Into the Breach

More Americans are in need than at any time in more than five decades.

That’s essentially the takeaway from a federal report issued Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

As reported by The New York Times, 2.6 million new people were deemed to live in poverty in 2010, increasing the number of Americans living below the official poverty line to 46.2 million people—the highest in the 52 years the bureau has been keeping track.

The report also found that median income fell in 2010 to its lowest level since 1997, “the first time since the Great Depression that median household income, adjusted for inflation, had not risen over such a long period, said Lawrence Katz, an economics professor at Harvard.

“This is truly a lost decade,” Mr. Katz told the Times. “We think of America as a place where every generation is doing better, but we’re looking at a period when the median family is in worse shape than it was in the late 1990s.”

That’s no surprise to local emergency food agencies, most of which are reporting increased requests for food.

"I've been working here for 19 years and August was the busiest month we've ever had," . "We're averaging anywhere from 15 to 20 families a week, which has been insane. I'm trying to keep up with this as best I can."

Wolf said September has been no different, with more and more people finding themselves in need of assistance with food and for help paying bills.

"People are seeing their unemployment extensions ending, there are no jobs out there and they can't make ends meet," she said. "It's really bad out there. If somebody's car breaks down and they're living paycheck to paycheck, that has a huge impact because they have to get to work. But that takes away from other bills that need to be paid."

Officials at larger, regional groups, like Elijah’s Promise in New Brunswick and the Crisis Ministrty of Princeton and Trenton are reporting the same things.

Government should step in to help—the system of private agencies filling the void in times of need is inefficient and cruel, leaving the poor and the near poor to rely on the generosity of strangers. Most are generous, thankfully, but these strangers—our neighbors—are feeling the pinch and far less able to help than they have been in the past. It is a system that is destined to fail when failure is not an option.

A larger, comprehensive system solution is needed, managed by state and federal governments (the only entities large enough or in a position to stand in for the larger society), that includes affordable housing and redevelopment, school reconstruction, reform of the food supply and a host of other changes and supports.

This is going to take time and effort, and a massive grassroots push, which means that the emergency food system—the soup kitchens and food banks that are all-too prevalent—is all we have.

That’s why your local Patch is working with emergency food and antipoverty groups to help fill the void. We are organizing a series of food drives designed to help restock the shelves of local food pantries and soup kitchens in the region. Specific details will follow, but we are hoping that the community will step into the void and help us help our neighbors.