Salem-News.com Poverty articles Page 28

Oregon Hunger Rate Surges; Food Stamps Fill Need

Statement by OCPP analyst Joy Margheim on food insecurity data.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Data released today showing a surge in Oregon's hunger rate remind us of the importance of the expansion of food stamp benefits in the federal recovery package.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that more than one in eight Oregon households (13.1 percent) struggled to put food on the table at times during 2006-08.

Obama: Reenact the Afghan Children`s Fund

Come on President Obama, please do this for Afghan kids

(SALEM, Ore.) - When then President George W. Bush enacted the Afghan Children's Fund, most Americans were still trying to get their minds around what was actually going on there.

The fund was a good idea, but Bush apparently decided that the kids of Afghanistan had received enough help, and the program was abandoned by the White House on April 1, 2005. We need it to revive it.

Report Finds `Alarming` Rise in Global Hunger

Financial crisis and gender inequality worsen malnutrition.

(NEW YORK) - Underscoring the warning issued by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program that hunger is worsening around the world, the 2009 Global Hunger Index (GHI) records “alarming” levels of hunger and malnutrition in 29 countries.

Oregon`s Poverty Rate Rises in First Year of Recession

In the survey released Tuesday, the seven other states that saw an increase in poverty from 2007 to 2008 were California, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

(SILVERTON, Ore.) - Oregon was one of only eight states to see its poverty rate rise during the first year of the recession, according to results of the American Community Survey (ACS) released Tuesday by the U.S Census Bureau.

The survey estimated that 13.6 percent of Oregonians -- more than 506,000 people -- lived in poverty in 2008. That rate was significantly above Oregon's 12.9 percent poverty rate in 2007, according to Joy Margheim, policy analyst with the Oregon Center for Public Policy. "We weren't winning the war on poverty before the economic downturn, much less now," Margheim said.

Itafari Foundation; Inspiring the Children of Rwanda (SLIDESHOW)

They want kids to realize their own empowerment to rebuild better lives.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Itafari Foundation is holding a VIRTUAL fundraiser on September 25-27 to raise money for the school we’re building; Kigali Secondary Parents School. For $75 you can buy a BRICK (itafari!) with your name or the name of a loved one on it which will be placed in the school in Rwanda.

Education is the key to ending poverty and hate; it also guides you through a world filled with choices. You can choose to make an extraordinary difference in the world and choose to make a lifelong difference in the life of a child - for $75. It can start slowly with something as simple as a brick.

Community Encouraged To Attend Local Hunger Discussion

The bottom line is that local food banks need the community’s help if we are to answer the sharp increase in need.

(KEIZER, Ore.) - Local hunger is at all-time record levels. Join Keizer Community Food Bank and Marion-Polk Food Share in a very important discussion on how hunger is effecting families in the Keizer community.

This special community meeting will be held at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 29th, 2009, at Keizer Community Center, 930 Chemawa Rd NE.

Waiting for Another Harsh Winter in Gaza

Regardless of Israeli threats and intimidation, Free Gaza volunteers will continue to directly challenge the Israeli military with their small boats, concretely demonstrating that this siege has nothing whatsoever to do with security and is simply an illegal act of collective punishment.

(BOSTON) - Winter is coming, and it will be bitterly cold in Gaza. Many Gazans, whose houses were destroyed by the Israeli Defence Forces, have no shelter and will suffer terribly.

Families still live amid the rubble of their homes with no resources to fix the damage.

Oregon Food Bank Stretches to Meet `Staggering` Demand (AUDIO)

About one-third of emergency food box recipients are either retired or looking for work.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Food is heading out the doors of Oregon Food Bank network locations almost as fast as it's coming in. There's been a 13 percent increase in the number of emergency food boxes distributed for the fiscal year that ended in June. The boxes contain enough to feed a family for several days.

There has been a 13 percent increase in the number of emergency food boxes distributed for the fiscal year that ended in June. The boxes contain enough to feed a family for several days.

Remembering 9/11

Sitting here with my husband we began to talk about where we were on 9/11...here is my story.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - I was in a small town called El Centro. We had gone there to work in an elementary school teaching young students to read.

Many of these children lived in terrible conditions, filthy with lice, parents who were abusive and neglectful. These parents were typically more concerned about their meth cooking than their children, often looking at them as their monthly pay check.

Hunger Action Month: Empty Cupboards Spreading Through Oregon (AUDIO)

Hunger affects one in five Oregonians, and one in eight Americans nationwide.

( PORTLAND, Ore.) - The report from the front lines in Oregon is that the economy is taking a bite out of family dinners. September is Hunger Action Month, and Sharon Hills, executive director of the St. Vincent de Paul Food Recovery Network, says this year's designation comes as requests for emergency food boxes are at record highs.

"The increase has been at least 40 percent in families requesting food. Of those families, between 40 and 50 percent are children." Hunger Action Month is a time to educate the public on the difficulties faced by families on limited food budgets, according to Hills.