With more than 11 million U.S. children living gin food insecure homes, hunger is no longer just a city concern.
“People don’t understand or realize that poverty does not have a zip code anymore,” said Cheryl Hondred, founder and CEO of Hand2Hand, a local organization that partners with area churches and schools to provide weekend food to area children. “Actually urbanization has caused people to move into the rural areas, suburbs, so every single school now has students who go home over the weekend, that 68-hour gap in the week, with limited food resources.”
Cheryl Hondred, founder and executive director of Hand2Hand
The need for food resources continues to grow, according to Hondred. Hand2Hand works with 111 area churches to help about 6,356 children in 192 schools. Through the program, there are about 5,200 volunteers.
“We are in the places you wouldn’t expect, Rockford, Caledonia, Jenison, Grandville, Hudsonville, Wyoming, Byron Center,” Hondred said, adding that more schools wish to have Hand2Hand in their school.
Hand2Hand’s model is to partner with a local school to provide the weekend food to the students. Hondred said. Hand2Hand works with the church to train members, set up food pantries and organizer foods.
So the biggest challenge for Hand2Hand has been to find churches to partner with to provide the nutritious food to students for the weekends.
Currently the organization is hosting an initiative in school districts of Kentwood, Godwin Heights, and Godfrey-Lee where Hand2Hand is offering seed money to churches to purchase pantry items, shelving, bins and additional food items if the church would be willing to help with a school in one of those districts.
For more about the Hand2Hand program, click on the link above featuring WKTV’s Donna Kidner-Smith talking to Hondred about the program or visit h2hkids.org.
Living below the poverty level (less than $24,600 per month for a family of four) is a reality for 1 in 5 children in Kent County. Not only does living in poverty have negative effects during childhood, it can also cause life-long health issues like the ones discussed in part two of this series. Living in poverty effects nearly every aspect of child’s life including academic performance, emotional development and physical health.
Academics
For children, the effects of poverty begin before they are born. Low-income parents are more likely to experience environmental toxins, poor nutrition and exposure to excessive stress. All of these factors play a role on how a baby’s brain develops and can have long-term effects.
As poor children grow, they continue to face roadblocks to learning. They have decreased access to quality child care, which provides important building blocks needed to succeed in school. A lack of basic needs can also affect performance. How can a child concentrate in school when they are hungry?
Emotional Development
Quality early child care and education also builds the social and emotional foundation that children need. Without these skills, they are more likely to struggle with emotional and behavioral problems when they begin school.
Imagine growing up worrying about when you will eat next or if you will have a safe place to sleep. It is no surprise that children in poverty have more anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. Many times these same concerns lead to challenges for their parents, such as marriage problems and depression. All of these pressures have been associated with mental illness in children.
Physical Health
Living in a poor community means increased exposure to environmental toxins like lead and violence that can lead to injury. It has also been linked to increased risk for diseases later in life, such as asthma, high blood pressure and stroke. Check out part one of this series to learn more about how growing up poor leads to long-term health problems in adults.
Living in poverty is a dangerous reality for too many in our community. That is why programs that decrease the effects of poverty, especially on children, are so important. ACSET Community Action Agency is addressing these outcomes by providing emergency assistance to families, like supplemental food and homelessness assistance programs. By supporting our neighbors, we are creating a brighter future for our children.
Your Community in Action! is provided by ASCET Community Action Agency. To learn more about how they help meet emergency needs and assist with areas of self-sufficiency, visit www.communityactionkent.org.
When you live in poverty, you worry about being able to provide basic needs like housing, food and health care for your family. It is no surprise this can cause tremendous stress. Data show that the rate of adults experiencing any type of mental illness is greatest among those with family incomes below the federal poverty level (about $2,050 per month for a family of four).
Photo supplied
High levels of stress can damage both mental and physical health over the long term. This is the second installment in a series that will look at how living in poverty affects health and well-being.
Severe Mental Illness
Individuals living in poverty are at increased risk of experiencing trauma. This has been linked to increased mental illness, risk behaviors and challenges to daily life functions. Additionally, poor individuals typically experience greater work-stress because of low wages and the need to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.
Unfortunately, poor Americans are less likely to get the mental health help they need to manage illness and deal with excessive stress and trauma. This becomes even more tragic when you consider that individuals living in poverty are also more likely to have severe mental illness and serious thoughts of suicide. Between the physical health risks and potential of suicide, poverty is killing our neighbors.
Toxic Stress
Toxic stress occurs when a child experiences strong, frequent and/or prolonged hardship. When children are exposed to constant hardship, their bodies’ stress response is on all the time. They tend to have higher heart rates and blood pressure than their peers who aren’t living in poverty.
Long-term exposure to stress can have damaging effects on multiple organs, including the brain. Many adult illnesses, such as inflammatory diseases and increased risk for heart attack, stroke and diabetes, can be traced to toxic stress in childhood. Next week, we’ll look deeper into how poverty impacts children.
ACSET Community Action Agency’s (CAAs) mission is to fight the causes and circumstances of poverty by investing in low-income individuals and families. They do this by meeting emergency needs and assisting in areas of self-sufficiency. Through dedicated staff and community partnerships, ACSET CAA provides services, resources, education and advocacy to improve the quality of life for all residents of Kent County.
Your Community in Action! is provided by ASCET Community Action Agency. To learn more about how they help meet emergency needs and assist with areas of self-sufficiency, visit www.communityactionkent.org.
Over 43 million Americans fall at or below the federal poverty level. This means that a family of four is living on $24,600 a year (or $2,050 a month). Being poor in the US also means living 10-15 years less than the richest Americans. This is the first installment in a series that will look at how living in poverty affects health and well-being.
The Environment
Poor communities typically have outdated infrastructures. Flint, Michigan is a close-to-home example of how those who live in poverty are exposed to environmental toxins through no fault of their own. Unacceptable levels of lead in the water were poisoning residents of the city.
Inadequate housing is another environmental concern for many low-income individuals. Lack of insulation and air leaks can expose residents to extreme temperatures. Faulty furnaces can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. Too much humidity can cause mold to grow. These issues can lead to health problems ranging from respiratory disease to death.
Nutrition
When you’re poor, there are times when there just isn’t enough money to put food on the table. And unfortunately, the cheapest food is also high in calories and fat. Even if there is money for healthier options, many poor neighborhoods exist in food deserts – areas where there isn’t access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
It is difficult to eat well when healthy options aren’t available or are too expensive. Obesity and unhealthy diets lead to increased risk for heart disease and diabetes. It is not surprising that people living in poverty are much more likely to experience these health issues.
Healthcare
People living in poverty in the US are fighting a losing battle when it comes to preventing and treating illness. In 2015, the National Center for Health Statistics found that poor individuals were three times more likely to avoid needed medical care due to cost. Poor Americans are also less likely to see a doctor for preventative care.
While the number of individuals who have health insurance has increased since 2013, there are still many who can’t afford medications to treat chronic health issues or specialized services like dental and vision care.
In 2015, it was estimated that over 91,000 Kent County residents were living at or below the federal poverty level. ACSET Community Action Agency is working to address the causes and effects of poverty. They offer programs that provide home weatherization, emergency food assistance and help applying for health insurance. All of these services can help improve the health of those living in poverty in our community.
Your Community in Action! is provided by ASCET Community Action Agency. To learn more about how they help meet emergency needs and assist with areas of self-sufficiency, visit www.communityactionkent.org.
When Carol Paine-McGovern sees child poverty continuing to rise in Kent County, she takes some comfort in the work local schools and their communities are doing to relieve its burden on students. She’s intimately involved in that work as executive director of the Kent School Services Network, a social-services support system serving 39 schools in eight school districts.
Yet when she saw the latest local and statewide numbers on poverty and child well-being released today, Paine-McGovern again was reminded how very far we still have to go.
“It tells a profound story of a shift that has happened,” Paine-McGovern said of 2017 Kids Count in Michigan, an annual report on child and family health, education and economic security. “When you observe it in your own community, it really hits hard.”
She spoke of the continuing rise of children ages 0-17 living in poverty and its attendant challenges. The grim trends were to be discussed this morning in a press conference in Grand Rapids.
More than one in five Michigan children, just over 22 percent, lived in poverty in 2015 — a 15 percent rate increase since 2008, according to the report by the Michigan League for Public Policy. The rates were substantially worse for African-American children (47 percent) and Latinos (30 percent) than for whites (15 percent).
Although Kent County was slightly below the statewide figures, its 19.1 percent child poverty rate was up by nearly 5 percent from 2008, when the rate was 18.2 percent. Further, the 47 percent of Kent students receiving free or reduced lunches was a 21 percent rate jump since 2008, and exceeded the statewide rate of 46 percent.
Such sobering statistics represent nearly 30,000 students walking into Kent County classrooms, trying to learn the things that could help lift them out of poverty.
“When you go in schools and see the bright shiny faces and realize everything else that is going on in their lives, we have to figure out how to make things better for a large number of children,” Paine-McGovern said.
Mirroring Statewide Trends
The magnitude of the challenges is heightened by disparity. In an overall ranking of child well-being in 82 of Michigan’s 83 counties, the report places Kent County 27th. Neighboring Ottawa County is first, with 9 percent of its children living in poverty — less than half Kent’s rate.
Yet the report also shows Kent County’s children are far from alone in their struggles: 72 state counties saw child poverty increase, 79 an increase in free and reduced lunch, and 58 an increase in confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect. Kent saw a sharp increase in the latter, along with more low-birthweight babies and inadequate prenatal care.
Other local trends were more encouraging, including a drop in teen births and the percentage of students not graduating on time.
But poverty continues to permeate thousands of children’s lives, and challenges schools’ efforts to “level the playing field” for them, Paine-McGovern said. She noted that in more than half of Kent County’s 230 school buildings, the free and reduced-lunch rate exceeds the state average.
“A lot of schools out there are trying to educate children, when poverty is a consistent theme in their lives,” she said. “How do we as a community pull together to figure out how we can help children learn and be successful and work out of poverty? On the flipside, what are we doing for those families consistently, generation after generation, living in poverty? Those are the hard questions.”
Help for Struggling Families
Kent School Services Network works to answer some of those questions, not just in the urban districts but suburban and rural communities. Here, as statewide, poverty knows no boundaries.
At Kenowa Hills’ Alpine Elementary School, set amid the rolling fruit orchards of Northwest Kent County, KSSN came on board in 2014-15. Since then students and families have gotten help with everything from food, clothing and eyeglasses to housing and state assistance programs.
A school-community coordinator, mental-health clinician and Department of Health and Human Services worker help meet the needs of Alpine’s 375 students. About 75 percent of them receive free or reduced lunch, and in the fall many Latino children come from migrant families who work in the orchards.
Principal Jason Snyder said KSSN has helped students with chronic attendance problems get to school, increased communication with parents, and made school a better experience for students from struggling families.
“That they don’t have to worry about what to eat for dinner or where to stay for the night is definitely to going to help in the classroom,” Snyder said.
From the farm fields of Kenowa, Sparta and Cedar Springs to the city streets of Grand Rapids, Kentwood and Wyoming, poverty remains a perennial challenge to schools, Paine-McGovern said.
“When Kids Count comes out every year it’s always a rude awakening — that we don’t rest, there’s more work to be done.”
Health professionals gather in “families” in preparation to experience a “month” in poverty. Photo by Ellie Walburg
By Ellie Walburg, Access of West Michigan
Reading a news article about someone living in poverty is one thing.
Actually experiencing it is another.
Metro Health Hospital Servicesrecently hosted a poverty simulation workshop with Access of West Michigan. The goal of the poverty education program is to create awareness of the realities of poverty and bring inspiration for change in an experiential way.
Participants in the ‘Living on the Edge’ poverty simulation at Metro Health were assigned profiles detailing their name, age, family, income level and other related details. Each “family” then completed four weeks, made up of 15-minute increments, in providing groceries, paying bills, attending doctor’s appointments and other requirements as outlined on their profiles.
Afterwards, participants engaged in small group discussions to debrief and learn from one another’s insights.
Linda Bos is a registered nurse with Metro Health and attended the workshop. She, along with Heather Rayman, were given the roles of a 75- and 72-year-old couple struggling to make ends meet. Bos, playing the role of Anthony Xanthos, and Rayman playing his wife, Zelda, spent each “week” trying to keep up on their mortgage payments, provide $50 for food and make it to expensive doctor appointments.
At one point during the four weeks, they couldn’t buy groceries. Towards the end of the month, they were evicted from their home as they couldn’t provide proof of their mortgage payment.
Mobility was also a major issue for them.
‘We were struck that we were always concerned about traveling places,” Bos said. “We were never together — it split us up. We never did things together.”
Conversations about how they were doing or if they wanted to plan a vacation never arose during their time of balancing their meager budget and keep all their bills afloat “We sure didn’t talk about anything fun,” Bos added.
To accompany the small social assistance check they received for the month, Bos sought out other options.
“I also tried to get a job, but there was age discrimination,” she said. “There were forms to fill out that were difficult.”
Access of West Michigan Staffers share their own story of poverty during group discussions. Photo by Ellie Walburg
Not having an opportunity for additional income made balancing finances even more troublesome.
“There was no way out for us,” Bos said. “Neither one of us could get a job.”
Rayman was reminded, “Don’t forget we have to eat at some point in our life,” as she recalled the struggle of purchasing weekly groceries.
For both Bos and Rayman, living life as an elderly couple with little money was an eye-opening experience.
“Everything was tension-producing rather than pleasurable,” Bos noted.
That tension is something Bos knows first-hand. While currently employed and doing well, she has felt that same stress.
“There was a time when I didn’t have money to buy diapers, when we didn’t have money to pay the mortgage,” she said
Bos and Rayman agreed that this simulation could change the way they work with their patients and others they encounter.
“I think for me, I’ll be much more cognizant of transportation needs,” Bos said. “I’ll think, ‘What can I do to relieve some of those transportation issues.’”
Bos’s work as a nurse involves serving moms and newborns.
“I try to be very intentional with younger moms,” she said. “I’ll ask, ‘Do you need anything else for your child?’ ‘Do you have diapers?’ ‘Do you have formula?’”
She said she anticipates building upon that intention with those she sees.
“I think so often we don’t want to offend people,” she added. “But it’s really just about asking, ‘I want to help, what is it that you need?’” That intention, she said, can come through her following up with her clients through phone calls or other additional conversations.
Staffers Candice and Cindy are ready at their “health clinic” table to help participants. Photo by Ellie Walburg
Rayman added, “I feel like this makes me much more aware of things like transportation, medication, samples, getting them to a care manager or something like that — things I didn’t really think of before.”
As the simulation event drew to a close, attendees were reminded that while they stopped playing a role in a fictitious family, there are so many in the community who must continue with that difficult reality everyday. And now that the participants had experienced the frustration and stress of living in poverty, they, and all, are left with the question Bos wondered, “What might you do differently?”
