THREE RIVERS AREA — According to a national study, Arkansas ranks second in the number of children living in poverty.
A recent study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation determined Arkansas had the second-most children in the United States living in poverty. The data, provided by the National KidsCount Program, say 27 percent of Arkansas children as living in poverty, while Mississippi ranks first with 31 percent.
The Arkansas Rice Depot and other organizations offer a variety of programs to meet the needs of those children.
“Arkansas has ranked near the top in the number of children living in poverty for far too long,” said Laura Rhea, president and CEO of the Arkansas RiceDepot. “This year’s ranking of No. 2 is disappointing but not unexpected. During the summer of 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture determined that Arkansas leads the nation in terms of childhood food insecurity.
“Arkansas Rice Depot is making significant inroads in the fight against childhood hunger in Arkansas, and while it will take years and significanteconomic development to raise our state’s children out of poverty, Arkansas children do not have to face hunger with access to the types of programs we offer, such as Food for Kids and Food for Families.”
The Arkansas Rice Depot is currently the only statewide food bank in Arkansas and provides food at no cost to more than 300 church and community pantries, soup kitchens and shelters.
“In 2010, we fed over 370,000 unduplicated individuals of which more than 150,000 were children,” said Lauren McElroy, vice president of the organization.
One of the more popular programs at the Arkansas Rice Depot is called Food for Kids.
“It was started in 1995 when a school nurse in Little Rock called us about children coming to her office with headachesand stomach aches because they were hungry,” McElroy said.
“That one phone call prompted the organization to develop Food for Kids.”
The program has since been replicated in more than 40 states across the country and most recently in Mexico.
“I see a lot of stomach aches, some because they didn’t eatlunch, but I’m not sure how much is related to poverty,” said Alisha Slayden, the school nurse at Southside schools in Batesville. “We do offer free and [reduced-price] lunches at the school, and if I ever see a child in need, I refer them to that, as well as to programs which provide insurance, such as ARKids.”
Some schools have also set up their own food banks to help the less fortunate in their community. After returning from a trip to South Africa and witnessing the poverty there, several students in the Midland School District in Pleasant Plains set up a food bank at the school and took turns each day reading facts over the school intercom about poverty in America.
Some local businesses donated perishable food items such as bread, milk and meat, and the school was able to feed several families. The school also collects clothing and Christmas presents during the year and works with local churches to distribute the items.
“The kids plan on having the 10 days of giving again this year during the holidays so we can stock up the food pantry again,” said Karen Wells, a journalism teacher at Midland schools. “We want to be able to continue helping the community.”
Food banks, homeless shelters, schools and agencies such as the Arkansas Rice Depot aren’t the only entities that deal with poverty-stricken or hungry children. Government organizations such as the Department of Human Services and Work Force Services also deal with the problems on a daily basis.
Reports by the Food Research and Action Center show that anywhere from 5 percentto 39 percent of residents in counties across Arkansas are currently on food stamps.
“With many families in poverty, it seems to be a pattern,” said Christina Godfrey, a former worker at the Department of Human Services in White County. “Their parents were on food stamps, or their parents lived in poverty, and when they grow up and move out, it’s like they never try to have more than they had before.
“Another reason for the high poverty rate could be due to all the young women who had babies early in life, and then the father bailed out on them, leaving them to try and figure out how to support a child on their own. They get stuck in a pattern and never have the motivationto get out.”
Godfrey, who currently works in the Work Pays Unit of the Employment Security Department, said programs are currently in place to help combat this issue.
“We have an incentive program that helps girls get off of TEA (transitional employment assistance) by working with them to provide assistance, such as transportation and day care expenses. It is a temporary program to help them transition from being on government assistance to leading a self-supported life. The goal is to get them into the work force and doing more for their own family.”
Godfrey said she thinks people living in poverty just get stuck and feel like they can’t do more or have a better life.
“I think they lack the motivation and push they need to go out and find a better job or begin a training program or college,” she said. “I feel with the right direction and encouragement, more people would try to help themselves instead of beingsatisfied with just getting by.
“Programs like Works Pays can definitely help, and maybe if children see their parents push to give them a better life, it will give them the determination to break the cycle of poverty.”
Three Rivers, Pages 47 on 09/08/2011