Tue, Nov 24 2009
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POOR BUT WORKING Those low-paying jobs add to county’s poverty By CARL E. FEATHER - Lifestyle Editor - cfeather@starbeacon.comStar Beacon Bradbury says Ashtabula County’s food pantries served 28,578 persons in 2007. In 2006 the number was 26,198. In terms of households, in 2007 the pantries served 5,438 households with children and 4,696 without.
“I’m seeing more older people come in,” she says. “The rest are pretty much even. I’m seeing age 60 and up with children increase. I’m seeing more grandparents raising their grandchildren.” Bradbury says there was an increase of 251 households 60 and older with children over the previous year. Anecdotally, she knows many of these situations are created by parents involved in drugs and unable to provide a safe environment for their children. Last year Job and Family Services held special distributions of food for recipients of Ohio Works First (Temporary Assistance for Needy). Persons eligible for the program have incomes under 100 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. At the August distribution, 300 families were served. Ninety were served at the November distribution. “I’m raising two granddaughters,” said a 65-year-old female recipient at the November distribution. “Their mother is on drugs.” A 40-year-old woman said the food would help stretch her very tight budget. “When you go looking for full-time work, all you can find is part time,” she said. She’s resorted to driving a taxi while trying to gain some technical skills at the Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School. “The economy is bad,” said a young woman. “It’s hard. A lot of people who normally would not need it are needing it now.”
Budget busters Individuals are allowed one food pantry order per month. Eligibility is determined by household size and income. For a family of two, the cap is $27,379. “I generally find that people are not even close to what a family of two can make,” says Alice Hardin, service center coordinator at the Ashtabula Salvation Army. “They laugh when I show them that number. They say, ‘I wish we could make that kind of money.’” The Lake Avenue service center will place 36,000 plates of food before soup-kitchen users during a typical 12-month period. They will provide another 13,000 meals from the food pantry and assist 1,115 persons with utility assistance: gas and electric only. Another 369 persons will receive help with prescription services. Hardin says a particularly disturbing trend is the increase in seniors seeking help. Crunched by rising fuel and medication costs, they are coming into the soup kitchen and food pantry discouraged and confused. Accustomed to paying their own way, they face the pride-piercing task of asking for assistance. “They’ve never done this before, and they don’t know where to ask for help. They’ve never done a food pantry request. But there is stress in their budgets. I had one whose $229 propane order went to $289. That little bit of difference knocked their whole budget completely out.” 
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