too many people -- including national leaders who should know better -- can't begin to understand what it means to be profoundly poor and the challenges faced by disadvantaged kids.
We need targeted intervention by our federal government to provide jobs for our people -- an FDR-like program that hires our youth, our returning soldiers, our chronically unemployed.
Childhood poverty and obesity are a tarnish on who we are as people and at the end of the day, we all -- believers or not -- have a responsibility to do better.
This post is part of a series on childhood poverty in the United States in partnership with Save the Children and Julianne Moore. Moore leads the org...
"I'm not concerned about the very poor," is sure to dog Romney throughout the campaign. But as he continues to explain what he meant, I hope he takes the opportunity to think about the "very poor." And I hope he is concerned. We all should be.
Anyone who thinks welfare recipients do nothing but sit around and cash their checks isn't familiar with the schedules of Tiffany and many others like her.
