According to the Children’s Defense Fund, children are the poorest age group in America.
In 2018, about 1 out of every 6 children lived in poverty, or roughly 11.9 million children. Child poverty is closely related to race and ethnicity of one’s family. Nearly 73 percent of poor children are children of color. Geography, race, and income all play a major part in this issue of child poverty.
In far western Kentucky, organizations such as Helping Hands run programs that offer a solution to poverty and food insecurity, including ways to help children. Helping Hands is a food pantry that provides food assistance to low-income families in Livingston County.
“I don’t think anybody – Black, white, yellow, purple or whatever – should be treated different than anybody else. That’s my outlook on it, but society does treat it differently, which is sad, and I wasn’t raised that way.”
Darlene Timmons, Helping Hands Inc. of Livingston County
“I think it’s terrible,” Helping Hands Inc. of Livingston County, Kentucky administrator Darlene Timmons said. “I don’t think anybody – black, white, yellow, purple or whatever – should be treated any different than anybody else.That’s my outlook on it, but society does treat it differently, which is sad, and I wasn’t raised that way.”
According to the 2020 Kids Count Profile, in Kentucky, about 226,000 children live in poverty. This is the highest group percentage compared to the working women class at 17.3 percent and the working male class at 13.7 percent. There are only six states that hold higher poverty rates than Kentucky. Twelve percent of the children living in Kentucky live in extreme poverty, which is the most severe type of poverty.
“We have trucks that come and deliver boxes of food,” Timmons said. “They have fruit, meat, milk, cheese, etc.”
Of Kentucky’s 4.3 million population, 196,393 people reside in the Purchase Area. Of those 196,393 living in the Purchase area, 16.3 percent of residents live in poverty. In Kentucky alone, of its total population, 17.7 percent live in poverty. The total percentage of poverty in the United States is at 13.8 percent.
In Calloway County, the Murray Lions Club, a nonprofit organization, offers assistance to food insecure children through the Backpack Program. Originally started in 2006 by Feeding America Kentucky’s Heartland, the Backpack Program helps children who may be experiencing food insecurity. Volunteers pack quick and easy meals into backpacks that are sent home with children on Fridays. The backpacks are equipped with food to last the child through the weekend until they return to school on Monday for breakfast.
“We do participate in the well known backpack program,” Murray Lions Club President Paul McCreary said. “We’ve also started a Covid-19 relief fund program. We’ve raised $91,000 in utilities and helped someone with their mortgage.”
In the Pennyrile area, organizations such as the Aaron McNeil House in Hopkinsville and Helping Hands Inc. in Livingston County give food away to those in need. Established in 1972, the Aaron McNeil House bears the name of was established in 1972. The organization was named after the Rev. Aaron McNeil, who was the first Black Episcopal priest in Hopkinsville. Originally a church, the Aaron McNeil House was a community center as well. Now, it serves as a crisis center and food pantry to local residents.
“We work with all ages so we see different situations of homelessness and poverty throughout our county,” case manager Delecia Palmer said. “ We work with different backgrounds every day.”
Along with the food pantry, the organization also has its own commodity distribution and backpack program for families that need it.
“Once a family comes they’re eligible every 60 days, but we also host a commodity distribution the second Saturday of each month that is open to the community,” Palmer said. “We generally serve about 800 families on the second Saturday ({food pantry)} along with our food commodity distribution. As long as they’re within the income gap and time frame, they can come and get food. The crisis program is of course the meal pay assistance, they just have to be able to show documentation.”
The Aaron McNeil House has helped the community and continues to do so during the pandemic.
“In 2020 we served a total of 885 households,” Palmer said. “There were a total of 561 children from those households. Also, for the 2019-2020 school year, we served a total of 267 children through the backpack program.”
The issue of child hunger is far from completely being solved, but, it is important to acknowledge the problem as a society.