While the rich get even richer, the poor go hungry [View All]

[theHandpuppet]

from today's Cincinnati Enquirer: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/NEWS01/608010377

For many, cupboards often bare
About 1 in 6 region families often can't afford to buy food
BY PEGGY O'FARRELL | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

More than 17 percent of families in the region said they regularly couldn't afford to buy food last year, according to a survey from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

In Cincinnati, 22 percent of households reduced servings or skipped meals because they couldn't afford to buy food - more than twice the rate (10.2 percent) for the region as a whole, data from the 2005 Child Well Being Survey showed. The survey region includes 22 counties in Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Southern Indiana.

Liz Carter, executive director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Cincinnati Council, said she is saddened by the results but not surprised.

Since the beginning of the year, Carter said, the agency has seen a 30 percent increase in families seeking help at its West End food bank....

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