PRESS AND MEDIA
June 2011 Op-Ed Excerpt, Chicago Sun-times
The Zip code may not be as recognizable as Beverly Hills, but DuPage County is
one of the wealthiest counties in the Midwest. And yet a DuPage family of five
is struggling to put food on the table.
The culprits robbing middle-class families nationwide of the American promise
include unexpected, crippling unemployment and unrelenting rising food prices.
One of us has worked on legislation to expand access to food programs for
children and families as a member of Congress and the National Food Day advisory
board. The other leads a statewide program to end hunger in Illinois as director
of the Illinois Hunger Coalition.
On the day Richard Doyle, a former licensed truck driver with 20 years of
experience, called the Coalition’s Hunger Hotline asking for help, he had
submitted 50 job applications and was hoping one of them might result in a job
interview.
The $20 a day spent on gas and toll to travel to temporary work found through an
agency drained the little he earned and barely left enough for the single dad of
children ages 8 through 18 years old to feed his family. Doyle will turn 44
years old soon, and yet he admits, “I feel 94 years old and I believe I have
developed an ulcer.” He lies awake at night not being able to sleep and feels
panic whenever the phone rings as he fends off calls from the utility and phone
companies asking for what he owes them.
Programs like the Hunger Hotline are the last line of defense against hunger for
millions of American families like Doyle’s, who began receiving food benefits
three months after calling the Coalition. But food funding is in jeopardy.
For 82-year-old Lorraine Dzieginski of suburban Alsip, the $16 she receives a
month from SNAP is little consolation as she struggles to pay bills and taxes
that total more than $729 per month on a social security retirement income of
$695 per month. Her two neighbors try to help her out by bringing her dinner
once a week, but it is no small wonder why Dzieginski suffers from anemia. With
Illinois sporting one of the largest caseloads in the nation, there is little
hope that Dzieginski and other seniors can be granted more in SNAP benefits.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky represents the 9th U.S. Congressional District and is a
member of the National Food Day advisory board. Diane Doherty is the Executive
Director of the Illinois Hunger Coalition.
Click here to read and download a brochure on SNAP (aka "Food Stamps") usage and the IHC