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Community Corner

Food for Others Filling the Gap

Despite a better economy, change is slow for those living near the poverty line.

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On Saturday when most were out enjoying the last rays of fall sunshine, volunteers and staff at Food for Others were packing boxes and preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday rush.

"This will definitely be our busiest weekend of the year," said Roxanne Rice, executive director at Food for Others, one of the largest food distributors in Northern Virginia, who said they expect to serve 50 to 75 families.

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Since the 2008 economic downturn, distributors, emergency shelters, and charity organizations have played an increasingly important role in the lives of millions of Americans living at the poverty line, filling gaps where the federal safety net is failing to support those most in need.

"We saw huge growth in the number of people needing our services from 2008 to 2009, and since then our numbers have stayed up," Rice said. "We all know that the economy isn't in a recession anymore, but we also know that unemployment is staying high and in the last few years we've seen a constant tide of people needing our assistance. "

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This year, the number of Americans living in poverty hit a 52-year high, growing for the fourth consecutive year

Federal poverty guidelines are important because they determine who is elegible for government nutrition assistance programs, but the process used to set levels has been increasingly criticized as inadequate. Based on a measurement system developed in the 1960s that took the cost of a minimum diet and multiplied it by three, only a few changes have been made in decades. One of the main criticisms is that calculations don't accurately take into account differences in cost of living between cities.

"If you look at federally set poverty income levels, you realize that it's just not possible to live in some areas without making considerably more than that," Rice said. "We have a high cost of living in Northern Virginia, and if only one person in the household is working, they're not going to be able to do what it takes to support themselves, yet many can't access federal aid."

Recognizing this gap, Food for Others has established street sites in Fairfax County, Arlington and Falls Church, where families and individuals can come to receive food, with no questions asked except for the number of people in each household. 

While the U.S. Census Bureau recently released a new supplemental poverty measure, for now, the official method will continue to determine who can participate in federal nutrition programs.

Upcoming:

Tomorrow: Program are making fresh produce more accessible to the region's needy.

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