More emergency food assistance going to working Americans, study finds (VIDEO)

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/emergency-food-assistance-going-working-americans/

http://youtu.be/afhNUzIMPFY

Alameda County: Number relying on food bank grows:

http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_26361281/alameda-county-number-relying-food-bank-grows



That report by the nonprofit group Feeding America found that roughly one in seven people in the country, 46 million people, rely on food banks or other charitable organizations for basic nutrition. They included some 620,000 military households and an increased number of adult college students.

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One in five Alameda County residents relies on food bank assistance, which is more than the one in seven nationally, according to a new survey released Monday by Feeding America, a network of food banks.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties serves 250,000 people every month, or one in 10 residents of both counties. That's an increase of 21 percent in the last four years since the last study was done.

The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano counties serve 188,000 people each month and that number has increased by 26 percent in the past two years, due to an increase in programs and people struggling from the recession, said Lisa Sherrill, spokeswoman for the food bank. She said the food bank is still crunching its data.

The survey, conducted in 2012 and 2013, states that 311,000 individuals receive food assistance monthly from the Alameda County Community Food Bank.

In Alameda County, the divide between the haves and the have-nots keeps widening, said Allison Pratt, director of policy and services.

According to the study, the number of county residents relying on the food bank rose from one in six in 2010.

Sixty-six percent of client household incomes fall at or below the federal poverty level and 42 percent make $10,000 or less annually.

The high living cost of Alameda County, 32 percent higher than the national average, amplifies the effects of the low wages. The $15 billion in safety-net cuts in the Health and Human Services budgets during the recession have also taken a toll.