For Jennifer Whitney of Oswego County, this holiday season brought a choice: Pay the bills — or have Christmas for her three children.
Whitney is unemployed and the father is gone. He left for a weekend last September, she said, and never came back. Last year, her battle with cervical cancer left her without the energy to put up a tree. But this year, a large ham sits in the kitchen and her home is decorated with a plastic Christmas tree, tinsel, garland, and three stockings.
‘’The kids need Christmas,’’ she said, bouncing her youngest, 2-year-old Katie, on her lap.
She wouldn’t have had Christmas, she said, without help from a local charity and social services. She signed up for an alphabet soup of programs: TANF, or Temporary Aid for Needy Families, for some income;WIC, or Women, Infants and Children program, for some food; SSDI, orSocial Security Disability payments for her 8-year-old son, Jackson, who is epileptic and autistic; SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, for food stamps for the family; the NSLP, or the National School Lunch Program at school; and CHIP, or Child Health Plus health insurance for the children. She’s hoping, she says, for Medicaidinsurance for herself soon.
The Whitneys are among the growing number of families nationally and locally driven into poverty by the economy’s meltdown. Official figures don’t yet capture their numbers. But, experts say, the signs of expanding poverty are visible in the number of applicants seeking help through welfare programs, health insurance programs, food stamps and subsidized meals at school.
For families like the Whitneys, these social services can be a critical lifeline to the basics to survive: health care and food. But, experts caution, it is far from a life of luxury for those in poverty.
The federal government defines poverty as an income of $22,050 for a family of four. Consider these statistics:
- Nationally, enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—food stamps—is on the rise: 20,000 people sign up for the program every day, according to a study by The New York Times.
- In Onondaga County, enrollment in food stamps has steadily risen to 27,153 households in September of 2009, according to numbers from the state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. That’s an increase of nearly 27 percent since September 2008.
- In New York, enrollment in the Women, Infants and Children program, which helps families who have or are expecting young children buy food, has nearly doubled since 2007. As of October, 10,671 New Yorkers were in the program, according to the state health department.
- In the Syracuse City School District, nearly 80 percent of children receive free or reduced-price lunches. That’s an increase of about 8 percent over three years, according to Cindy Bonura, the director of food services for the district.
The state’s Temporary and Disability Assistance office is working to make it easier for families to apply for these programs, said Anthony Farmer, a spokesman. That could explain some of the uptick, he said. But if the economy continues its downturn, he said, he expects to see a further rise — especially after laid-off workers run out of unemployment benefits.
And with that rise, experts say, comes poor health and hunger — especially for children.
“Child hunger is about a lot more than addressing the empty feeling in the pit of your stomach when you’re hungry,” said Sophie Milam, senior domestic policy analyst for Bread for the World. It is a faith-based anti-hunger advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The most serious problem associated with child hunger, Milam said, is the harm to education. Studies show that children who go through the school day hungry do worse in school socially, behaviorally and academically.
“Children who are hungry are less likely so graduate from high school, so you can see how this has a domino effect,” Milam said.
And the issue of child hunger also affects health care, Milam said. Studies show that children who go hungry end up sicker, end up in the hospital more for treatable diseases and are less healthy as adults.
As the economy worsens, many experts say, the federal, state and local governments should consider strengthening the social safety net for struggling families and their children. Among the proposals, with a special focus on children:
- Child food programs
Several are up for re-approval in Congress in 2010. They include subsidized school lunches, summer and after-school food, and WIC food program for women, infants and children.
- A higher minimum wage
It’s now $7.25 an hour. For a 40-hour work week with one wage-earner, that would be a yearly income of $15,080, almost $7,000 less than the poverty level for a family of four. Employers typically resist efforts to increase the minimum wage, arguing that it raises their costs so that they have to hire fewer workers. But advocates for the poor say the higher wages means more security — and more spending — by workers.
“The minimum wage is really low,” said Margaret Usdasnky, a research associate at the Maxwell School. “It’s easy to work full time in this country and still be poor.”
- The Head Start program
Created in the 1960s, Head Start is a federal program providing health, nutrition and education services to low-income families. “The Head Start program increases a child’s likelihood of being prepared, of getting immunizations, of getting health care and good nutrition,” said Len Lopoo, a professor and research associate of public policy at the Maxwell School.
- Expanded tax credits, like the earned-income tax credit
The earned-income tax credit goes to low-income, working families. It would not affect those who are unemployed. But it encourages low-income families to work, said Christina Gibson-Davis, an assistant professor of public policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. “It’s the most effective anti-poverty we have,” she said.
For her part, Jennifer Whitney of Oswego expresses gratitude for the local charity’s generosity and for the social-services safety net. ‘’I don’t know if we’d make it without it,’’ she said.
But even with the help, budgets are tight. To help make ends meet, she is trying to sublet in her already-cramped house. A $300 donation will help her pay for Christmas presents for her children. That’s all she can do, she said: be hopeful, and, in front of the children, always cheerful.
‘’Is Santa coming for you?’’ Whitney asks 2-year-old Katie.
‘’Yeah!’’ Katie replies, getting down from her mother’s lap and stomping her pink shoes, specially made to fit the braces for her hip dysplasia.
‘’Yeah! He is! What do you want?’’ says Whitney.
‘’Pizza!’’
‘’Pizza. She always wants pizza. That’s her new word,’’ Whitney says.
For Christmas, said Whitney, she’s focusing on the children, not the hardship. “My children,” she said, “are my life.”
(Brian Amaral is a senior majoring in newspaper journalism.)
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