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Economy making mark on struggling families
By YVETTE OROZCO
As he was preparing to close out the New Year, Billy Calhoun was thinking about his grandson’s future.
This coming year will be a challenge, he said, for a generation that has had it “too easy for too long.”
“They don’t know how to save and they’re going to have to learn fast because the recession is coming — and it hasn’t even hit Houston yet,” said Calhoun.
Calhoun, about to turn 80 years old, has seen strained economic times and has spent a life-time saving and spending wisely, so he feels confident about his own future.
But the economic recession, in addition to escalating food costs, is already putting its strain on thousands of already struggling families in Texas.
According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agricultural, the use and demand for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal food stamp program, increased throughout the state of Texas in 2008.
From August to September of 2008, the number of people utilizing food stamp assistance rose from 2,683,648 to 2,952,749.
With a predicted recession, the chance of that number increasing is likely.
“Texas ranks 47th in the nation in the number of food secure families, meaning we have more people wondering where their next meal will come from than almost any other state,” said Celia Hagert, Senior Policy Analyst at the Texas Center for Public Policy Priorities.
“That’s roughly 1.3 million households, and that number will undoubtedly swell as the full effects of the recession hit Texas families. We need to shore up the Food Stamp Program to keep more families from going hungry during this crisis.”
This coming year will be a challenge, he said, for a generation that has had it “too easy for too long.”
“They don’t know how to save and they’re going to have to learn fast because the recession is coming — and it hasn’t even hit Houston yet,” said Calhoun.
Calhoun, about to turn 80 years old, has seen strained economic times and has spent a life-time saving and spending wisely, so he feels confident about his own future.
But the economic recession, in addition to escalating food costs, is already putting its strain on thousands of already struggling families in Texas.
According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agricultural, the use and demand for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal food stamp program, increased throughout the state of Texas in 2008.
From August to September of 2008, the number of people utilizing food stamp assistance rose from 2,683,648 to 2,952,749.
With a predicted recession, the chance of that number increasing is likely.
“Texas ranks 47th in the nation in the number of food secure families, meaning we have more people wondering where their next meal will come from than almost any other state,” said Celia Hagert, Senior Policy Analyst at the Texas Center for Public Policy Priorities.
“That’s roughly 1.3 million households, and that number will undoubtedly swell as the full effects of the recession hit Texas families. We need to shore up the Food Stamp Program to keep more families from going hungry during this crisis.”
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