BY KATHY WILLIAMS

HERALD DEMOCRAT

Grayson County communities now hold more hungry families than in recent memory and the prospect of helping them looks grim, said Capt. David Grigsbay, leader of the local Salvation Army.

Federal studies and those conducted by state organizations confirm that hunger and poverty are on the rise in North Texas. Grigsbay said volunteers who work the Salvation Army's food pantry daily find a full lobby of people daily looking for help, many due to losing their jobs.

The number of families seeking help to put toys and clothes under the Christmas trees is up by 200 this year, Grigsbay said. He has asked his national office to help find grant money to fund another social worker to consider applications for aid, not just at Christmas, but day in and day out.

Poverty, and hunger, is ongoing and increasing and likely is greater than federal and state governments are measuring. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released figures last week that showed 16.3 percent of Texas families struggled for food during 2006-2008.

Grigsbay said that 2008 was probably about 5-percent worse than 2007 in terms of the number of people seeking aid here. However, 2009 has been about 25-percent worse than 2008 at the Grayson County Salvation Army food pantry. So, Grigsbay said, those figures are likely to look much worse when this year's hunger factors are calculated.

"In 2008, 85 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the entire year, and 14.6 percent of households were food insecure at least some time during that year, up from 11.1 percent in 2007," the United States Department of Agriculture reported last week. This is the highest recorded prevalence rate of food insecurity since 1995 when the first national food security survey was conducted.

This year, Salvation Army Christmas trees placed in department stores, offices and other businesses hold 1,700 angels. But it's not just the prospect of a bleak Christmas. The demand for food has been high all year and pantry shelves have been empty at times.

"If it weren't for our faith in God, we would be in trouble," Grigsbay said. "It's looking grim this year. Money is not coming in and the need is great."

The non-partisan Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates for low- and moderate-income Texans, recently released its Family Budget Estimator (a calculation of what it takes to live in metropolitan areas of Texas). CPPP also issued a statement citing "the urgent need for Texas to fix its system for enrolling needy families in the Food Stamp program."

CPPP's Family Budget Estimator for the Sherman-Denison metropolitan area calculates that a one adult, no children household in which an employer pays 100-percent of medical insurance costs would need income of $1,367 a month or $8 an hour to make minimum ends meet. That same one-person family would require $11 an hour or $1,872 if his employer did not provide medical insurance.

The budget calculator includes $536 for housing, $174 for food, $44 for out of pocket medical expenses, $304 for transportation and $136 for other necessities. That goes up by $360 a month to pay medical insurance. In a year, one person would need to make $22,460 a year without employer-paid insurance and $16,405 with it. The federal poverty guideline for a single person household is $10,210.

A single parent with two children would have to make $15 an hour or $29,972 with her insurance paid and $20 an hour or $40,523 if no insurance is paid by an employer. The poverty guideline for this family is $17,170. If two parents and two children live in the home, the minimum to get by is $19 an hour between the two incomes with insurance paid and $25 from both incomes if it is not. The poverty guideline of annual income for both parents working with two children is $20,650.

So, this study figures that it takes a salary of 187 percent to 240 percent of the poverty guideline for a two-breadwinner family of four to make it economically in Sherman-Denison. The figures also include federal taxes or earned income credits, child care costs and payroll taxes.

Studies by USDA and other federal and state agencies have changed the definition of hunger and food security over the years. The Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine published a report last week stating that almost half of U.S. children will be on food stamps during their lifetimes. The Associated Press reported Friday that while many statisticians and policy analysts say the projection seems about right, many disagree on what it means.

"Most would agree," the AP report states, "that people who are on food stamps aren't necessarily starving, and some may not be even close to it. It's also clear that people who need food stamps the most often don't get them."

The USDA, which administers the food stamp program, also released a report last week that dozens of states failed to reach some of the country's most needy residents in 2007. That's what CPPP says Texas, one of the states USDA listed, needs to fix.

"The data for USDA's report were collected before the full effects of the recession were felt in Texas. The percent of Texas families struggling with hunger today is likely much higher. Food Stamps offer a lifeline to families who can't make ends meet during tough economic times. Yet, in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, needy Texans often wait months to get their Food Stamp application approved," CPPP Senior Policy Analyst Celia Hagert said.

"Not only does our system fail to protect vulnerable Texans from hunger, but it also costs the state: Already we've seen lawsuits filed this year to force Texas to meet federal performance standards, and USDA could withdraw federal funding for administration of the program if Texas doesn't improve its performance. This could cost us millions in financial penalties," Hagert added.

Sarah Meadows, a Rand Corp. policy analyst, called the food stamps analysis believable but stressed that it doesn't mean that half of all children are using food stamps at any given time.

"While there may be a group of children who are persistently exposed to poverty, many move in and move out," she said.

Columbia University statistician Andrew Gelman said the paper clarifies a misconception "that people are either on welfare or they're not." Reality is more nuanced; the study underscores that some families only receive government aid temporarily, he said.

What Grigsbay said is happening more and more frequently is that people lose their jobs and those that have never needed help before find themselves filling out their applications.

"Our normal case load is about 3,000-plus clients on file," Grigsbay said. "These are people who are indigent and come to us every 90 days for food and every 90 days for clothes. The increases we are seeing are from job loss and unemployment."

The public's response to Salvation Army's fund-raising efforts has been less this year, probably for the same reasons need is higher. A big exception was a food drive by local radio stations and a discount store. That event was a major success, Grigsbay said, and will balance out a lackluster performance by Sherman and Denison high schools' Battle of the Ax food drive.

The Red Kettle donation program is another story altogether, Grigsbay said. The traditional Salvation Army bell-ringers started the Thursday before Thanksgiving, and so far, each kettle's take is about $300 down from last year's he said.

But the Red Kettle program offers a unique benefit, Grigsbay explained.

"It's the best therapy to be able to give back," Grigsbay said. "People who can write a check have many opportunities to experience the joy of giving. But the poverty stricken, the people who often get help from Salvation Army, they don't have checking accounts. The Red Kettle offers them the opportunity to give back, even if it's just 50 cents, to say, 'Last year I needed help and this year I can give back something.'"