We're currently reading this report from Health Affairs, a journal of health policy thought and research: "Exhaustion Of Food Budgets At Month’s End And Hospital Admissions For Hypoglycemia." ABSTRACT One in seven US households cannot reliably afford food. Food budgets are more frequently exhausted at the end of a month than at other points in [...]
If Congress does not take bipartisan action on the federal budget this week, “sequestration” (DC-speak for deep, mandatory budget cuts) will go into effect. The budget cuts amount to $85 billion and will have disturbing effects on the economy, the nation’s poor, and the work of the Vermont Foodbank. In Mother Jones, Erica Eichelberger (“12 Ways the [...]
A few weeks ago, the Vermont Foodbank participated in the Sustainability & Global Health: Connecting Concepts in Development for a Healthier Future GlobeMed at Middlebury Hilltop Conference. There was some great information shared, including the following op-ed written by Hannah Judge. October 11, 2012 Re-thinking the Prescription for American Food Insecurity Here in the United [...]
Maurice Lim Miller is the founder of the Family Independence Initiative http://www.fiinet.org/, a program that uses community to change lives. Mr. Miller is a recipient of a 2012 MacArthur Award. Here are some of his thoughts on how to get results for our low-income neighbors. http://bostonglobe.com/opinion/2012/10/24/podium-poverty/JRWAlRixpfOfc0boNfPGMP/story.html
The Vermont Foodbank and its network of 270 food shelves, meal sites, shelters, senior centers and after-school programs are experiencing record demand for our services. Thousands of families are finding it harder to make ends meet, struggling with only one wage earner or reduced hours and wages. And as the need for food assistance dramatically [...]
The importance of safety net programs is to assist our neighbors in getting back on their feet. A strong country must recognize that this is a shared responsibility. We have all heard anecdotal stories of "dependency," but how many of us are one illness, injury, divorce or job loss away from needing some help to getting back to where [...]
