Demand Swells For Rural WA Food Banks

[hatrack]

EDIT

"In rural areas such as Roy, the demand for food is soaring – up more than 20 percent compared to last year. In a city with a population of 865, the Roy food bank feeds 70 people on a typical day. As of Tuesday, it had recorded 5,659 visits this year. The city known for its summer rodeo is one of the poorest places in rural Pierce and South King counties, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

Twenty percent of Roy families live in poverty, twice the percentage for Pierce County and the state. In 2000, a family of four earning $17,603 or less a year was considered in poverty. Hunger is growing throughout all of Pierce and King counties. The number of visits to food banks increased by 27 percent through October in Pierce County, said David Ottey, executive director of the Emergency Food Network. The economy is the main cause. The state’s jobless rate is 5.6 percent, 10th worst in the nation. But the problem hits especially hard in rural outposts including Roy and Enumclaw and the Cascade foothills, food bank workers say. The reasons include:

• Unemployment. Remote areas don’t have many jobs to offer and the ones they have often don’t pay well. Many who visit the Roy FISH Food Bank are working, but “they just can’t make ends meet,” says coordinator Rose Loveless.

• Fewer food banks. Most small towns have only one place that collects and distributes staples. Tacoma has at least 20 locations, so the needy can get more food and choose from a broader selection of items during a wider range of hours. “You don’t have the alternatives that you have here in (Tacoma),” Ottey said of rural areas. “That makes it tougher on people who are hungry.”

• Rising costs of living. The monthly expense of gasoline, heating and housing is climbing just as in urban settings. But people in rural areas often must drive farther to find work. Sometimes, they choose between putting food on the table or gas in the car."

EDIT

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/4242774p-4032574c.html

[bahrbearian]

1. Oh, the Red Countys need food?

Get it from Rossi.

[oneighty]

2. Isn't this the sort of place

where rugged individualists live? The ones that do not believe in community?

Rugged individualist. I tried that once.

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