Going Hungry in New York City
A whopping 15% of New Yorkers can’t afford daily food. Of 8.2 million people, about 1.2 million increasingly rely on charity meals.
Raw numbers illustrate the growing gulf between rich and poor. In 2006:
- Wall Street Bankers collected $24 billion in bonuses.
- The city’s streets were home to 3,800 homeless.
- More than 1.6 million adults earned less than $10,000, the national poverty line.
- Over 475,000 children live below the poverty line.
- Over 380,000 children rely on free food to survive.
More than 1,200 soup kitchens and food pantries across the city are currently providing food for these people who can’t afford it.
Faces of the Hungry
Contrary to popular belief, most of the hungry are not welfare deadbeats; most are working parents, children, and senior citizens who just can’t make ends meet anymore.
New York’s 1.2 million hungry are made up of people like Raymond, who lives with his school-aged son and disabled wife in a one-bedroom apartment.
Or Gina, who is working two jobs, but still doesn’t earn enough to feed her three children between the ages of 6 and 14.
Or Mark, who lost his professional job and went to work juggling three part-time jobs. His family had to rely on free food after the kids’ college funds were exhausted.
The Gap between Rich and Poor Grows
The sad fact is that Americans work more hours than any other industrialized nation. France, for example, has laws limiting the workweek to 35 hours.
And still, as noted by the CIA Factbook, “Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20 percent of households.”
The USA now has 37 million out of 300 million people living below the poverty line. That’s the combined populations of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, and Arkansas. The US infant mortality rate compares with Malaysia’s.
And while median household income falls, congress passes more tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, cuts funding for Medicaid and other safety nets, and each year asks for billions of supplemental dollars to fund an illegal war.
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January 7th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Wow. I would have never guessed this. I’m glad that you raised this issue.
January 8th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Cordon: Granted, New York City isn’t the cheapest place to live, but still…it surprised me, too, when I started browsing for information. When the number of people depending on handouts for basic needs climbs to 15%, that’s getting a bit much for charity to fix on its own when we’re talking about the richest country on earth…
April 25th, 2007 at 5:45 am
Thank You
April 25th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Alex: Hope it helps in some small way.