I never realized...

that there was severe poverty in the U.S. How is that even possible? It is. I just grew up in a safe, affluent town never worrying about where my next meal was coming from. These kids do...

New York Poverty

Officials at the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, which provides food to local agencies that distribute it to people in need, estimate that 33 percent of their clients are children.

In recent years, they have opened four Kids' Cafes, where children may have a free meal and learn about nutrition, in Elmira and Corning, and have increased the number of summer food services programs available to students who receive free or reduced lunch during the school year from five to nine.

Karrie Denniston, youth programs coordinator for the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, said the teachers and school administrators she talks to can easily name five or 10 students in their school who aren't getting enough to eat.

"Even for someone who does this every day, that was shocking," she said.

Likewise, officials at the Economic Opportunity Program also have seen the impact of childhood poverty on the community.

There has been a significant spike in the number of applicants for EOP's Head Start Program, which is designed to help prepare economically disadvantaged children for school, from about 600 five years ago to about 800 last year, said Bill Brodginski, deputy of child care at EOP.

Those applications are for only 351 spots, Brodginski said.

At the Salvation Army, the need for warm clothing for children persists, said Capt. John Cornelius.

The organization's annual drive to collect warm coats, run in conjunction with WETM-TV Channel 18, collects about 1,000 jackets, most of them for kids, and all urgently needed, he said.

All of this is while the poverty rate in Chemung County, for instance, dropped from 20.6 percent in 1998 to 19.5 percent in 2003; in Bradford County it slid from 17.5 percent in 1998 to 16.4 percent in 2003.

However, several individual school districts in the area, including all districts in the Southern Tier, have seen increases in the number of 5- to 17-years-olds living in poverty between 2002 and 2003.

In New York, 862,682 children, or 19.1 percent, live in poverty, according to the Children's Defense Fund, a national child advocacy group. Another child is born into poverty in New York every 10 minutes.

Across the border in Pennsylvania, 15.4 percent of the state's 429,304 children live in poverty.

Ahhh... my ignorance is being challenged. Thank God for the news. Although it may not be pleasant, I'm so grateful to be made aware. It makes me overwhelmingly thankful for what I do have and also alerts me to what my money and prayers can go to.