Witchita Eagle, October 24, 2007: Many Wichitans living on the edge
Overall, Wichita’s economy looks bright. Aviation is booming. Unemployment is low. But a Sunday Eagle story revealed a much darker picture: A growing number of Wichitans don’t know where their next meal will come from.
Long food lines at local relief pantries look like something out of the Great Depression.
Wichita must do more to help citizens hanging on by a thread on the margins of our economy.
Food pantry officials in Wichita all tell the same story: Hunger is increasing in our community.
Catholic Charities fed 1,300 more people in the first half of 2007 than in the same period last year. The United Methodist Open Door is serving 200 to 300 more families this year than in 2006. The Lord’s Diner served dinners to 600 people on Memorial Day — a one-night record — and is expanding its facility by 1,300 square feet over the next few months.
“I’m seeing numbers that disturb me,” Brian Walker, president of Kansas Food Bank, told The Eagle.
Nationally, the income gap between rich and poor is at its widest level since the 1920s, according to a recent study of IRS data.
In Sedgwick County, the number of people living in severe poverty — defined as a family of four making less than $10,000 annually — has soared by 88 percent in the past five years, according to census data.
Who are they? The elderly. The working poor. Single mothers. Children. At the Lord’s Diner, 44 percent of patrons have a disability.
Are there a few freeloaders among relief patrons? Of course. But the vast majority are braving real problems and real hunger.
They need real help.
The most immediate response must be for Wichitans to support local food charities struggling to meet demand this fall and winter.
But the underlying sources of economic insecurity must also be addressed: soaring medical costs and millions of Americans uninsured; a lack of affordable housing; rising food, gasoline and energy prices; and poverty wages that don’t allow working people to get ahead.
Some 27,000 Kansans work at jobs that pay below the federal minimum wage of $5.85. The state’s $2.65-an-hour minimum wage remains the lowest in the nation.
How can people get by on those wages? Many don’t, especially if they experience sudden problems such as illness.
As part of farm bill negotiations this fall, lawmakers should expand eligibility for food stamps to cover more working poor and streamline and simplify the application process.
And the people of the community must redouble their efforts to help the social services trying to meet the needs of this growing population, by donating goods and cash and volunteering their time.
When the food lines keep getting longer, something’s not right with our economy — and our priorities.
For the editorial board, Randy Scholfield
© 2007 Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.kansas.com