No, private charity can’t make up for government programs
by David Atkins
Not that anyone with a modicum of intelligence should have had any doubt about this since the 1930s, but cuts to food stamps are forcing private charities to try to help pick up the slack. Needless to say, they aren’t able to keep up with the need:
American food banks that saw demand for emergency meals take off during the recession are working to meet yet another increase for 2014, following cuts to food stamps that took effect Nov. 1, 2013.
The $5 billion cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will affect 47.7 million people, one out of every seven Americans. A family of four will lose $36 a month in food assistance, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, dropping from $668 to $632 a month.
In New York City, with 63 percent of pantries and kitchens reporting shortages, the cuts will add stress to an already strained system, says Triada Stampas, a spokesperson for Food Bank for New York City. That food bank, the nation’s largest, delivered 72 million meals last year. The organization calculates that across the five boroughs, SNAP cuts will mean that New Yorkers who get assistance will eat a total of 76 million fewer meals acquired with food stamps in the next year.
“We’ve been talking to private donors for months about these cuts,” said Stampas. “But I want to dispel the notion that private charity can make up for the cuts, that’s simply not possible. “
Bob Aiken, the CEO of Feeding America, a network of 200 food banks nationwide, said their branches are going to see more visitors as SNAP cuts shrink monthly food budgets.
Feeding America expects to deliver 3.3 billion meals in 2014, an increase from the 3.2 billion meals delivered in 2013 and the 2.2 billion meals delivered in 2009.
With a 46 percent increase in the number of people seeking meals after the recession hit — from 25 million in 2006 to 37 million 2010 — Feeding America has been struggling to keep up with demand.
“We are very concerned about the impact this cut will have on struggling low-income people and our network food banks,” Aiken wrote in a statement in response to the SNAP cuts. “Unfortunately, our food banks across the nation continue to be stretched thin in their efforts to meet sustained high need in the wake of the recession.”
When conservatives insist that private charity substitute for real universal programs, they are in essence saying “let people die.” It never did work, doesn’t work now, and won’t work in the future.
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